This is our Great Auk 14 cedar strip kayak completed in 2020. It is 14′ long and weighs 36lbs. It is a Chesapeake Light Craft kit designed by Nick Schade. It took an estimated 150 hours to complete. The first few are the most recent. The older posts start from the beginning. Most Recent Posts…
Great Auk
Back on top baby, back on top!
As a reminder, this blog was not supposed to be about our paddling antics; racing, travel and what-not. But…that wasn’t a rule, it was more like a guideline. That said, it was as though nothing bad had happened to the Great Auk. The boat still paddled straight (very important) and fast (not quite as important…
Almost fixed
With the repair, I made the boat much stronger. After layering the 4oz cloth (4oz per sq. yrd.), I let the epoxy cure for a few hours then added another layer of 4oz. More cloth holds more epoxy so the trade off is weight. By adding two layers inside the cockpit, I estimate the complete…
My old friends the magnets
I didn’t get many photos of this part of the repair.
Assessing the damage
To get a clear idea of what needed to be fixed I had to mostly strip the boat of it’s hardware. After removing the seat and back, I took out the foam bulkheads. One of the cracks had extended forward into the hatch area. The only way to repair it properly was to remove the…
Pewaukee, we’ve got a problem!
I didn’t plan on doing any more posts about the boats. The stories has been told, embellished and generally classified as legends but alas there is apparently one more chapter to be chronicled. Our first paddling race/event of 2021 was in Pewaukee Wisconsin May 8th. An 8 1/2 mile paddle down the narrow and shallow…
Finally, the maiden voyage
After seven months, it’s complete. I think it turned out OK. Sure the design was ambitious and if you get too close you can see little mistakes. But overall it was a success. The boat is not tippy, very stable and slides into turns much easier than the Pungo poly boat. It is much narrower…
A few last details
Although the boat was complete, there was still a small detail to deal with. It’s called an end pour. When the deck and the hull are epoxied together, fiberglass tape is used to re-enforce the seams. However, you can only get so close to the bow and the stern. There is a few inches that…
The whole thing was rigged part 2
The boat needed two hatches fore and aft. This is one of the scariest points in construction. Cutting into a perfectly good boat. By the way, you may have noticed that some of the pictures seem out of sequence. The hatches construction pictures are an example. I built the hatches before the varnishing. It’s almost…
The whole thing was rigged part 1
With the boat finish complete, it was time for rigging. It’s adding the final touches.
Building a boat tackfully
With the booth built I started varnishing. I started on the deck, taping the edge to keep any drips off the hull. I let the finish dry for 8 hours then flipped the boat to do the hull. I let that dry overnight, then wet-sanded with 320 grit. This took off the few drips, and…
Varnishing can be a very tents experience
With the all the epoxy done, it was varnish time. Epoxy/fiberglass finish is incredibly strong. However the one weak point of epoxy is sunlight. UV rays can break down the finish in a year or two, causing delamination and failure. Varnish prevents that, or at least slows it down. Varnish itself can be broken down…
Epoxy, sand, rinse, repeat
Carefully doing the math, a coat of epoxy on the outside of the boat adds 12oz of weight. Knowing that I made sure that the two additional coats would be all I need for a smooth finish. Each coat was rolled on with foam roller then any drips or runs were smoothed out with a…
Now comes the hard part
This next step, for me at least, is the most difficult step of building a kayak-attaching the deck to the hull. It requires working with sticky epoxy and uncooperative fiberglass. It requires patience and a steady hand, not the thing to do if you’re in a hurry and all coffee-ed up. The process is to…
That’s a bit cheeky
Setting and attaching the cheek plates was a bit tricky. I needed to makes sure that both stayed perpendicular so each were even. It would be no good or fun to have one plate cockeyed and digging into said cheek.
Finishing the coaming details
I knew that building the coaming lip was rather involved based on the my previous build of the African Queen 18. I also knew it would be worth it when completed. Spoiler Alert: It turns out pretty nice. I ripped 1/8″ strips of ash and walnut (previously referenced sources of a wedding display and the…
What a fitting post
I now have two almost complete sections of the boat. A clam-shell deck and hull if you will. This was the best time to locate some important points on the boat: center of balance and proper weight distribution. With my previous projects, setting the peg and seat locations was more or less guessing with lots…
Rising to the occasion once again
You will notice at the end of the post, the cockpit will not be completed. Building this type of coaming has multiple steps that didn’t necessarily work out sequentially. So finishing this part of the boat will be in at least one other post.
Moving along…
I’ll use this post to move the project along. Wait, it’s white, or at least translucent. No it’s actually clear, it’s the light that is refracting through the fibers that cause it to turn white. In the photos of the embed coat, you can still see the texture of the weave. That’s because the light…
Clear as glass
Sanded and ready, it was time to glass the hull. I used 4oz fiberglass cloth that came with the kit. 4oz means four ounces weight per square yard. I used about 15′ of cloth 50″ wide. That piece, before trimming, weighed how much? Anyone? Anyone? Fiberglass cloth comes in all kinds of weights and weaves….
Figuring out the cockpit
The Great Auk has a generous size cockpit but I wanted to add some detail to accent the opening. I found quite a few examples on the interweb and chose a basic design. A recessed cockpit for lack of a better description, creates an “apron” around the cockpit. Some recesses are small areas in the…
Thank goodness I started this project when I did.
When I built my Night Heron, I started just before Christmas and completed the final rigging the first week of April. When I opened the box to start the Great Auk in September, I really thought I was getting a head start and would have the boat built by Christmas, finish it out in January,…
Hitting the deck
Once the hull was planked, I needed to flip the boat but still keep the hull on the frame. I made a couple of cradles to the curve of the hull. I simply used the plans and chose a couple of form outlines, laid them down on some plywood and used pushpins to mark the…
The hull is complete…sort of
After gluing in the lattice, I was able to complete the planking of hull. From the pictures, you can see that some of the joints are not all that good. I had the wood curving back and forth and it’s not always easy to get a perfect fit. Most of the planks had the bead…
Well it seemed like a cool idea at the time
When coming up with the wood design for the Great Auk I saw a number of boat photos using what I call a lattice detail. The detail uses small, alternating color pieces of wood oriented perpendicular to the planking, creating an eye-catching accent. Well that was the plan anyway. I thought using this lattice detail…
The hull story continued
After planking the sides of the hull to a specific point, it was time to start the keel planking. This dark cedar stripping is intended to match the deck planking so I chose the darkest cedar. It starts with the dark wood then transitions to lighter wood then to a design that includes walnut and…
Just for the hull of it
After getting the shear strip set, I started planking the hull. My design called for the sides to be linear to the chine. Stop! What on earth is a chine? Well I’m glad you asked. Warning: technical stuff! A chine is the where the side of the boat transitions to the bottom of the boat….
Not board yet!
I’m going to take a moment to talk about the lumber I will be using. Cedar- The kit’s lumber (or planks as we call it in the boat building business) is primarily made up of clear (knot and blemish-free and very straight), premium Western Red and Alaskan Yellow cedar. After I placed the order for…
Setting the sheer strip is sheer madness
The first and one of the most critical steps in the assembly of a strip-built kayak is to set the sheer strip. What is a sheer strip? Well I’m so glad you asked. Let me tell you. But WARNING: sort of technical content. The sheer line is where the deck and hull meet. The line…
Inner stemming the tide
Editors note: You will probably notice that this and future posts might contain a little less content. I found myself skipping steps while writing so I will try this format and see how it works out. It could mean a little more technical content, but should mean more posts, a quicker read and maybe even…
Setting up a frame, but this time it’s to build a boat
I ordered the complete Great Auk kit which shipped with the building frame (you can also order the kit without, for example if you are building a second boat). The strongback is the part of the building frame that runs the length of the boat and holds the forms in place. It needs to be…
It’s Here. My new 2020 project.
After much discussion and due diligence, Mary decided it might be time for a new boat. Her Pungo 14 has served very well, helping her win almost every race she enters. It’s solid, stable and able to take inadvertent abuse but a drawback to the boat is that it weighs almost 60lbs. The weight hasn’t…