A Paddle

I didn’t end up actually stripping my kayak yet. In fact, the forms are back on the floor in the living room for now. Instead, I bought a canoe and have been making paddles for it. Here’s what I got into last weekend.

I rough cut the paddles in the evenings last week and planed them down to a rough shape. Then on Saturday, I took them back to the hanger and did some more planing and sanding to get them closer. Over all, I’m pretty happy with the outcome, but the belt sander ripped it’s belt before I got both handles done.

Finally, some progress!

I’ve been waiting for a good place to do this. I still don’t have a good one, but I’m doing it anyway. Time to put the forms on the strongback and start getting things lined up!

 

Kayaking Buddies

I met, and have started paddling with a few other guys in the Sentani area now. I’m pretty happy to be getting to use a kayak while mine sits waiting to be built.

It’s been too long

This is just a quike update.

I ordered the wood for my kayak and recently bought a few more tools. I’m back in the US for a short visit right now and hopefully when I get back to Indonesia I can start looking for a good strongback so I can start building.

Wooden Forms

Finally, after a couple months of tweaking and preping, I got the forms made. In the end, it was a rather painless ordeal. I went down to the local carpenter and had him make them up for me. Total cost, 200,000 rp or about $22.

I think it was worth it, especially if you look at the wood he used. It’s a very sturdy 1.5cm thick plywood. I bet if I treat them right, I could use these forms for more then one kayak. Assuming of course that I’m happy with the design.

Boats Indonesian Style

I’ve been on Karimunjawa Islands in the Java Sea the last few days. They have a few interesting boat types out here. Here are a few of what I saw. I find it interesting that in the wood kayaking world weight is a huge deal. I keep seeing on the Blue Heron Forums comments about boats over 40 pounds being heavy. I wonder what one of these little canoes would weigh?

Paddle Building

We were out for a walk the other day here in Karimunjawa and I spotted this fellow roughing out a paddle for his boat. It’s good to see the professional paddlers agree on how to make a wooden paddle.

Take a good look at the tool he is using, it looks to me like a run of the mill local machete. With that knowledge, I should feel courageous to carve on with my pocket knife!

Kayaking Technique | Guillemot Kayaks

Kayaking Technique | Guillemot Kayaks.

It’s always good to exercise proper technique for kayaking. Here is a page with good info on some basics including turns and learning to read currents and drifts.

The Results of Boredom.

I said that I was bored in my last post and was gonna try something different. This I have done, and it appears that I’ve managed to kill a couple days of time. The result is that I’ve made a nice 3D model of my of my kayak. So here are some photos of it. Enjoy!

Bored

I’m bored, so I’m trying something new out. At Blue Heron Kayaks, there is a forum thread that tells you how to convert your Kayak Foundry file onto a CAD program and then view your kayak in 3D. That sounds exciting, so I’m gonna try it.

I will be sure to post any cool results. If they are only boring or no results, I will probably not post much about it.