Wood Duck 12 Blog

Ahoy fellow boatbuilders! I am new to the craft and have started a blog to chronicle my adventures (or misadventures). I would welcome any advice or critical observations about how things are progressing. 

No serious issues or questions at the moment; I have been following the advice of many helpful posters. However, I am sure I'll have some as the work progresses, and have seen how this forum often rapidly resolves them.

https://photokarmablog.wordpress.com/2022/04/12/building-a-kayak/

Thanks in advance; I'll see you on the water (in a few months).

Steve


6 replies:

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RE: Wood Duck 12 Blog

Looking good. You're going to have fun.

Laszlo

RE: Wood Duck 12 Blog

   Thanks for taking a look, Laszlo! You've probably noted I incorporated some of your learnings.

I actually have three things I am pondering at the moment, before I move on:

1 - Value of tack-welding some of the more finicky joints with CA glue prior to removing from dry-fit and proceeding with epoxy tack-weld;

2 - Severity of the couple of places in hull seams (one on the keel, one betwen hull and side panel) where I have a gap of no more than 1/16 of an inch for about 8-10 inches;

3 - Severity of the couple of places in hull-side panel seams where one panel is not completely flush with the other - overlap of about 1/32 of an inch, for 4-6 inches. Some success in reducing this by removing wires, sanding down a bit.

Any thoughts on the above concerns?

Steve 

RE: Wood Duck 12 Blog

Note, I visited the CLC Booth at Canoecopia in Madison this spring, and this is the WD12 they had on display. Looks like in this instance there was a hull panel that projected out over the adjoining side panel enough to expose beneath the veneer a bit - is that the correct interpretation here? So, structurally not an issue I presume, just aesthetics?

RE: Wood Duck 12 Blog

Stephen,

This is a really nice build blog so far - well done.

I referred to 3 wood duck blogs (including Laszlo's) during my duckling (8-footer) build and found each of them helpful.  I would have found your pictures of the bevels and the puzzle joints (especially after sanding) to be quite helpful during my build.  I ended up over-sanding the puzzle joints on the outside since I naively sanded until I got to plywood free of epoxy (thankfully both instances were on bottom panels).

Those horns on the sheer panels and at the bottom of the transom are so incredibly sharp - wow.  It's hard to imagine how anyone could cut those (i.e., build from plans) without a CNC router - not that you are; it just occurred to me.

I ended up tightening the stitches to a rather extreme degree to get the plywood into position (I also drilled a bunch of extra holes to avoid tearout at the holes).  I even cracked a plank edge or two due to the extreme pressure.  On my next build, I'll definitely leave things a lot looser like you seem to be doing...on the deck, at least (which is the way CLC would recommend doing it too, I think) and rely on epoxy and sawdust, as you noted, to close things up.  I'd be embarassed to admit how much time I spent loosening/re-positioning/re-tightening overly snug stitches!  It was really tedious, and I'm probably lucky I didn't crack a panel into pieces.

RE: Wood Duck 12 Blog

Stephen,

I noticed that your last question about the imperfect edge on the boat at Canoecopia went unanswered.

I'm new to kayak building, but I've spent a lot of time reading the board during my lone build (a wood duckling, as noted above).  My perception is that imperfect panel edges like this (presumably due to misalignment and sanding through the veneer on the edge) are not considered a structural concern and that the complete absence of such imperfections is quite rare (and is exceedingly rare for a first-time builder).  I've got a handful of comparable warts (including over-sanded puzzle joints, as noted above, and a few small panel edge dings) on my boat.  I mostly avoided sanding through veneers at the panel edges like this, but only because I spent so much time aligning panels (not sure it was worth it).

RE: Wood Duck 12 Blog

Sorry guys, I've got a lot going on here at the moment and sometimes I can't attend to hobbies.

Anyway, Herbie's absolutely  right. A little sanding into the veneer is purely cosmetic, not structural. But paint and other coatings cover a multitude of sins and no one ever need know unless you tell them. I have some of those on my WD12 and it hasn't fallen apart yet.

 

Before

After

BTW, cutting the horns doesn't need complicated stuff like a CNC, just a little practice. A sharp thin-bladed handsaw will rough it out and some sandpaper will make it match the desired curve perfectly and be as sharp as anyone could want.

Have fun,

Laszlo

 

 

 

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