What a fitting post

Posted on by David

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 of trial and error. I wanted to avoid a lot of that because I wasn’t going to be the one using the boat and and would not be able to get a feel for any needed changes.

I located the center of balance using dowel rods (which by the way was within 1/2″ of the plans’ location). But you don’t want to put the seat on that mark because part of your weight is leaning forward and carried by your legs. In aviation you use datum, moment and arm locations. In boat building, there is also the center of buoyancy- the point where the boat is even from front to back.

Using the centers of buoyancy and balance I located the approximate location of the seat.
Using an unidentified professional model and test subject, I made sure that the seat was located properly for the cockpit opening.
All good so far
I needed to locate the “cheek plates”. No really, that’s what they’re named. Plates narrow the cockpit in key locations to allow better use of body motions when paddling and maneuvering. The plate in the picture will be replaced with a different pattern.
Once the test model was comfortable with the seat and plate locations that indicated where the foot pegs would be located.
It was important to get the proper length and height of the pegs. The length can be adjusted but the height is fixed.
Once the pegs were located, I set the studs in place and epoxied them
You can drill through the hull and use bolts and rubber washers to fasten the pegs but I like the internal studs. It’s a little cleaner and I suppose less likely to leak. At this point, the pegs will go in once the boat is complete. The green tape is to protect the threads from damage, a previous lesson learned.

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