Overhaul the Playboat, Part 7

There's one more part of the playboat overhaul that I should document and that is the relocation of the deck beam at the back of the cockpit after I had already put the skin on the boat.  Messing with the frame is best done when the skin is off the boat, but it wasn't until after I put the finished boat in the water and paddled it that I discovered that it would be better if the back deck beam were a few inches farther back so it would line up with the back of the coaming .  The main problem was that since it didn't line up with the back of the coaming, it jabbed into my back when I was paddling.  It's one of those things that don't reveal themselves till you actually use the boat, kind of like too tight shoes.

The back of the cockpit is on the right. You can see the deck beam that supports the back of the coaming sticking out a good three inches in front of the coaming's back.  Had to fix that.

Here's what the fix looked like from the outside when done.  I had to cut the skin to get at the three stainless steel screws that were holding the deckbeam in place against the gunwales. I had to do this surgery on both sides of the frame.  Once I had the screws out, I had to cut the pegs and lashings that secured the deck beam to the deck stringers.  Once the deckbeam was free, I trimmed it down to fit farther back in the boat and re-attached it to the gunwales.  What you see here is the net result. The deck beam is still held in place by three screws.  Two of them under the skin flap that I glued back down and one off to the right of the skin flap screwed right through the skin.

Here's the view of the relocated deck beam from inside the boat looking up.  That red piece of wood at the top is a carlin that supports the side of the coaming.  The exposed wood shows where the deckbeam used to sit.

View of the surgery on the other side of the boat.  I also had to add a support for the carlin, nailed it to the edge of the deck beam with bronze ring nails.

Interior view looking forward.

Interior view looking aft.

And that should be the end of coverage for this kayak remodel unless some other thing comes up that I haven't discovered yet.

Overhaul the Playboat, Part 6

Skipping part 5 which is where I decided to add a King Island style nose to the kayak.  The point of this was to elevate the bow to minimize water coming over the bow in oncoming waves.  No pictures of that process available though you can see the end result here.

Viewing from back to front, fog bank hanging over the west end of San Francisco, San Francisco downtown skyline, salt marsh, tidal pond, chain link fence, and finally the newly varnished playboat.

closeup on the foredeck with faux sealskin paint splatter.

And the rear deck.

Little better side view showing extensions to the hull, a foot in the bow and another foot in the stern making the finished boat 12 feet over the original 10.

The nose, like some menacing sea creature.

View inside the cockpit with detail of spray painted frame and seam in the skin pieced in two parts.

Time has passed, the grass has dried out and the playboat is awaiting its first trip on the water.

Postscript:  I launched the boat, found that the back deck beam in the cockpit was digging in my back and so I moved it back a few inches to make the boat more comfortable.  Also needed to put more sealant on the seams since they were still taking on water.  In spite of the extra two feet, the boat is still  pretty low volume for someone my size.  Were I to build another 12 footer from scratch, I would make the stern beamier and raise the bow some more. The End.

Overhaul the Playboat, Part 4

As promised, I took a can of red spray paint and loosely misted the flat desert storm camo paint I had put on the frame of the playboat.  Made it look a whole lot more traditional. Photos below.

All this by the way happened way back in February as evidenced by the green grass and yellow flowers.  But there's still more to come.  The playboat is going to get  a nose-job and a skin. Can't wait to share.

Overhaul the Playboat, Part 3

Part three of the overhaul, new lashings for the keelson and a paint job for the frame was relatively easy. Not much thinking or design choices required.  The lashing went fast.  The painting took way longer than I imagined, about 3 hours.  Next time I will have to pull out a spray gun.
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New running Greenland style lashing for the keelson.

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New lashings for the chine stringers.

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And finally a coat of  Desert Storm tan camo latex paint that was left over from painting a whole bunch of tin sheds and free for the taking.  It's butt-ugly, but I'm going to get some red spray paint and spiff it up some. Can't paddle a boat that might be miffed at you for painting it ugly.  That would be dangerous.  Never piss off your boat.  Your life is in its hands.

Next brighten up the paint on the frame and then put on some skin and paint that.

Time to Overhaul the Playboat

I decided it was time to overhaul the playboat.  Main reason being that the sunlight had deteriorated the lashings in the cockpit area.  The skin was still OK.  As I often do, I used materials in this boat that I haven't used before to see how they hold up.  And the lashings which were done in cheap poly-unbraided string had gotten eaten by the sun. So, strip off the skin and proceed.  This is part one of the series showing what the frame looked like after I pulled off the skin.  Subsequent parts will show repairs and overhauls.

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Here''s the skin pulled off the boat, actually cut off.  I won't reuse it.  It's nylon which shrinks when the sun shines on it. I aim to replace it polyester.

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The boat sans skin, defrocked, naked.  Goose pond and SF skyline in the background along with US Govt. cyclone fence separating us from the federal land.

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Deteriorated lashings - the primary reason for rework.

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Though the wood has gotten ragged and the varnish deteriorated, the lashings are still good where they weren't exposed to the sun.

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With outdoor storage, spiders move in, hence the cobwebs.  Also note doweled stringer come loose with dowels working their way out of their holes.  Needs to be backed up with lashings, or heavens forbid, screws.

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Here's the fuzzy wood look that wood gets when repeatedly exposed to water.  This is pine.  Doug fir and redwood which I also used in this boat do not get this disease.

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Finally, for aesthetic reasons, I decided to put a bird on it.

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And another version of Put a bird on it!