Is this addictive

[Martin in Fonthill]

My name is Martin,I am from Fonthill ,Ontario
I am a draftman workings in the steel fabrication industry.
I enjoy photography and so decided to try shooting from a kayak, I started looking for one and found that they all reminded me of old tupperware.I then started looking at wood kayaks and found that I needed to be rich to afford one, but I continueud to look and decided to build my own and ended up lurking on this forum.
I am taking the plunge, I ordered a set of plans from Matt.
I hope to start building next week.
I see there is the odd geezer on this forum (did I say odd?)so I should fit in.
I know about grits, the stuff you throw on the driveway after a ice storm or mix with floor paint to keep from sliding .
Maybe i will fit in
Cheers
Martin

 

[dangermouse01]

Hey Martin;
Just a little bit addictive (or a whole lot, your choice). You will fit in here.

Which boat of Matt's are you going to be building?

I am a Draftsman/Mechanical Designer working in the Aerospace/Government Communications field. I find that I need to "switch" off my Draftsmen switch (well at least turn in down a few notches) when working with kayak plans. In my 9-5 life, tolerances are held to 3 or 4 decimal places or things wont go together. In my garage they can be 1/8" or more and still work. I just keep reminding myself, "building a boat not a rocket".

Ask lots of questions, both on here and on Matt's site. Plan your steps before you mix your epoxy. Post pictures. Have fun.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing about your build.

DM

 

[bearridge]

I know about grits, the stuff you throw on the driveway after a ice storm or mix with floor paint to keep from sliding .

Welcome Martin,

Yer bout ta find out that Meriwether done a mitey poor job turnin' Kayak Jack inta Truthful Jack. He wont pay ya fer sayin' that, but he mite send ya a used thong. :wink:

regards
bearridge

The other day, someone told me the difference between a democracy and a people's democracy. It's the same difference between a jacket and a straitjacket. Ronald Regan

 

[oldsparkey]

OK... Why didn't one of you guy's warn me , We have Geezers on here with us , How did that happen , Where did they come from , Is this a Geezer invasion , Who left the doors open at the nursing home , HELP.

Talk about shutting the barn doors after the old goats got out , someone is in bad trouble when I find out who did not say anything about this.

1st I need a nap , some metamucial , a big bowl of prunes then another nap and after that I will find out who is responsible for this , Yawnnnnnnnn I bet it was oldyaker , hold that thought , this is the kayak section and the chatter was about kayaks so it had to be Kayak Jack :lol:

Martin...

You will find that by building your kayak you will have a customized kayak for a lot less then anything you could purchase off the shelf.
The wood boats also draw a lot of attention from the folks on the water but the wildlife seams to just look at it as something natural and is not as skittish as when they see a plastic boat. Making a wood boat an ideal platform for wildlife photography.

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Martin,

Welcome. WTH is Fonthill? Give me an azimuth and range from, say the Soo, Toronto, Sudbury, Killarney, Wawa, or Peterborough? By our job description, I'll guess that you're near Sudbury or Toronto? Where do you paddle?

I try to hold my panel tolerances to 1/32", but don't get excited until it goes outside 1/16". Anal retentive, ehh?

Old US Air Force sayings about tolerances are:
1. Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, and cut it with an axe.
2. Take it to 1/7 the diameter of a frog hair.

I went through a process similar to you. A bit over 10 years ago, I realized that my flat bottomed canoe was a poor match for whitecaps. So, I started looking for a boat that would do a better job. Kayaks were an obvious choice. So, I haunted the Canoe & Kayak magazine's "Buyers' Guide. I found out several things.

Most kayaks weighed 60-80 pounds! A few weighed about 40 pounds. In that 40 pound class, I had three choices: buy one for $4-6,000, try stealing one, or build it for about $7-800. I took the estimated time-to-build, tripled it for safety, and figured the wages with the $ difference. Came out about $15-20/hour.

I ordered a kit and built away. The rest is twisted history.