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 generally extends from the bow to the stern. The sheer differs from the waterline in that it is more structure-defined and it follows the curves of the boat from bow to stern. The waterline is a straight line from bow to stern where, here it comes, the water line is. See image below
Setting the strip properly is kind of important. It creates the two halves of the boat that once complete will separate for re-assembly without the forms. Where the top and bottom meet can be a pretty sharp angle so the strip must be beveled to allow the two halves to seam together.
This is really tricky and can be frustrating at times. Each form have a bevel mark indicating the angle but it’s still somewhat of an educated guess when sanding or planing the angle.
I attached the strips to both sides and glued them to the inner stem.
I wanted some accent touches for this build, something that would add some personality but not be obvious. The white wood in the picture below is green ash. Ash is very strong and has great color but it weighs almost 30% more than cedar so I plan on using it sparingly.
This ash is a little special. It came from the tree that used to be in my front yard. Emerald borers killed it three years ago so I had it taken out but took the logs to a sawyer and had boards cut to hopefully put to some good use. I would say this defines good use.