Fabric and Cockpit

I decided to use a dacron fabric from Stits PolyFiber (FAA-grade aircraft covering system) on the kayak.  It is tacked on to the wood with a glue-like liquid (polytak), and then you heat shrink it down with a calibrated iron.  I attached it with two pieces, one that went around the bottom of the kayak from gunwale to gunwale, and then the top piece overlapped the bottom at the gunwales.  Below are pics of it after these two pieces were put on, prior to heat-shrinking.  

I made the cockpit coaming from two 1/4in strips of pine, soaked for a few days to soften them, then wrapped around an oval plywood form while heating with hot tap water.  After they dried, the two strips (the coaming and a narrower coaming-rim to hook a spray-skirt to) are doweled together, stained, and then coated with a few coats of epoxy varnish.  

I then cut a hole in the fabric and sew the fabric to the inside of coaming all around. 

Here you can see the stitching on the outside of the coaming

And here's the stitching on the inside of the coaming... 

Next up is shrinking the dacron down, then applying seam tape where the dacron seams are and any spots that need reinforcement (like the keelson), and finally the sealing coats.  I haven't decided if I'll put a coat of paint for the final finish yet.  I'll wait to see what the clear sealing coat looks like first. 

Deck Stringers

Added the deck stringers last night.  Two stringers behind the cockpit and two in front.  They are 1/2"x 2" red oak, edges beveled, and are doweled in place.  

Rear deck stringers:  used to sit on when getting into the kayak

Forward deck stringers: 

Also added the stern breasthook.  This is a small piece of wood that bridges the stern-board and the gunwales so that there isn't a large gap between the two.  I used the same stock of red oak that I made the deck stringers for this.  Cut a notch in both the end of the gunwales and the top of the stern board for it to sit, then used a plane and 

Added Hull-Stringers

Added the two hull stringers last night.  These are 1" x 3/4" boards, about the length of the kayak, and run on either side keelson.  They hold the fabric skin off the ribs and are lashed to each rib and to the stem and stern boards on the ends.  Two views of it below:

The next step is installing the deck-stringers, then coating the wood with a few coats of poly, and finally will start the skinning process.  

Building a greenland kayak

Picture history of my Greenland Kayak build.  

I'm following instructions from here: Build a Greenland Kayak.  This calls for a 16' boat, but that wouldn't fit in my garage easily so I've shortened it to a 14' one.  I've used white pine for most of the wood and ash for the ribs.  It's made without any glue, nails, or screws...all parts are either doweled together or lashed with synthetic seine.  The boat is covered with a "skin" which I'm thinking of using aircraft-grade dacron for.  (other options are canvas or nylon).  The skin gets painted with a waterproof coating (e.g. polyurethane).  

Here's some example pics of what this should look like when done:

I started with the gunwales, this shows the bow where the two gunwales come together and will get doweled:

Here are the full length gunwales before getting doweled together:

Gunwales lashed together with a spreader bar in the middle

Doweled the gunwales togther and have added all the deck beams (also doweled in).  The blue ropes hold the gunwales against the deck beams to give the boat the proper shape.

Once you tighten up the lashings against the beams, the angles cut in the beam edges cause the gunwales to tilt, giving the bowed curvature of the deck from front to back.

Next I lash the deck beams to the gunwales (in addition to the dowels): I used synthetic sein (kind of a waxy cord).

View of the lashing at the knee brace deck beam (from below).  A groove is cut into the gunwale on the outside so the lashing doesn't create a bump in the skin once the boat is covered.  The slots in the bottom of the gunwale here are where the ribs will fit into later.

After installing the keelson and ribs: the ribs are ash that I soaked for 3 days, then steamed prior to bending.  Next step is to lash the ribs to the keelson, add hull and deck stringers, then put the "skin" on.