OK, JEM...... | Page 7 | SouthernPaddler.com

OK, JEM......

JEM

Well-Known Member
dawallace45 said:
I've been resisting this but now I'm interested , It's not as if I don't already have enough projects lined up , so Jem , how would this kayak go for a gentleman with a fuller figure , as in 6'1" and 230 lb ? and how much room in the back compartment , would there be enough room to carry a lever gun with a 20 inch barrel ?

David

The size and weight I don't see as being an issue.

What's the overall length of the rifle?
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Here's a thought for you guys to kick around. I regularly sit on my aft decks to have lunch when in the outback.

It is a shallow vee deck. I reinforce it simply with a strip of 4mm plywood about 10"-12" long X 2" wide, mounted cross ways (transversely for word-impaired fellas), up under the deck, centered. I then glue in a short, vertical piece at the center, between the brace and the deck.

These inverted "T braces" stiffen the deck a lot, are up out of the way, and attract women a mightily. (OK, only 2 out of 3 is real.)

A set of these immediately fore and aft of a hatch opening would add a lot of stiffening to a deck in and of itself. A 4mm "ring around the hatchee" on top of the deck would finish it off nicely. Just my opinion.

My TRUE opinion is that it is foolish to construct a strong, waterproof deck - and then cut a hole in it.
 

JEM

Well-Known Member
My personal preference is for a more open cockpit and no hatches too. But I want this to be a flexible design.

The stiffeners for and aft of the hatches would be needed even without the hatches. An arced deck is strong, but just not enough for me to feel confident to not have some additional bracing underneath.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
No. Mine is a 12"X 2" piece of 4mm ply. It lays flat, cross ways, up under the deck. It attaches to the deck only at its ends, the middle is bridged about 1 1/2" at the center. I run a vertical augmentation brace, from the center of the brace, up to the centerline of the deck. This braces the brace into a stiff set of triangles.

You could make it even stiffer using a 14" long piece and a vertical center brace, but it would stick down into the cargo hold further. The 10"-12" has always been strong enough for me to sit on the decks. I space them about 20'-22" apart along under the wide parts of a deck.
 

skiabq

Active Member
May 6, 2006
33
0
Albuquerque
Sorry I didn't reply to this post earlier, I have been pretty busy, this darn work stuff is getting in the way of playing :D Matt, the way that you have the brace in the picture is exactly how I was thinking it would go together. I don't think it would really get in the way. I read Jack's reply and I think his idea would work pretty well too and might be easier to contruct and use less material.

Just my 2¢ for what it is worth, probably not even 2¢!
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
I have tried to post this and every time one of our gentile Florida storms has shut down the power.

Not bad storms :roll: ..... 16,500 lighting strikes an hour with over 13 inches of rain during that hour. Nothing serious, just normal for us. I sat on the back porch watching the light show and the rain , it was coming of the roof of the house in a solid sheet , with a darn nice light show above.

Matt.

Will this kayak be available in a kit at 16 feet?
I can do the hatches myself, they are not a problem to make.
Will bulkheads be with the kit if the kit is available.

The reason I am asking this is that I have a trip planned later on and I will need a light weight kayak with all of the weather protection available, hatches and bulkheads, not even thinking about the critters that might want everything I have with me. The bulkheads and hatches will stop them, those coons can open an ice chest and I will bet they could open any safe made but when it comes to boats the bulkheads and hatches throw them a curve ball. :D

I like your design because it would be a shallow draft boat but able to handle some nasty weather or raiding varmints at night while going thru some skinney water.

Chuck.
 

dawallace45

Well-Known Member
Jem

The rifle is 38" overall , I like a large cockpit too , at my size I don't slip in and out of the kayak as well as some people and couldn't Eskimo roll to save my life , so I need to be able to get in and out quickly , also I prefer to be able to get to fishing gear and drink cooler easily , my open cockpit Mill Creek is good but just a little long and heavy for single use , but the open cockpit is great for carrying a load when camping

David
 

hairymick

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
2,107
2
Queensland, Australia
Jack, if I understand you post correctly, you are describing a truss similat to a roof truss. A truss set up you describe seems like an awfull lot of unnecessary work to me.

Why not laminate several strips of ply into the desired curve. fibreglass the lamination onto the sides and then stick the deck to it? would take up less room, be strong enough and very quick & easy to do
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Mine's lighter truss, you're right. Uttilizes inherent strength of triangles. I make it up of scrap. Takes about 1 1/2" - 2" down from the peak that isn't used anyway. Your way is maybe better, though.

Several options.
 

hairymick

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
2,107
2
Queensland, Australia
Hi Jack,

Yours would be lighter mate :D and I'm not sure about the comparative strength but I think your way might be the stronger as well. :D I was just trying to think of a quicker/easier way to get a similar result.

I'm playing with laminating thin strips of pine 3/32"into curves at the moment. (for bent wood furniture) I'm finding that the laminated beam is much stronger than a single piece of 3/8" bent to the same curve. Just throwing ideas around.

I killed a taipan tonight and cant sleep. Bloody nearly stepped on the thing and it allmost got my dog. i hate the basterd things.
 

JEM

Well-Known Member
Well fellas I've been holding out on ya.

Some background: My daughter has been bugging me for a while to design her a kid size kayak. So I finally broke down and drew one up. We finally got the kit this weekend (my CNC guy owed me a favor...I know....I'm spoiled now :p )

But then we all started talking about this one so I quickly adapted her boat to incorporate a rounded deck since I've never fooled with one of those before. Glad I did because Emmy (my daughter) and I started assembling tonight and I got a few ideas how to make things better.

I'll sell the kids plans on the site once I see the stability is ok for little ones. It's 7'4 long, with a max beam of 24". That sounds narrow but I intentionally did that for paddling ease and plus it'll drop in the water lower. I'm still a little nervous if it'll be stable but kids have such a different center of gravity and sense of balance.

What's nice is that there's no panel splicing or butt blocking. Everything is in one panel under 8'.

It's completely scaled. Total free board is 10". So this is a calm water cruiser only. I'll probably rig up an outrigger pole to attach to my canoe.

There is an aft compartment with hatch. Not really needed for a kid yak but since we're doing hatches on the big yak, I wanted to feel that out as well.

She'll probably out-grow this in about a year but that's ok. I'll have it for a show piece and maybe her kids will one day paddle it.

Here's a couple shots of my 8-year-old daughter with her deck.

EmmyYak1.JPG


EmmyYak2.JPG
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Handsome little girl; good thing she looks like her Mommy.

Boat looks good too. If it gets a might tippy, try narrowing the bottom a bit so's the sides slope outwards not so steep. That'll help her displace more water as it leans over.

Oh, and you'd oughta put a bottom on that boat, Matt. Looks a little leaky as it is, ehh?

Nice job, Daddy. And GOOD on ya, Mate!
 

hairymick

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
2,107
2
Queensland, Australia
Heya Matt,

Good on ya maaaaate :D

i was wondering when you would start something for the littluns. :D

Are you going to stick to a traditional hull type or one of those gull wing jobs?

Strapping young girl there mate. I bet you're a proud dad & I reckon she'll go real well in her own boat. I bet she's pushing you to get this one finished. :lol:
 

JEM

Well-Known Member
hairymick said:
Heya Matt,

Good on ya maaaaate :D

i was wondering when you would start something for the littluns. :D

Are you going to stick to a traditional hull type or one of those gull wing jobs?

Strapping young girl there mate. I bet you're a proud dad & I reckon she'll go real well in her own boat. I bet she's pushing you to get this one finished. :lol:

Her's won't be much more than a decked pirogue when you get down to it. I wanted some simple and stable. Looks like a little tugboat.

Poppa is proud as a peacock. I figured my 11 year-old son, who is a freakin Legos master builder, would be the one bitten by the boat building bug first. But it's my girl who pushed first. My son said "I want to see how hers handles then we can make mine". Talk about being the engineer....wants a prototype before committing to anything. :lol:

She is pushing. When we did some tack welding last night, she asks when it would be dry so we could do more. When I told her it wouldn't be until the next day she gave me that "that's unacceptable" look that her mother does so well. :roll: