Thread: stitch and glue kayak

I'm building the CLC Mill Creek 16.5 at the moment , I can't comment on the book because I haven't read it but when you buy the plans you get a building manual that gives you step by step instructions that are easy to follow , the full size templates of several of the major parts are handy as well but may not be exact given that paper can shrink and expand given humidity and weather conditions , but either way very little fitting is involved to make them fit right ,

So , as I said I don't know about the book but the plans are worth the money

Regards

David W

Andrew,

My guess is if you have never built a boat before, buy the plans for all the reasons David sets out.

If you have one or two under your belt, the book is probably OK, because you will have enough experience to fill the gaps.

My experience with books is that the plans in them are not complete, usually so you get all inspired, then have to go and buy them as well!

Regards,

P

thanks guys,

I figure you are right and it's probably worth bying the plans for the fist effort. It'll be interesting to see if its as easy as it all sounds.

Definiely right about the books giving enough info to be interesting but not quite enough to go ahead and make a boat... There are plans in the book but certainly not set out clearly for a novice.

Thanks again,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,
I had finishing David Payne 5.5m stitch and glue kayak build and launch for took building and break on sometimes up to 2 years last year. But I am maybe another kayak building is strip wood on later.
Alan

Hi Andrew

I just received my plans for the S&G Hiawatha 14 canoe from JEM (or one of those many sites that links off it). I'm an absolute novice at this so I'll be keeping a close eye on this forum. My plans are quite comprehensive, but have dropped in a few shortcuts, like they give you the patterns for the cutouts on the plywood sheeting, but only give you one set of measurements for each diferent shape and you have to use those as templates for duplicates. The HC14 is a symmetrical canoe though so it's no big deal.

I've had a look through various US sites on S&G canoe building, and the only thing I'm really unsure about at the moment is the epoxy. I need to get more familiar with the various types they talk about and then find the same or equivalent here in Oz. That's the only bit that scares me at the moment.

It's a winter project so I can take my time all ready for next year.

Cheers

John

John,
As you're in Sydney, have a talk to Caporn Marine in Brookvale about epoxy, they are agents for WEST system and ATL Composites.
Cheers,
Graeme

Thanks Graeme. I'll follow that up.


Cheers

Just finished two stitch and glue kayaks: a CH 16 and Ch17. I bought "The New Kayak Shop" book initially and then bought the plans for the Ch17. Since both boats had common features (eg coaming & hatches) I could easily build the Ch16 from the book. I even took an inch off the sides of the CH16 to make the deck lower for my 5'2" girlfriend (wish I had done that to my CH17, or at least 3/4" and I'm 5'10).

I used gaboon ply, west system epoxy and techni-glue. I didn't bother with the american obsession of different types of epoxy filllers and consitencies, if I wanted to glue, I used the techni-glue, and for fibreglassing and coating exposed ply I used the epoxy.

With no previous woodworking or fibreglassing skills everything turned out straight, fair and solid... I can't ask for more than that.

Nice work Gavin!!

What ply did you use, Gaboon??

cheers,

P

Very nice Gav.

The only thing that bothers me is: how efficient are those paddles when strapped to the hull like that?

Cheers
Richard

hi guys...just a clue on stitch and glue. particularly around chine area. keep the holes as close to the edge as you can. Ie about 3 mm. what you are trying to do is pull the sheets together evenly..not in one pull from one stitch. I know it says in books to do stitchs some 10mm. but just think about it. if you had a chine with a stitch going 10mm up one side 10mm and 10mm going along the other. Then you tighten what happens is you end up with a straight piece of wire joining the 2 points. So you use a screw driver to push it in then glass over it. The trouble is then is way to much room for the sheets to move relative to each other. If you had say 3mm sheet thickness and you planed your sheets dead true. Then mark a line the length of your chine 3mm in. Then drilled holes 100-125mm gaps. when your next sheet abutts it. The wires stop the ajoining sheet going over that 3mm line. But your chine line is dead true. all you have is a very small piece of wire 3mm long. this is more than enough. it won't pull through the ply if the sheet are even and fair. Also try and support the hull and either end of the boat/canoe/kayak or whatever. allow the sheet to form a fair shape. Not flat spots due to tressels.
How do i know this...i use to build nearly 5 boats per month for yrs. But that was another life.
I also do a diff method again which is way better still. if you want to know about it let me know would be more than happy to help.
Sinjin
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Hi Sinjin,

I'm intrigued by your "different" method. I was going to email you but thought I'd post the question here!

Can you provide more details here?

Regards,

P

Hi, This wasn't my idea at all. But what i started to do/ copy after a while was to true up all the chines to the finished size sheets . Then bevel all the ply chines at 45degs or more.

When you then wire it all together the inside wires shown are very small about 1-2mm and when you tighten them you can actually pull the wires carefully into the ply a little. So when you glass over the wires you have very small bump. but the real advantage you get very sharp true chine lines. The method of going up to 10mm in from the edges. Really i think is building in possible errors. When you glass the inside then flip your boat over to the outside edges. You actually get quite sharp edges. Ithink this way hasl positives.I should say this method i feel is also way quicker.
Sinjin.

how thick is the ply used in stiitch n glue, and why use wire, why not screws????