Tassie Oak for kayak sheer clamps

[TK1]

Hi,

I am currently building a CLC 17 stitch & glue kayak. It calls for sheer clamps to allow the deck to be attached. They're about 1" x 1/2" (from memory, not real massive anyway).

Typically these would be made with Cedar, Western Red Cedar, Ash, etc - all the usual Americal woods.

Given I don't have access to a planer/thicknesser or huge reserves of money to buy a 17' long piece of WRC and cut them out myself, I was hoping to use some ready-milled Tassie Oak instead.

Is this suitable? The wood will be completely covered in epoxys, not going through too much of a bend, and purely internal. Is it OK to use (from those who've used it in boats)? Weight shouldn't be a major issue as they're not big bits of wood, but will I get into trouble with any other characteristics?

Thanks,
Darren

[bitingmidge]

They are of course heavy, but you should be able to use a lot smaller section of Tas Oak, why the 1" dimension do you know?

It's dangerous to surmise without seeing the situation, but I would have thought that half that would give you adeqaute glueing.

Where are the pics anyway?

cheers,

P:D

[TK1]

Hi Midge,

I'll check the dimension, etc and let you know. It's basically just a piece to allow the deck to be nailed to the built-up hull. Exact size shouldn't matter I guess.

Pics will be forthcoming :) At present I have 4 pieces of 11" wide x 18' plywood sheeting - not much to take a piccie of.

Hoping to get the panel shapes laid out this week, then with a week at home after xmas will start stitching it up. Stay tuned...

Thanks,
Darren

[hairymick]

G'day Darren,

I don't know about the CLC build processes but as I understand things, all the sheer clamps do is to provied a bigger glueing surface for the decks to stick to. This applies to any kayak where the decks make it impossible to apply a fillet as in hull build.

I have used cedar strips that were way shorter than the length of the boat and scarfed them to length.

Also worth considering is cheap pine. What I have been doing recently is buying cheap, relatively knot free 290 X 19 pine and ripping strips off about 8mm thick to use as sheer clamps. Where, I come across knots, I cut them out and scarf.

It works well for me, not too heavy, doesn't cost an arm and a leg and the sheer clamps are never seen anyway.

[TK1]

Thanks Mick.

I thought of using pine but wasn't sure, given it's a pretty ordinary wood. But I figure if it's completely encased in epoxy it wouldn't hurt.

I'm going to try and get hold of some WRC, spruce, or something similar as I need soem anyway for a racing kayak I'm building next - it's built over chines/sheer clamps so I want something light for that - I may as well buy a bigger piece and cut a couple of strips off for this one.

Will be posting build photos once xmas is over...hoping to trace the panel shapes this week and cut out the panels so I can start stitching once all the distractions are over.

Then it's onto the next builds...I've already got the next 4 planned :D:rolleyes::2tsup:

Regards,
Darren

[bloggs1968]

Hi Darren,

I started a CLC17 a couple of weeks ago for myself (with great intentions of putting off the clients for a few days and having it ready for Xmas.....)

I used celery for the clamps on mine - a bit heavy but I had enough offcuts milled exactly at the right dimensions to do the job.

Have you thought of putting a post on the Timber part of the forum and Buy sell and swap - you may find someone close by who has some oregon, or WRC and a thicknesser who could help you out.

Tas oak would be ok, but I would be going through the rack and finding the swamp gum/vic ash - e.regnans. easy to pick by the lightness of it.

if you really want to go light, look at WR cedar which is really quite cheap. Ring aroound some of the joinery shops for some offcuts. Good quality spruce in Australia is really expensive.

look forward to seeing some pics.

regards

AD

[Boatmik]

The OAK will be really stiff. You may have trouble bending it to shape. Any lower density wood will bend a lot easier (stiffness being primarily in line with density)

Hoop Pine, NZ white Pine, Salvage Oregon- anything of light/medium density will be OK.

With the CLC a lot of the sheer clamp gets bevelled off - reducing the bonding area to the side of the hull (ie the glue clamps are glued on projecting past the plywood edge).

So you could keep the depth of the sheer clamp so you can plane it down a similar amount and keep the same bonding area with the side of the boat. But the WIDTH could be reduced so the bonding area for the deck equalled the bonding area for the side of the boat.

I think the original width was so you could use fastenings to hold the deck down - but the method of putting temporary cleats along the top edge of the oversize deck and using a couple of ratchet roof rack pull downs to get it pulled down close and then lots of packaging tape to get the rest pulled down.

RULE 1 with gluing jobs with complicating factors like that above - DO A DRY RUN FIRST!

Hope this helps
Michael Storer