Clamps!

Ok, after being sufficiently distracted by PDRacers, I went down to Carbatec to buy a Japanese saw and a waterstone for sharpening my planes and chisels. I ended up with a 300mm 12tpi crosscut 'Z' saw which cost $51.. on the cheap end of the saws at Carbatec but sufficient for my purposes.








I also got a 1200 grit Japanese waterstone (if anyone can translate the Japanese on the photos below for me that would be great!)



After all this, it was off to Trade Tools to see what they had in the way of cheap clamps - not a great deal as it turned out! I cleaned them out of this pile of cheap spring clamps ($2.90 ea).



I also picked up some Ratchet Clamps at $5.50 each - these dont have great clamping pressure - about as much as you can put in by hand, but they do have a metal ratchet which means they arn't as likely to come loose as the plastic bar clamps which are hopeless.



I also picked up a couple of these nifty looking quick release C-clamps for a couple of bucks each, so I'll give them a go and see how long they last.

Distractions

Ok, So I've been a bit distracted... by PDRacers. I think I'm going to have to build one of these in paralell to the kayak....

Costings

Playing around with costings today.. it can really blow out when you start adding expensive accessories! Anyway.. here's the spreadsheet :)

Deck Rigging, Hatches, Spray Skirts and Timber

I spent some time today playing with ideas for the deck rigging and accessories.

The main accessory I'll be adding is a day hatch just behind the seat which is accessible when sitting in the boat. This will store things like sunscreen, water bladder, and camera. I got the idea for this from CLC's website. I got a waterproof quater-turn 150mm hatch today from Rosco's.



I also went hunting for a spray skirt - I really like the look of these ones from Seals Sprayskirts, but I don't think they are available in Australia :(

Here's my sketch of the deck rigging. The plan includes an all-around perimeter line and bungee as per CLC's deck rigging advice, plus the day hatch, compass/gps mount and provision for a rudder in the future.



As for timber, it looks like the Pacific Maple (not really a species, rather a generic name for stuff like Meranti), from Boatcraft could be the way to go if I can't get hold of good Gaboon. Just have to watch the weight.

Plans Arrived

Got the plans today - 4 large format sheets plus a pretty comprehensive looking manual.

Plans Ordered

Today the plans have been ordered and paid for from Cape Boatworks, the Australian distributor for CLC kayak stuff. I'll be paying a visit to Boatcraft Pacific in the next week or so to get the first load of building materials :)