Kayak no 33

Now the deck lines and toggles are in place.

In front of and behind the coaming I used 6 mm rubber cord.









In the bow and stern I used 6 mm deck rope.

Kayak no 32

The kayak do not leak!

Unfortunately it blew too much for a first test paddle. Becuse the only thing I had with me were a life jacket and a greenland paddle. What I'm waiting for some good weather combined with a free moment, so I can test paddle it for real.


Now there some job with the deck lines etcetera.

Kayak no 31

Has begun the work on the deck toggles. These are manufactured of one piece Jarrah coming from my grandmother's old outdoor table. Jarrah is according to NE "wood is heavy, hard and strong and has excellent resistance to rot and insects."
This sounds promising for something that will constantly be flushed with water.





Ropes, I ordered from kajaksaker.se 10 meters each of rubber cord 6 mm and deck rope 6 mm.
Ordered at 5:00 pm on Tuesday and received the delivery at 1:00 pm on Thursday, That's very good delivery time I think! Must also add that the 10 meters was almost 11 meters.

Re-thanks to Kajaksaker.se!

Kayak no 30

The final coat of the kayak!
I did a third and hopefully last layer on the bottom this afternoon. Now I just waiting on a sunny day off for a first try on water.
The last layer of coat was the easiest to do and there was enough whit half jar ZAR polyurethane varnish. If you want the kayak in a solid color it´s required about 100 grams of artist oil paint / layer.


The picture is taken before coating!

Kayak no 29

After rain comes sunshine! So they say, and it is the truth because it has been raining! Somewhere they said it was the coldest and most rainy June in 50 years.
So now when the sun is shining, it was time to paint a little on the kayak. I have done the bottom once, and the deck two times. This time I used plenty of artist oil paint in the warnish.





But wow what difficult it is to get evenly without running warnish.

Are not visible in the pictures but I have had to scrape of a lot of warnish between the coats.

Kayak no 28

I finally had time to give the kayak a first layer of coating.
My thoughts after the first layer:

It takes about 45 min / layer.
Mix CAREFULLY!
One jar / layer.
Don´t need to be diluted.
an extra jar to mix in is good.

Kayak no 27

The kayak ready for the first coat whit Zar Polyurethane

Kayak no 26

I think the seam on the foredeck was very successful. It looks like I used to thin gunwales because they are not in a smooth curve.

Nobody has told me about how difficult, time consuming and torment of the hands it is to sew the skin on the kayak.














After having sewn the skin it´s time to attach the coaming. I began to tighten with a strap but I had no force to it. Then I continued with a powerstrap from the car, it worked very well. I also took the chance to try with two boards and clamp, it also works fine, but it was difficult to get room to sew.





The best seem.











Rear of the cockpit.











Front of he cockpit.












My wery first greenlandic kayak ready for the first coat.

Kayak no 25

To skin a kayak is not a game.
I read somewhere that you should tighten the canvas to the ache in your hands, I took the word for it.
Either I have weak hands or it is the sinew. I sit with four plasters and whimpers, I may take a few days pause to get my hands healed. The aft deck of the kayak is sewn together and cut so it is only a tab at 2.5 cm left.





This tool is lent to me by my father, super easy to cut the skin with.

Kayak no 24

Skinning the kayak continues. I got help with the stretching of the skin of my colleague Johan. We stretched the skin 15 cm without any problems. In retrospect, I would have opted for 20-25 cm, but 15 cm may be good enough. "






Picture of the stern.
Stitches are between 10 mm to 2.5 cm. It is difficult to know how long stitches that is best.








Picture of the seam on the aft deck.

Kayak no 23

Finaly time to start sewing the skin on the kayak.
6 m nyloncloth from FOV Fabrics, a needle and many meters senew. I begin by running stitches along the stem and also around the tip so it forms a small pocket.

Tomorrow is time to do the stern.

Kayak no 22

Has had time to do some shopping, 3 bottles ZAR varnish from Blåhuset in Sollentuna (473 grams / pc odd amount) and 200 grams of artist oil paint titanium white from Hummelgårds färg in Arlandastad.

Coaming no 5

Cockpit ring tested on the kayak!
I stained the bright cockpit ring with Herdins varnish stains, believe that the darker tone will do well against a white canvas on the kayak. I will drill 170 holes in two rows, the top row of the edge and the bottom for sewing it to the canvas.
Since I don´t own a drilling machine, I contacted the nearest school where the nice janitor Stefan promised to let me in to the crafts room when I needed it, fantastic!

Coaming no 4

The cockpit coaming did´t brake! (almost).

A small crack was there, nothing serious and it is partially concealed under the coaming flange. I glued on two thin flange of 5 mm to get the total thickness of 10 mm. I will sand the entire cockpit and after that "sew it in place". Finally, the cockpit will be treated but this I will come back to later.

Coaming no 3

How difficult will it be?

Trials 1 and 2.

I think I will get the world's first kayak, whitout the cockpit.

Try 3.

I tryed with 7 mm thick and 40 mm high pine, the cracks a bit but as it is only in the outer annual ring.








Try 4.

Tried also with two 3-5 mm thick and 40 mm high. will see after the weekend if it has ruptured.

Kayak no 21

After the test paddle kayak has found it self down in the basement again.

At the top of the picture you can see the guides for the foot rests which I have glued in place.

I hav tryed to make a masik to get the coaming to get in the right position, it is not yet glued.

The broken cockpit coaming to test the final look, I think it will work.

Coaming no 2

This is the first attempt!
a little sad, I am.

But a little pity on the beautiful oak base. Now I have purchased a good piece of pine without knots will see if it goes better.

Kayak no 20

Finally launching time!

It feels much more real now when the kayak has been known close to the water. That I was worried aboute the keel would be oblique, has just been wasted of energy.
The kayak went strait the hole time. I think however, that it is a little high in the water but it means that I can load it whit heavy luggage.





This picture was taken by my friend Micke HA who were there as a photographer, moral support, a lifeguard and generally nice friend.

Once we were about to pack up came a very nice Finnish man who wanted to show his strip built kayaks built of prints from. Thomasson design, incredibly fine work there.

Coaming no 1

I have changed little on the form since the first attempt. As material, I had a floor base of oak lying which fitted perfectly for the job. I cut it down to about 7 mm at the table saw. After about 12 minutes in my seam box it was time to get in shape, I had good help of my colleague André. It had never worked to make this by myself!

Steam box

Now it was time to use the "steambox" I've built. I have used a ventilation pipe Ø125 mm about 160 cm long. at one end, I screwed a piece of form plywood in the second, I have a loose piece that funktion as a lid. The pot is perhaps of 15 liters. Between the lid and the pipe, I have an old Thermos, it´s made to keep the heat on the content, so it should indeed be perfect in order not to lose the heat of the steam. All parts are lost and found.

I forgot the fact that I used som epoxy for sealing joints.










First try, one third of water in the pot, lid on and wait. Once water was boiling and it was about 90 ° C, I set my oak socket (more about that in another post)

Kayak no 19

It is approaching the big S day, S as in splash.
Tomorrow I will test paddle my kayak to see how it behaves in the water. I have in the absence of "saran wrap" wrapt the kayak in building plastic / moisture barrier. I hope it will hold.

Paddle no 6

At last, my Greenland paddle are done!

I have shaped it and sanding it all weekend. The paddle is oiled 3 times with Herdins teak oil, it was what I got at home.

You can always refine it but to be my first paddle I ever made, I'm happy.

Optimus Crux Lite

My first choice in the field kitchen for my solo trips are Optimus Crux Lite. It weighs only 72 grams. With a one liter saucepan from Trangia at 102 grams, pie form as lid at 3 grams, and a grip at 45 grams, so considering my entire kitchen solution 222 grams + fuel, not so bad.

Consumables for me is about 220g / week

Terra Nova Laser Comp

I have a Terra Nova Laser Comp for my solo trips.
This must be the biggest little tent ever made!
I am 187 cm and has plenty of room left on both length and width. You can sit up and cook in apsis.
Solution with carbon fiber sticks may save on weight but is a lousy kvallité






Incredibly easy to set, requiring only 2 tent pegs, but if you put down 6 pc it will provide a good tension on the screen with all the pins it also do fine in strong wind (tried 15 m / s). Apsis is big enough for cooking, rucksack and boots at the same time.
There is some condensation problems when you got bad tension and pour rain, otherwise no condensation.
It says that it will weigh 860 grams, but it is without all. my weighs 1014g with everything.

Shaving horse no 4

Finally I´m done!

I have finally finished building my shavinghorse. Two hinge fittings, I used to be able to regulate the angle of the carving table. I plugged with oak pegs so that they do not wear out so fast.






I tested on a bit of crap wood, worked very well.

Now a can start with the paddles!

Shaving horse no 3

There you go!
Now it resembles something, little small adjustments left.
I am looking to attach a small piece of leather on the head so it will be more gentle to the paddle. I don´t want any marks on the wood.

Shaving horse no 2

Then most of the parts for shaving horse is sawn. Sanding and merge remains.

The actual bench for the shaving horse is assembled and waiting for sanding and plugging of the holes.

Shaving horse no 1

Then it was time to launch a another new project. In order to produce paddeln, I have decided that I need a Shaving horse. I found this picture online, can´t be that hard to do.

about $ 5,50 for a little bunch of threaded rod, nuts and washers + $ 10 for 2 pine 45 x 120 x 2400 cm. The remaining material from the pile of leftover wood in the basement.