Deck Beams and Tendons

Over the past few weeks, with lots of breaks for the holidays, I've been working on finishing up the deck beams.  This definitely has seemed to be the most tedious part so far, and I found another screw up.

Laying out the deck beams was a slow process since I wanted to make sure they were laid out right.  Making sure the gunwales are aligned right was important.  Mine haven’t matched perfectly as one is stiffer than the other so I clamped them tight to make sure nothing slipped while I was getting everything laid out.

During the process of laying them out I did deviate from the instruction and measured my ribs also.  My thought with doing the ribs now was to get them cut and thinned so they can soak for several weeks.  One post I had read on a Qajaq USA forum had stated they had the best results in bending when the wood had soaked long enough that it didn’t float.  I think that person had let them soak for two weeks.  I’m going on one week of soaking and it should be another week and a half to two weeks before I’m ready to bend anything.

One thing that I have found in making this boat is that the jigs Chris Cunningham uses in his book does really make things go faster and more uniform from one piece to the next.  I think I’ve used the tendon jig a hundred times so far.  It is a thin piece of wood that is 1 ¼” wide and about 3” long with 90 degree corners.  You’d be amazed at how many times you will use this simple piece of wood.

During the process of laying out the deck beams I figured something out.  I never marked out or cut a mortise for arched deck beam number 5, oops.  I’m not sure how I missed it until so deep into this project but I missed it.  I am a fairly light paddler at 155-160 lbs so I don’t think it will hurt me that much to not have it, at least I hope.  If you are doing this project I would suggest making sure deck beam #5 is laid out on your story pole, which is where things started to go wrong for me.

When laying out the tendons I did mark every deck beam with waste and tendon so I knew what needed to be cut off.  After the screw up with the deck beam I didn’t want to cut the wrong part of the deck beam off.  While cutting the tendons I also switched from using a fine tooth saw to a medium tooth saw.  This made the cuts go quicker and I think more precise.  The saw I use is a Japanese saw that has fine tooth on one edge and medium on the other with a fairly small kerf so making the change was as simple as flipping the saw over.  If the saw was tearing the wood I would simply flip back to fine the tooth side. 

Fitting the deck beams to the gunwales takes time. I had to file or sand some part of every mortise and tendon to get them to fit together properly.   Near the end I got to the point that I could look at the mortise before fitting and figure out what need to be filed or sanded.  It is good to keep a four in hand rasp, square cabinet makers file, and a sanding block close during this entire process.  Right now I am waiting on the artificial sinew I ordered to arrive so I can finish up with the final pegging and lashing of the deck beams to the gunwales.  The deck beams are not completely fitted tight but I will tighten those up when I get ready to lash and peg it.  It took using a Spanish windlass, pipe clamps (padded with wood as to not crush the gunwales), squeeze clamps, the end forms, and some cussing to get them all fitted.

Once the deck beams are done, the excess are cut off and everything sanded it will be time to bend some ribs.  My first project that involved bending wood was my dog sled, which we broke three brush bows before we got one to bend; with that experience I’m apprehensive about bending the ribs with little breakage.  I cut 50% overage on my bending stock for breakage, lets hope I don’t need to use much of it.

Mortises and More Mortises

In the last few weeks I’ve shaped and sanded my gunwales, plus drilled a boat load of square holes.  Forty four blind mortises and twenty two standard mortises, at three holes per mortise it was a lot of drilling. 

Drilling all those mortises really wasn’t has hard as you would think.  Thankfully the book I am using lays out the steps and with a little patients, which I normally lack, I had some rather nice holes.  Laying out the mortises, I think, is the most critical step.  On the blind mortises, mortises that are ¾“ deep and you can’t see through, I laid out how long the mortises should be but not the width.  I relied on my drill press to center the holes.  The problem with this is I’m not using a mortising machine, the drill press I have is a device that turns a hand drill into a drill press.  As you can see in the photos it looks older than dirt, because it is.  It was given to me by my dad and I remember him using it with his hand drill when I was pretty young, so the thing is 35 to 40 years old.  Making an alignment jig helps but if you have all four sides laid out it would be much easier to make sure your overlapping hole used to create the final product are all in line.  I also bought a new chisel and kept it extremely sharp.  I would suggest if you are doing this project and you aren’t very good at sharpening you find someone to teach you.  A really sharp chisel makes creating the square corners an easy job.

Once the rib mortises were done it was time to shape the top of the gunwales.  The forward and aft ends get a shallow curve that extends 70” down the top.  I laid these out with a batten, also know as a tent pole, then cut and planed up to the line.  In the book I have Chris Cunningham shows’ using a block attached to the side of the plane to make sure everything is kept at a 90 degree angle.  The plane I have is pretty small and I could not clamp a block to the side so I just took it slow and checked my work often with a square and had no problems.  Once the gunwales are shaped it was time to drill the deck beam mortises which are at a 73 degree angle a very intimidating task.

Laying out the mortises for the deck beam was pretty easy with a jig I created.  As you can see in the photo that I made a square hole that was 3/8 x 1 1/2, I then drew a line 1 ¼” from the opposite side.  Since my mortise was going to be 1 1/4 “ long I could simply align the line on the jig with the line laid out for my deck beam mortise and draw the other three sides of the mortise.  This along with a jig to hold my gunwale at a 73 degree angle made drilling the holes for the mortises much less intimidating.  Cleaning out and squaring up the mortises was done pretty quickly with a four in hand wood rasp and a square cabinet maker’s file.  Good luck finding a square file if you don’t have access to one.  I was going to buy one and I checked Rockler, Woodcraft, and Lee Valley with no luck.  A quick call to my Dad and he dug through his mountain of old woodworking tools and found two of them.  I don’t think the square file is essential but does make squaring up the corners a breeze.  If you are thinking about starting your own boat I would start looking through garage and estate sales to find one or maybe you can find a better source than I could.

The final steps to the gunwales are beveling the top edge, which I screwed up, and beveling the tips.  I didn’t reread the book and beveled the wrong edge on gunwale.  I don’t think this is going to be a problem I will just have some weird angles to cut on my arched deck beam that align with the bottom of the mortise not the top like the straight ones.

Now that the gunwales are done it is time for the deck beams.  Today it is raining and cold so that means it is a perfect time to go dig through the stacks of lumber at Menards.  No one else is stupid enough to be out there.  Since I will need to rip and plane the boards outside I will have to wait until the rain stops to get everything ready.  With Christmas fast approaching the deck beams may have to wait until after the holidays.

I’m Goin’ to Do it!

For a long time I’ve been threatening to build a Greenland skin on frame kayak.  After reading Chris Cunningham’s Building The Greenland Kayak about four times I’ve finally gotten up the nerve to build it.  My plan is to document different stages of the construction here on my blog.  I am also going to figure out a way to post the spreadsheet I am keeping that documents my exact expenses.

Why a skin on frame kayak?  Well it boils down to a couple of reasons.  One is I just like to build things and this seems like a really cool winter project.  Two, I like traditional stuff (I shot flintlock muzzleloaders growing up) and this was the way Greenland kayaks were originally built.  Sure I’m going to use nylon instead of seal skin to cover the boat but the heart of the original boat is still there.  Finally I want a roller; this boat is going to be 17 feet long and 19 inches wide, which should make it fast and a great boat to roll.

One nice thing about this project is I’m in no hurry.  I have a fiber glass Greenland boat, a Wilderness Systems Arctic Hawk, so it’s not like I have to get it done so I can paddle.  Skin on frame boats are also cheap.  A buddy of mine built a wood boat and finished it this year.  It took him over a year to build, he used up most of his garage (that made his wife really happy) and I know the kit cost him around $1000 so his finished product was much more.  I hope to be under the $300 mark on my boat and I can build for a day then move the frame out of the way so my wife can still get her car in the garage.  An added bonus is the boat will be built to my dimensions.

So if you’re interested in Greenland kayaks, or skin on frame boats follow along on my journey and we’ll see where it goes.

Learning to Roll

Rolling a kayak has to be one of those bucket list things if you are an outdoor person, or maybe I just think that way since I’ve wanted to learn since I was a little kid.  I do blame it on my parents, of course.  If it would not have been for those Fisher Price kayaks I had as bath toy things might have been different, ok maybe not.  Getting to a point where I can roll has been an 8 year ordeal, with set backs do to not being able to get out in my boat very often do to, kids, Afghanistan, work, kids, you know life.

In 2003 I had finally saved the money to buy the kayak I fell in love with after my first test paddle of one belonging to a WildernessSystems rep, the Arctic Hawk.  This is no ordinary boat and I didn’t know the path it would lead me.  The lines of this Greenland kayak appealed to me, I could see myself paddling through ice fields on wilderness adventures in this ancient design.  The first summer I did learn my wet exit and self rescue but I wanted more, I wanted to roll the thing.  I had a former co-worker that agreed to teach me, bad idea.  His roll wasn’t bomb proof so trouble shooting mechanics he just wasn’t very good at.  He was also a white water paddler, and was trying to teach me a C to C roll, which made since I had a Euro paddle at the time.  After a summer of trying I wasn’t even close but really good at wet exits and self rescue.  Over the course of the next year I paddled every week that the water wasn’t frozen, I was planning on getting it down the next summer.  Well by the end of the next summer my wife and I had our first child and I was in Afghanistan for a year.  While I was gone I read a lot of books, mostly mountaineering and books about Greenland kayaks.  In my reading about kayak history I ran across the Greenland paddle and found videos of Greenland rolls on the internet.

When I got home life still got in the way.  For the next few years my wife and I only got to paddle a few times a year and mostly when we were gone on mommy/daddy get away weekends.  When we got out we wanted to paddle the time just never seemed right for us to spend the day in shallow water with me trying to roll.

This summer things changed, we bought my daughter her kayak.  Now we had to spend a day in shallow water get her accustomed to her boat.  Leading up to her trip I spent time studying Greenland rolls on Qajaq USA’s website and YouTube.  I had made the switch a Greenland paddle a few years earlier so the C to C roll was out and layback or Greenland roll was in.  While she played in the water my wife spotted me and I worked on my roll.  I only hit her with my paddle a few times before I started to figure out the mechanics and moved to deeper water.  Then all of a sudden it clicked and I started popping up like a cork.  After about 15-20 rolls I was ready to throw up from the spinning so I stopped and we did other things.  About three weeks later I went out for the day by myself and tried to roll again.  Not so good.  Two wet exits later I figured out what I was doing wrong and popped right up.  Now when I go out I try to throw a roll in just to make sure I don’t forget.  I am only able to roll up on one side now and the water is getting colder so expanding to the opposite side and more difficult Greenland rolls will have to wait until next summer.  I am now looking for a hood to wear so I can roll all winter, we’ll see how it goes.

Review of DiCAPac WP-S10

I have been looking for a way to carry my camera on the deck of my kayak that won’t cost me thousands of dollars for awhile now.  I thought the DiCAPac WP-S10 waterproof camera bag would be my salvation.  It has worked well for a bag that cost under $100 but getting there was a less than a confidence boosting experience.

I like to take photos and lots of them, I also enjoy kayaking, but getting the two together can be very costly.  I tried using a waterproof pouch from SeaLine for my phone, thinking I would use the camera on it.  The pouch worked great, the problem is the phone, and no matter what you do you are still using a very small sensor and getting only jpeg images.  Not the type of photography I enjoy.  A dive housing is another option, if you’re made out of money.  I don’t need to be able to take my camera to 100ft below the water and I don’t have the three grand it cost to buy one either.  I only want to be able to take photos in shallow water and it stay dry while I'm paddling.  The DiCAPac seemed like a great option, it is $85 from B & H Photo and guarantied to 16 ft .

This summer we bought my daughter a kayak for her birthday and we took her on a trip for her to try it out.  This isn’t the wilderness adventure of a lifetime but it was my daughter’s first trip so it was one that will never happen again and I wanted lots of photos.  My kids surprised me by getting me a DiCAPac for my birthday and giving it to me a little early, like the day before we left on my daughter’s trip.  After opening it I did read the instructions (that usually doesn’t happen) and tested it as per the instructions before putting my camera in it.  To my surprise it failed!  One of the welded seams was not welded properly and water poured in.  The good people at B & H Photo took care of me and replaced it but there was no way I was going to have it for my trip.  There is the major issue I have with this camera bag; I didn’t get a dime for being their quality control.  If you make a product that is going to protect thousands of dollars of equipment from water test it before putting your name on it.  It would be well worth paying $100 to $120 if I knew it had been factory tested before I bought it.

The second bag I got passed its test fine and a field test where I did two wet exits/self rescues and 15-20 rolls in my kayak.  My camera stayed perfectly dry which I am happy with.  I did install Velcro into the inside of the barrel then put the other side of the Velcro on my lens hood, putting the hood on backwards while in the bag.  This keeps the outer lens cover close to my lens for sharper images.  You must have an internally focusing lens for this to work.  I didn’t come up with this idea but read it on the reviews of the bag on B & H Photo’s web site.  I use my D300 with a battery grip in the bag and it is a tight fit.  I must take the lens off and put it on the camera through the lens barrel of the bag to get it on.  Thank god I have small hands.  I don’t find this a problem since I want the thing to fit tight.  If it just dropped in manipulating the camera would be impossible.  The bag did come with three micro-cell foam spacers to shim up your camera but I don’t need them for my setup.

As for manipulating the camera you must think out your settings before hand.  The controls are not easily accessible through the built in finger pockets so some ‘fore thought is required.  I put my camera on aperture priority and all is good.  The quality of the shots through the outer lens cover, a hard plastic, was very good.  They are not as good as through a dive housing, of course, but they meet my expectations and I think I will get outstanding adventure photos from it.  I also put a couple of silica packs in the bag to keep any moisture down and I carry a small piece of Pack Towel to wipe off the lens before shooting.  One thing I am working on is a bungee or retractable leash to attach it to my kayak.  I have been using the neck strap that comes with it but it is a pain as it is always in the way.

All in all I do think this is a good cost effective way to keep your camera dry while in the water, just test it first.  As with any product it works much better when you know its limitation and you don’t expect it to perform beyond what it is designed to do.  I will always test the bag before using it, but other than my bad experience with the first bag I am happy with the product, I wish I could be excited about it but I’m not.

Mile Stones

Most trips you will never forget but some will be ingrained into your memory as something special.  Taking my daughter to Chain-o-Lakes State Park this summer was that sort of trip, mile stones and memories were made.

When I was around 10 my dad started a tradition with me of doing something special for my birthday, just the two of us.  For several years we took a canoe trip, we would leave in the morning on the canoe trip and then camp that night.  The trip was through a local outfitter and we camped at the outfitters campground; that was my introduction to wilderness travel, which has become a life long love and passion.  This wasn’t a trip to the Boundary Waters but it was special to me all the same.  It has become important for my wife and me to start this tradition with our children.  Since my wife and I both love to do things outside we decided that it would be a trip with just that child and the other child would stay with grandma and grandpa.

Our daughter has been saving any money for about a year and a half to buy a kayak. So my wife and I decided it was time to “recycle” the birthday trip my dad had started 30 years ago.  She had saved about half of what she needed for a kayak and met our requirement that she start to learn how to swim so we paid for the rest of the boat and planed our trip.  I also made her a Greenland paddle in just her size.  I’d like to think that she wanted the paddle because dad uses a Greenland paddle or the since of tradition and history it represents but no she wanted it because I could stain it purple.  I’ll take what I can get and teach her about the rich history of traditional paddling later in life.

After making multiple trips to Nurpu River and Mountain supply and discussion with the Kevin, and Garry about what kayak was right for her she had her boat, PFD and a custom purple Greenland paddle.  I also bought a tow rope so when she got tried we could get her back safely and she would still enjoy the trip.

We packed our camper and headed to Chain-o-Lakes.  Our first day out we told her after we paddled a little we would go to the beach and she could play around.  That was all that was on her mind so not much paddling happened.  At the beach we let her play and swim; also we worked in a few wet exits.  I think this a skill that is essential for kayaking, knowing how far your boat will go before it goes over and having the confidence that you can remain calm and get out are as important as knowing which end of the paddle goes in the water.  We started by holding the boat and letting her jump out, by the end of the two days we were there she was flipping the boat completely over and swimming out.  We also attached both of our paddle floats to her paddle and let her play around with them.  She started to learn what it takes to climb over the paddle which will translate into self rescue later.

Over the coarse of a couple of days of paddling she got to see a muskrat swim by her boat, a beaver lodge, and slides created by river otters.  Knowing the kind of kid she is this just translates into a deeper love and appreciation of the outdoor world.  It also meant she wanted a kayak themed birthday party complete with a kayak themed cake but that is a whole other story in what a parent will do for their children.

While at camp she reached another mile stone.  She decided she wanted to ride her bike without training wheels.  We had attempted this several times before with disastrous results.  So after a long day of paddling she decided to try.  The training wheels came off and we started our first attempt.  Within three steps she was out of my hands and flying through the grass around the campground on two wheels!  I think it was an hour later before we actually got her to stop riding and take a break.  It all just came together.  I guess this trip was one of those times that you see your child grow up right before your eyes.  Since I was in Afghanistan the first year of her life I missed all of the first year mile stones.  I’m glad I’m able to reach these mile stones with her and I won’t forget them.

Now my youngest son’s birthday is in February and we are trying to figure out what special trip we should do for him, maybe climb Mt. Washington?  Ok maybe I’ll wait a few years for that since he’s only 4.

My Old Trusty Stove

Sometimes you have a piece of gear that you know should be replaced but despite all practical reasoning you just can’t do it.  My MSR XGK II stove is that way.  It’s not that I even need to replace it since I have a Whisper Lite and a MSR Pocket Rocket.  I know I should be carrying the lighter Pocket Rocket but I don’t.

As a product of working in the outdoor industry for 11 years I have a stove for all reasons and seasons.  The XGK II was bought when I was doing a lot of winter camping and mountaineering.  It was also my ultimate safety net; as a long range surveillance team leader I carried the stove during the winter.  There were many times we couldn’t take the driest route to an objective.  If any of my Soldiers started to go down on a training mission do to cold, wet weather I knew I could fire up the stove and get warm fluids into them.  The stove shows the wear from being in my rucksack for at least 25 to 30 parachute jumps and as many if not more training missions.  I also carried the stove in my bail out bag while I was in Afghanistan.  It’s robust build and ability to burn anything remotely flammable was my safety net if I ever found myself on the “run”.  I knew I could count on it to boil water quickly if need so I could survive.  Do to the parachute jumps, training mission and time in Afghanistan the stove is no longer round and the burner doesn’t sit straight but it still burns like hell.

My XGK II has also never failed to work no matter how crappy the fuel.  The only problem I’ve ever encountered was do to operator error (me being the operator) not the stove.  I cracked the pump housing while in Afghanistan.  So when I got home and before heading to Mt. Washington for a winter climbing trip I rebuilt the pump using the housing from my Whisper Lite.  Ready to go on the trip I made a huge mistake and didn’t do any pre trip inspection and test of the stove.  If I did I would have figured out that the fuel tube fit really tight into the pump and might need a little bit of chap stick to lube it up.  So while in sub zero temps I thought the tube and housing didn’t fit.  Everything worked out as the nice folks at the Harvard cabin let us use the stove in the cabin.  I still felt like a tool for not checking everything first, like I know I should have.

So while I know I should carry my lighter stove I can’t give up the old trusty XGK II.  It is like an old friend that you meet every year for a backpacking trip.  You spend more time sitting around camp passing the flask recounting past adventures and planning for new ones than actually hiking.  It is that old friend that I know I can count on.

Kayaking in Indiana

For years when I worked in the outdoor industry customers would see the "sea kayaks" up on the wall and ask "where can you use that?"  It was always a tough sell to people that thought kayaks are cool but thought where would I use one in Indiana?  My first question would always be how many rivers did you drive over to get here?  Indiana may not be Alaska or Washington but we do have plenty of paddling and Lake Michigan does touch Northern Indiana.  What we do have is tons of reservoirs that are a pleasure to paddle even though you aren't in the wilds of Alaska.  Most of our reservoirs offer great day paddling and Lake Monroe is big enough to do over night camping trips to get that much needed experience for bigger and better water.  Winter paddling with wind and high water can be quite sporting and build your experience base of foul weather paddling with out taking your life in your own hands.  Our rivers are easy and access to the White River in central Indiana has increased greatly in the past 10 years.  A great day of paddling can be had on many of our rivers with any size boat and most don't require that much experience.  I think one of the jems  of our state is Chain-o-Lakes State Park (CLSP).  This small park near Ft. Wayne is truly a paddlers paradise, that is for Indiana.  The multiply small lake are linked together by canals left by the last ice age that create about 6 miles of water ways from one end to the other.  Starting at one end and paddling to the other and back is a nice way to spend the day.  Only one or two of the lakes allow motorized water craft and then only trolley motors so you won't be buzzed by a speed boat or mad fisherman.  There is even a canoe camp so you can make it a night if you would like.  One of the great things about this park is the wildlife.  On multiple trips we've seen most of what Indiana has to offer.  Of course dear are there but you will also see beaver and river otters, you might even see an osprey if your lucky.  My wife and I spent one afternoon watching a family of otters after one almost hit my boat.
While we don't have the great expanse of water our coastal or Great Lake states have Indiana can offer fun for the day trip paddler.  Experience gained on these more mild water ways can launch you to that big trip you've been dreaming about.  Remember to keep your mind open to what we have around us because as our life gets busy close to home is still getting out!