Day 4 - Tuesday

For those who care, we had leftovers tonight and sat around trying to figure out what we do next (to our kayaks, that is)!

For starters, the fabric (nylon) that we cover the kayaks with didn't arrive on time so we began working on our paddles.  I have a Greenland paddle and I love it.  It's great to have an extra paddle because they ARE made of wood and it breaks!  So I'll have 2 and now I'll have the skills to make my own.  Right after lunch the fabric arrived so we stopped and got our spaces ready to skin our boats. 

We have 9 oz. nylon that we attached to the stern rudder with push pins.  Brian trimmed excess away with a hot knife and we sewed it around the rudder with dental floss!!!!  Crazy, huh?  Then we sewed around the bow rudder (this was set at about and inch short so that it would be extremely snug).  Then we flipped the kayak and made a basting seam along the decks. 

For those of you really interested:  http://capefalconkayak.com/howtoskinakayak.html

Tomorrow we will finish the sewing, dye them and coat them.

I'm not sure that I will dye mine.  If you leave it white, leave it out in the sun, the kayak changes into a chamois colored yellow.  I think I'd like that... we'll see.  I could through light sticks in it and it would glow in the dark!!!  How cool would that be?

We are supposed to get some roommates tonight.  I don't know when...I just hope they are quite because we are pooped!  We are on our feet from 7:30 to 5 with a short break for lunch.  Then there is the hike to the bathroom!  My poor feet are tired!

I hope I can get some pictures to post tonight! I can barely get my fingers to type tonight so it might not work!  I might have to wait until I get home to update things! 

Day 3 - Monday

Have I said that I'm having a wonderful time?  Every day is better than the last.  The people are wonderful, the project is so doable, the weather is beautiful...blah, blah, blah....it's FANTASTIC! 

What did we do today???  Glad you asked!  Today we got the kayak ready to skin.  That means that everything is ready for the outer fabric.  We worked our butts off!  We barely had time for lunch! 

I started of kind of distracted and drilled a hole were it didn't belong on the back deck!  Yikes!  I plugged it up and kept going.  Then I chiseled a spot in the front deck on the wrong side!  OMG, I was pissed!!!  (I even had to guys "helping" me!)  We inserted a piece of wood into the spot and kept working!  I finally calmed down and kept on working.

Next we added the foot pegs.  (I didn't mess up) We working on shaping the stern and the bow, sanding, sawing and chiseling to finish the wood work.  Finally we took the kayaks outside to cover them with wood oil and let them dry.  Of course, this is when it started raining!

While the kayaks dried, we worked on the coaming - the piece that makes the opening for the cockpit.

Tonight was my turn to cook - spaghetti!  I know, difficult!  It didn't matter, it was so good.  My house-mates and I did more US/Canada comparing.  We are really enjoying ourselves!

Tomorrow we will be carving our paddles out of Oregon cedar!  That will be so much fun!!!!

I have pictures but my tablet doesn't want me to see them for some reason!  I guess that means is time to get some sleep!

Day 2 -Sunday

My roommates and I had a lovely dinner; Michiel (Dutch spelling) made quiche for us tonight!  I made a salad so Greg insisted on doing the dishes!  Not a bad deal!  We chatted for hours about just about everything under the sun. These two men are such fun to get to know!  Brian joined us long enough to scarf down a couple slices, clean up some dishes and run back out again.

We did fantastic things today!  Brian put together a steam box and attached a steam wall paper remover to it.  We place the stegosaurus ribs in it and then bent them to make the ribs of the kayak.  This is white oak that is normally pretty stiff.  It was so pliable, it was crazy!  It could be molded and bent to shape the differing edges for the ribs. We were all totally amazed by that!

We added the hull piece - it goes from one end of the kayak to the other along the bottom

I lost tons of what I was saying here.  I'm too tired now to re-write it...maybe tomorrow...  We'll see!  Yawn!

Saturday - Day 1

Wow!  We are really turning strips of wood into kayaks! 

Today, 6 of us began building our kayaks.  We began with putting pieces of wood on gunwales (edges of the kayak) at the bow and stern to hold them together.  Then we places spacers between the gunwales to spread them apart - making a boat shape. 

The bow and stern:  We drilled, lashed, sawed, drilled more, and pounded pegs until we had the ends put together.

Deck:  The front deck uses pieces the Brian shipped from Oregon.  The take a long time to make.  They are laminated woods that have been bent like a rainbow.  The rear deck pieces are straight.  These need to be measure and tenons need to be cut to fit into the pre-routed mortises.  We measured, sawed, chiseled, until each piece fit in perfectly.  We placed an 1/8 " dowel through each of the mortise/tenons.  Then we drilled at an angle to use 1/4" dowels through the deck to the gunwale. 

Ribs:  The kayak was flipped over to measure, saw and fit each rib (20 - all different lengths).  They are standing up in their routed space on one of the gunwales waiting to be steamed and fitted tomorrow! 

I have 2 roommates.  They are both from Canada.  Michael is from Nova Scotia and Greg is from Quebec.  I'm having great fun learning and quizzing them about the life of a Canadian!  We've poured over maps showing each other where we live etc.  It's so much fun!

The three of us went to Rehoboth to find groceries so we could eat dinner.  We had a great dinner of rotisserie chicken ala Safeway, green beans, potatoes, and salad!  It was wonderful!

I brought breakfast and lunch made up in individual bags. Every day is the same thing!   I have a hard boiled egg, cheese slices and apple sauce for breakfast.  Lunch is huge!  I couldn't finish it today.  I have peanut butter and crackers, grapes, orange, carrots and celery sticks.  I have chocolate for dessert and I haven't even touched it yet!

The water tastes horrible here.  I brought 2 gallons and I'm glad I did!  So far, that's the only complaint! :-)

First Morning

What a fun start. We got right to it by measuring, sawing, chiseling, and drilling. I'm having so much fun! I'm so afraid to mess up! Brain has broken down each of the steps into very manageable blocks. Lunch is over; time to get back to work!

Getting started

The drive east was a nice pretty drive. Farmers were busy harvesting their corn. Rows and rows of caramel colored corn stalks stood at attention as hug machines cut them about a foot of the ground, leaving a dusty pillaged field.  The soy beans are turning brown. I wondered if they had been picked or if big machines harvest them. .. I'll have to ask my farmer friend. 

Camp Arrowhead is where I'm living this week with other kayak builders. Only two students are here tonight: Mike and me! Mike is a very nice man from N0va Scotia.  I'm asking him all sorts of questions about Canada - a country I know nothing about!

Mike and I working with Brian this afternoon to get "our classroom set up! " We planed all the ribs for the kayaks and wound waxed string (pseudo sinew) on sticks. It took us a couple of hours then we drove to a pizza/sandwich shop for dinner.

Kayak building begins in earnest tomorrow!

First complication

I was going to be building a Greenland style kayak. There was an error in communication and I'll be building an F1. It's Brian's favorite style. I will either be getting a good deal on the build or I will be getting a second kayak at no additional cost. I was pretty disappointed at first but I don't want to ruin my week nor Brian's.