Ready to Race

My son Ben and I are prepared for the Watertribe Ultra Marathon. This is the shortest of 3 Watertribe races that goes from Ft. DeSoto Park in Tampa Bay south to Placida, about 66 miles. The attached map shows you where we are going. You can also track us live from Ben's SPOT. The race begins at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning and our goal is to paddle to the finish in 24 hours. We will be paddling the XCR Excursion Canoe that Ben built. Its 19 ft. long with a deck and spray skirt, has lots of room and paddles fast. Eventually it will be outfitted for sailing with double outriggers and a modified Hobie mast & sail. Next year he and Emily hope to sail it in the 300 mile Everglades Challenge. Personally I'm thrilled to be doing this with my son and greatful to see our grandchildren again. These pictures were taken at our practice paddle on Lake Macatawa in Holland MI last October.

Watching a hull take shape

Installing the strips from the bow to the stern is very relaxing, enjoyable and goes quite easy. The staples hold them while the glue dries and I use masking tape to keep the joints tight between the stations. It fun to watch the hull begin to take shape. I shape the bow and stern stems as I move toward the keel. As you can see soon the stips will meet at the bow and stern and then things get more technical with cutting and inserting strips. I'm trying to watch that both sides are "fair" as I work but not sure how to fix what seems out of "fair". Time for an email for help from Joe at Redfish.

Stripping the Hull

Here is 4 strips on each side with the hull beginning to take shape. Each strip gets easier to put on and I'm finding my rhythm and really enjoying myself. 33 years ago my Christian Education professor at Calvin Seminary always talked about the "Content of Process". In other words in Christian education there is more content in the process than in whatever you are teaching. I find this to also be a great example of "the content of process" as I find rest and sabbeth in the process of building.

I've found it helpful to use masking tape between the stations to pull the strips tight together. I'm also learning about how much glue to use and getting that down after overdoing it a bit and having alot pushing out. Here you can also see the 2 strips of darker cedar. This will be met by darked on the edges of the deck also and hopefully begin to create a pleasing pattern.

The bow and stern stems are shaped and angled so the pieces lay "fair". It goes from about 1/2 inch to 1/8 at the edge. The screws that hold it to the stations are to keep it steady while planning/rasping and sanding and are removed as you go. As advised I keep shaping it as I move up.

This is the only place I know where stripping is putting something on. Its great to be finally past setting the stations and getting everything in alignnment and now putting the cedar strips on the hull.

Shaping the stems & setting the sheer strips

Is it FAIR? Not good, not excellent but fair. That the big question to be asking as you set the first two strips. I really don't know the definition of "fair" in kayak building but I think I understand what it means. Are the lines, curves, etc all how they should be when you eye it up. Two of mine were out and a I adjusted the stations and risers that brought it in line. I'll check it once again before I move ahead but best I can tell it "FAIR".

The sheer strips are the first strips set for the hull. The first sheer strip is shaved off to 90 degrees on the cove side which will later be angled to meet with the deck. I was surprised at how easy the first strip went on ....that was until I realize after most of my staples were in that it had not been centered and I didn't have enough strip on one end. Live and learn. I do hate putting those staple holes into the beautiful cedar and may consider using the clamp system as I move ahead. My first strips ar of darker cedar to provide a contrast color that with merge into the walnut stems. Hope it looks good.

Beautiful picture of the laminenations of six pieces of cedar for the inner stems. Look now because once done this will never be seen.

Thanks to Joe at Redfisk Kayaks for his quick email advice response about shaping the stems and the pictures he sent. Using a small block plane on cedar is a wonderful smelling experience. The wood just smells good. I was able to easily shape the stems and kept them in place with screws that I removed as I worked along them and then replaced. The block plane, rasp and sandpaper worked well to shape them. I will adjust the angles as I attach each cedar strip.

Laminating and setting the stems

I prepared an epoxy table from the crate that came with the kit. Its the perfect height and the top is the perfect size. With the instructions and some online videos at MAS EPOXY it worked OK. I glued the inside and outside bow stems, put some masking tape between so hopefully they don't stick together and clamped them down. With Redfish Kayak you have a choice of wood for the cockpit and stems. I chose walnut. I provides a nice dark contrast color.

Getting things straight

I really struggled to get everything straight and plumb. I was especially concerned about getting the tips of the bow and stern alligned with the centerline down the keel of the kayak. I tried squares, levels, etc. I supported the bow and stern end pieces as you can see in the picture - recommend in Kayak Craft, but still was not confident. It seemed that just being out a little would misshape the entire hull. Finally I hung strings weighted with sinkers from the ceiling and got the strings at the bow and stern in a perfect line with the string stretched across the hull.

Seems like it worked. :)

Mounting & Aligning the stations

Getting the stations mounted, plumbed, squared and straight is all a bit more complicated than it looks. This is a critical piece of the kayak build since any mistakes here will be translated directly to the hull of the kayak later. The string line verifys that all the stations are in perfect alignment. I'm still figuring out how to make sure that the tips of the bow and stern are in alignment with this. Any advice please write. This all becomes the skeleton over which the cedar still will be formed. Its like a 3-D view now.

As you can see I've added a 2x4 on the saw horses to provide a small shelf on each side for tools and cedar strips. Next step is to get to use Epoxy and laminate the inner and outer bow and stern stems. Once laminated they will be clamped to the bow & stern frames to give them the shape then need.

Installing risers & stations

The risers install on the blocks with bolts, washers & wing nuts. I must brag on Joe of Redfish Kayaks a bit on how he prepares his kits, along with centerlines on the risers which make them easy to align. He is also just an email or phone call away. The detail of the preparation of the kit enables a newcomer to kayak building like me to move ahead much easier than starting from scratch. Thanks Joe. The stations attach to the risers with bolts and wing nuts as well so the whole hull can eventually be removed from the risers and strongback in order to work on the deck.

Begin with the end in mind

For all who remember Stephen Covey's 7 habits of highly effective people....one of the habits was to "begin with the end in mind". This picture helps me to envision what will arise off of the strongback in the coming year. The exact design of the deck still needs to be figured out but there are limitless possibilities. These completed "Spring Runs" motivate me of what can me.

I must say that part of my motivation to build came from my son Ben who has completed 2 boats, the most recent a 19 ft. stich & glue excursion canoe. We are going to paddle this in March in the Watertribe ultra marathon in Tampa. However since I built a canoe when I was 13, over 44 years ago, I'm wondering if its either in the blood or I motivated him. That was a 16 ft. Trailcraft canoe kit that we used for over 30 years. Either way we both enjoy projects, the water and the beauty of being in God's creation.

Getting Started

Here is the strongback set up ready to go. I used one conventional saw horse that I had an constructed the 2nd support from a diagram in the instructions. I left the side supports high so I can attach a sling to them after the hull is done for it to become a cradle for it so I can work on the decking.

All of the hardward and precut blocking comes with the Redfish kits as well as good instructions....that you need to read carefully...as I learned :)

The final picture is with the risers attached to the strongback and a centerline set to make sure everything is level and straight. By the way...never assume everything is level and straight...confirm it the first time. Believe me...I'm speaking from experience already.

Redfish kayak kit

The Redfish Kayak kit comes well packaged with
the forms, cloth, hardward in this crate and all of the 3 color cedar strips in a 6x6 crate that once emptied becomes the strongback. This crate is 19 ft. long and is cut down to 16 ft. for the strongback. I created an overhead rack in my work area to store the cedar strips that vary in length from 18' 6" to some Alaska White Cedar that is about 16ft. This will be used for designs on the kayak deck.