Joansa Construction - Page 12
Rick Fletcher - Central Coast NSW Australia
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1. The first taste of salt water. It was surprisingly bouyant in the stern.
2. Ready to go ...
3. ... a bit of careful going astern...
4. ...and we are away!
5. It slips easily throught the water even though the "real" oars aren't finished yet. These oars are 1' (300mm) too short.
6. After a good work-out in tide and current the happy crew retrieved. All went quite well.
7. When loaded this way, it can be taken short distances but the bow is just over 3m from the ground.
8. One run was devoted to checking the performance with the 2HP Yamaha.
9. My mate Doug from Coffs Hbr helped with the launching. 2HP drives it at better than hull speed. Check the Coffs website for their nice timber kayaks.
10. My grandaughter Adele with her "fashion pink" lifejacket. Trip 6.
Sunday 8th April.

11. Son-in-law, Olvier, came with me and had a row. He was pleased with the ease of rowing compared to European hire "clunkers".

12. This shows the footrests and the tie-down blocks which lock into the gun'l spacers. The hollow in the top of the footrests cradles the oars when inboard.
13. A closeup of the tie-downs which work really well on a boat with slotted gun'ls.
14. The rear & top of the "jaw" are lined with insertion rubber it is made from scrap marine ply bonded with "Purbond" (an excellent waterproof one-pack from Boat Craft ™).
15. There are extra layers at the top for additional width. A stainless ring bolt acts as a tie point.
16. Cardboard templates (cut several times) finally resulted in a 3ply trial piece.
10th April
17. The ply is one layer of what will be 2 (or 3??) pieces. I used a sliding bevel to measure the angle between the ply and the deck top.
18. This shot of Saratoga (on Brisbane Water) shows the packing blocks under the deck edge ready to receive the coaming (if I ever find time between boat trips).
11th April
19. This is a test run of the "forward view" mirror. I have a neck problem & this mirror was nicked off my sports car for a test. It works very well & I will buy some motor cycle mirrors for a final version.
20. Another project underway is completion of the deck hardware. This is a trial cleat in Huon Pine bought all the way from Tassie by my sailing mates, Phil & Gisela.
21. I wasn't happy with the size of the cleat in photo 20 so I scaled it up a bit and made a template. The cleat is 120mm long.
22. A circle template was used to locate the centre for drilled holes.
26th April
23. Use a clean cutting bit...
24. ...and remove the waste with a band saw or scroll saw or similar.
25. The cleat on the right shows a slight tumblehome which was roughed carefully on a disc sander.
26. Shaping involves a lot hand sanding and is a pleasant way to spend a half hour or so.
27. Two 5mm holes were drilled to accept 50mm s/steel countersunk screws. I counter bored the holes to 3/8" which was the size of my Plug Cutter.
28. This produces a neat 3/8" plug to cap the hole after the screws were epoxied in place. Try to get the grain in the plug aligned with the grain in the cleat. Grind flats on the head of the screw to avoid it rotating later.
29. The finished Huon Pine cleat is not too bad but I should have matched the plug colour a little better.
30. The first piece of 4mm 3ply was finally shaped to a fair fit after a lot of trial and error with templates.
30th April
31. I laminated 3 layers of ply for the coaming & this is the first one in place. It is 2mm hoop pine 3ply. Very expensive stuff!
32. Then the core layer of 4mm ply was laminated to the first with a forest of clamps.

33. Finally the 3rd layer of 2mm ply such that I have dark wood in the core and lighter hoop pine at the surface to match other parts of the boat. Total thickness about 9mm and very strong.
34. Plenty of sanding followed by the first coats of epoxy. More to come but I want to get back in the water!
35. Starting to look like a finished product now. Should shed a bit of rough water.
6th May
36.
Now sold - another
project coming.
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