Three years ago (to the day ;), b.o.a.t. began his thread on an update to his Clayton Bay 144LV kayak design; when I eventually - by chance, about 1.75 years ago - caught up with the thread it was all over including the shouting. I found it so elegant and interesting that I decided that I would like to have a go at building one myself. (I should say that while I have had some experience with paddling kayaks (on sheltered portions of the sea, the River Murray, etc.) I am not an expert, and when it comes to building said things, a complete novice.) I contacted b.o.a.t. with my wishes and he seemed quite happy - for some peculiar reason that I still haven't fathomed ;) - that I do so. He also very kindly went to a lot of trouble to re-jig the plans for Fumble-Fingered-Fool consumption, and I got busy paving my boat-building road with yet more good intentions (starting the kayak build in late 2010 for one ;) when I got tripped up by trouble with surface coatings and my own insane approach to "perfection" on my 'Duck/Ozracer build. I can't do much about the former, but I have, in the final throes of building the 'Duck, rather modified my approach not only to final finishing but also my rather odd approach to tolerances in a woodworking context (fine if you're metalworking, but a decided trap if woodworking).
With the 'Duck finally out of the way (literally) and sailing, and work progressing at a moderate rate on the organisation of my workswamp, I am now considering future projects more seriously: these include the CB144, the Storer Goat and Storer Eureka. The CB144 is likely to be first out of the blocks, probably beating the Goat by a full length at least while I agonise over what plywood to build the latter from. I have some very nice 4 mm Joubert gaboon plywood from Andrew Denman for the CB 144 and the Eureka, but not, sadly, 6 mm gaboon for the Goat. I rather precipitately leapt at a bargain of 6 mm Pacific maple marine ply at $50/sheet plus freight: this latter stuff is excellent material, but heavy: I did a comparison of the approximate densities (kg/cu. metre) of the PM and gaboon sheets, and the latter worked out around 30 % lighter than the former (a figure that Mr Storer independently confirms elsewhere).
I've started "work" on the kayak by re-reading the plans, email correspondence with b.o.a.t., and his build thread (see link above). The kayak will be something quite a bit different for me, and likely to be quite a big challenge.
To summarise the construction procedure, all parts of the boat including the temporary spine over which it is constructed are marked out on three sheets of plywood (chines, bulkheads and cockpit coaming) and one sheet of, e.g., chipboard/particleboard, MDF or similar cheap, expendable but stiff board (spine, stations/moulds). The square spine running almost the length of the boat is made up out of bits of the chipboard sheet, and once the stations have been drawn onto the board and cut out they are threaded onto the spine at predetermined distances. The chine parts (two per chine) are similarly lofted but then joined at the sheet edges with taped butt-joins before cutting out. These are then placed over the mould and stitch-and-glued together starting with the hull, and working from the bottom chines (top of mould) thereof to the "gunwale". The same process is repeated for the deck after flipping the spine 180 degrees. After filling, taping, coating and sanding the two halves are epoxy-taped together, the essential and optional bulkheads installed, and various other bits and pieces added to finish the craft off, and finished off with final painting, etc.
Sounds easy, doesn't it? Ha ha ;).
In this build I am going to try and stick to the following after various experiences with building the 'Duck, reading AJ's thread, etc.:
1. Get the workshop finished! That actually has to happen before any other work can start;
2. Plan ahead;
3. Use the minimum amount of glue possible - happily, there is very little opportunity for filletting(!);
4. Don't get stuck on a "perfect" finish;
5. Keep the build moving;
6. Use WEST resin/hardener;
7. Don't do a bright finish (eek!);
I will also probably attempt Mr Storer's double-ended paddle (right-hand) using some of the remnants of the third sheet, too. Got to have something to power the boat with, after all ;). Which means that I'll have one of the two paddles for the Eureka already made, then :).
One of the beauties of using the spine per AJ's plans is that it can be affixed onto my Triton Multi-Stands and moved about as necessary (e.g., to make way for the Goat ;), and even clamped to a bench.
So, when is this project likely to get going in terms of marking out and cutting. etc.? I started a bit of phoning around for chipboard yesterday, and go an approximate price, but I will keep going on that one as supply of 12 mm sheets of chipboard at the place that I rang was limited(!?!). Which still doesn't answer the question! I get a little further with the tidying every day, but that has been crimped slightly by dint of having to prepare a spot outside for the HWH. Once the latter has been moved, however, I get an extra bit of uncluttered gangway and will be able to get some dry wall and shelving up along it quick-smart:).
The cutting-out and so-forth will hopefully start in the next couple of weeks, but that may change; you never know, it might even be earlier but I think that unlikely.