qajariaq

Skinned, still alive

I finished sewing the coaming on today. After that, I caulked all the seams and holes with black and white (when I ran out of black, and the local West Marine only had white) Lifecaulk. It will cure for about a week before Al sands (she doesn't like the high spots) and seals it.

Here's a close-up of the whip-stitch. The extra holes are from where I initially started trying to sew a flat seam but ended up pulling out the line.

Now, some shots of the caulked kayak (from stern, toward bow, looking from bow to stern).

 

Adjustment

All life is adjustment, my dad used to say. I'm sure it was for the Inuit kayak builders -- they had to use materials at hand, which may account for the variance we see in historical examples.

My intention was to sew a flat seam, following Brinck's method in The Aleutian Kayak (I believe Mark Rogers uses it in the classes he teaches). In this method, the skin is tightened with criss-crossed line like a shoelace. Then, the two flaps are sewn together. The flaps are trimmed so that one is shorter than the other. The taller flap is folded over the shorter, and both are folded flat to the deck. The flap is sewn to the skin with a stitch that goes from the skin, into the fold, out of the fold, and back into the skin. I thought it might be more watertight than the other methods I've used, and I liked the look.

I trimmed the skin using a batten and assumed that once it was tightened, there's be more than enough extra to allow for a flap. I was half-right -- the aft part of the kayak has more than enough extra skin, but the forward part didn't. At this point I had a couple of options: I could use the Starr method (X-stitching) or try Brian Schulz's whip-stitch. Although he's demonstrated this stitch twice at Delmarva, both times I was involved with something else and didn't actually see him do the work. His Web site (http://capefalconkayak.com/howtoskinakayak.html) has a nice tutorial, and while it doesn't describe the stitch in detail, it has a photo that shows you what it should look like.

I'd shied away from this method for a few reasons. First, I prefer the aesthetics of a flat seam. Second, I worried about how watertight it would be. Brian uses a two-part finish that seems extremely durable, but because there's little margin for error when applying it, I wasn't using it. I've had good luck with Dura-tuff, a moisture-cured urethane, but I wasn't sure how it would compare. The principal advantage of Brian's method is its speed. I liked that aspect of it, so I gave it a shot.

A few hours later I had something that resembled the whip-stitch Brian uses, and now the raised seam looks a lot better to me.

Adjustment.

New ribs and lashing

Today, I made the last modifications to the kayak before skinning. I lashed the masik and seeqqortafik (knee brace). These two parts of the kayak were a bit loose, and the lashing took care of that. I cut shallow slots in the isserfik (back rest) and ajaat (cross beam) immediately behind it to accept the tunersuk (stringer). The epoxy hadn't held the stringers in place, so this time, in addition to cutting slots for the stirngers, I lashed them in place.

I also replaced the broken rib and the rib I'd cut out by mistake.

I finished up by installing new lashing on the keel support aft and forward stringer support.

From the coaming forward the kayak feels solid. If it were used for anything but rolling, I'd consider lashing all the aft ribs individually and perhaps replacing one or two. As it is, they should be fine for awhile. Skinning is next.

Roller re-redux

About a year ago I rebuilt Al's roller. Having spent lots of time upside down in the water it's showing sighs of wear:

These two photos show one of the deformed ribs on the bow side of the kayak. The rib is misshapen, and you can see from its shadow how it is pressing against the skin.

Another problem is delamination of the urethane. Initially, it appeared that just the outer layer was coming off, but in time, a patch of bare skin exposed itself (covered with caulk):

I stripped the skin tonight. I'm going to let the frame dry out before starting the rebuild. On the agenda are shaping the masik so that the skin runs from the bow to the cockpit in something resembling a fair curve, replacing some ribs, relashing all the ribs, and reattaching the deck stringers. In the past, I've used #9 seine twine, but for this kayak, I may go back to artificial sinew.

Norsaqs

Bill Bremer of Lumpy Paddles sent Alison a paddle to try out. He shipped it via USPS in PVC tubing. The Postal Service managed to crush part of the tubing while shipping it, and the result was a broken paddle. One blade was split and cracked; the other was broken. At the time I'd hoped some of the pieces could be salvaged, and last weekend I finally got around to making norsaqs from the pieces. These aren't traditional throwing sticks but instead are rolling aids. I haven't tried them out yet, but I think they should give good lift.

Taking the measure of things

The (formerly) green kayak measures roughly 17 ft 3 in long by 19-1/4 in wide. A quick look through Harvey Golden’s Kayaks of Greenland shows one kayak with similar dimensions: Plate 48, a kayak from the Canadian Museum of Civilization, catalog no. IV-A-447. According to Harvey’s survey, the length is 17 ft 3-3/4 in, and the beam is 19-1/2 in. Compared to my kayak, the bow appears to have a steeper angle and to rise higher; the stern seems similar. I’ll have to do a closer examination to draw firmer conclusions, but at first and second glance, it appears to be a good candidate. I don’t know how faithful to the original I’ll be, but at the very least, the surveyed kayak should be a good guide for modifications to my own.

Green Kayak Rebuild

  I built this kayak for Alison before the 2005 Delmarva Paddler’s Retreat. I followed H.C. Peterson’s Instruction in Kayak Building, using Cunningham (Building the Greenland Kayak: A Manual for Its Construction and Use) and, to a lesser extent, Starr (Building a Greenland Kayak), for clarification. But the overall lines are Peterson’s: the frame has no wedges added to it and the masik and backrest are in nearly the same plane. Therein lies the problem. I intended it as a rolling boat, but what Peterson documents is a generic hunting kayak. Alison found it very uncomfortable. So she ended up buying a proper rolling kayak, and this kayak gathered dust on the shelves. I did some rough shaping of the masik in the hopes that I’d be able to fit in it, but no luck. Yesterday (22 October) I did the right thing and removed the skin.

  The green you see on the frame members isn’t mold; rather, it’s residue of the tinted urethane Alison applied. Aside from needing a new masik, where to begin? I’m thinking of replacing all the ribs, perhaps changing the volume aft. I’ll look at the lines of the Igdlorssuit, and see if I can find some inspiration there.

  At minimum, I’ll redo the masik and forward deck stringers and some of the ribs. Beyond that, we’ll see.

Delmarva 2006

Kayaks

Surf's up

Kayak Rebuild -- Part 3

Finishing

Alison finished the kayak using Duratuff urethane. She gave the skin three or four coats and tinted each coat with artist's oil paints. She was going for a "tequila sunrise" color and came close to achieving it, although it doesn't show up well in this picture:

  I ended up having to remove another rib and shave down the knee brace. In retrospect, the knee brace could have been omitted, but it does serve as a convenient spot for the deck stringers and adds some rigidity to the frame. There are some gaps in the skin -- I'm guessing that's a result of the stretch inherent in nylon as compared with canvas. Alison planned to apply clear silicone caulk on the deck seams and black Life Calk for the deck lines to take care of the leaks.

Performance

  Alison has had the kayak on the water a few times, and while the jury is still out on whether it performs as well as the version in Greenland, she has found herself able to do most of the rolls. She'll have it on the water this week in Maine, and that should give her a better idea on how it paddles and rolls.

What's next

  I made some harpoon holders that slip under the deck lines, but I may install a holder attached to the masik with line. I will post some more pictures once Alison has returned. Thanks for looking.

Kayak Rebuild -- Part 2

Tools of the Trade

Soldering gun for cutting fabric

Knife, ruler, pencil, sewing needles, #9 seine twine

Water bottle (it’s hot in the garage); radio for listening to Nats games

Sewing

The stitch I used was one I’d first seen at the Smithsonian, at the Greenland Festival. Maligiaq built a kayak over a weekend (he’d done a lot of fabrication beforehand), and I was able to watch him sew the skin. Turner Wilson went over the stitch when we visited him and Cheri in Connecticut, and Christel Lose spent some time in Greenland going over some of the finer points. The technique is straightforward. First, I tied the fabric (8 oz nylon from Kavon Filter) to the bow, stretched it the length of the kayak, and tied it at the stern. I flipped the kayak over and ran lacing from the bow to the coaming and then from the stern to the coaming.

I trimmed the fabric so that each side extended a few inches beyond the center line. Then I folded one half and lay the fold over the other half. The stitch ran up from the flat half, into the fold, out of the fold, and down into the flat half. I started at the coaming and worked my way to the ends.

At the coaming, I cut out a circle of fabric, pulled what remained tight against the rim, and sewed it. The line ran through the fabric, over the rope rim, and back through the same hole in the coaming.

I trimmed the loose fabric with the soldering gun and sewed it to itself. Alison had painted the coaming black before I started sewing.

Don’t forget to sign your work.

Part 3: Finishing