Homemade paddles

I made a two-piece paddle back when I got my first kayak...

The closet-pole-and-plywood paddle.

Two-piece wood paddle.

I had some marine plywood leftovers from an old project, and I traced the blades from a Sevlor paddle onto a couple of those and cut out the blades, as seen in the photos.  The Sevlor was the only paddle I had owned, back then, and I really didn't know what I was doing.  Half of the original closet rod had to be thrown out, and the new rod doesn't seem to match the old one, so the paddle is probably unbalanced as-is.

I never finished fitting the both parts to the ferrule, so the paddle is unfinished and has never been used.  The current plan is to make the blades narrower, thin the shafts a bit, and reduce the overall length.  The blades are epoxied to the shafts, but I put stainless screws in to keep the blades firmly attached, and I guess I can get rid of those.

The plywood is discolored after being in a sometimes damp storeroom for several years.

The aluminum ferrule, which isn't finished either.

Paddle two is a homemade greenland paddle.  It's made with redwood from the local big-box home improvement store, and some walnut, maple, and birch scraps that had been hanging around.  I had some small teak scraps that went on the tips.  This one wasn't finished either, since I lost my workspace before I got around to doing the final shaping and putting on a finish.

Greenland paddle.  Looks nice, but I think I used too much hardwood.  I'm going to try and thin it carefully to make it light without being flimsy.

The homemade GP, still unfinished.  This was originally going to be a two-piece paddle, but  I changed my mind,  and ended up with a really ugly scarf joint in the middle of the shaft.

 I made these paddles without much woodworking experience to draw on, using ordinary hand tools for most of the work, in cramped conditions, so nothing was done in an afternoon, or even overnight, and neither paddle is likely to be finished soon.

PVC camera stand sea trials

The cheesy new PVC camera stand got to go out on the strait with the new video camera.

Camera stand all the way forward.

It was too hard to reach the stand when it was under the foremost bungees, and it was almost in the way when under the bungees right in front of the cockpit.

All the way back.

It's hard to get the 1/4" camera-mount screw vertically aligned with the clamp, so the clamp is a bit to one side.  The stand ought to be a little higher so that the clamp isn't resting on the deck.

I can tell from the videos I took with the camera on the stand that it isn't entirely stationary.  This might be because the inner tube on the conduit elbow isn't glued down, and it's slipping.

I took the old Kodak EasyShare Sport, attached to a clip that fits on the end of the paddle, to see how it would work for self-portraits.  

Selfie-clip prototype II.

It needs some work -- the lens is so close to the paddle shaft that the paddle and drip rings intrude (and sometimes steal the focus), and the leash I had the camera on wasn't long enough to let me position the camera as far from the boat as I could.

Canoe paddle

Another incomplete paddle.  If I ever have a real workbench again then maybe I'll finish shaping it and put some kind of finish on it, but I don't think I'll bother to finish this project until I get the canoe completely repaired.

Cedar, white pine or yellow pine, poplar, and I-forget-what-else, all salvaged.

Re-purposed cargo net

I got the yellow-black shock by disassembling a cargo net from Urban Ore, and used it to replace the old black cord aft of the kayak's rear hatch.

The cord on the upper left of the photo was facing down, so it still has some color.

 The stopper knots make it easier to shove the end of a paddle under the cord, and easier to adjust cord's tension, and less of a hassle to remove the cord altogether if I want to use it for something else.

After a couple of years of use the color has faded almost to white, and it's getting a bit scruffy, but it's still stretchy and useable.

Homemade paddles, another camera stand, & whatever

When I got my first kayak I tried making a spray skirt, even tho I really had no idea what I was doing, and I started making a homemade wood paddle, just for the sake of doing it, I guess.  I had only a slightly better idea of how to make a paddle than I had of how to make a spray skirt.

 The shafts are from closet poles, and are probably douglas fir.  The blades are from marine plywood left over from an old project, and the blades' shape was traced from a cheap aluminum paddle.  The blades are epoxied to the shafts, and have a few stainless wood screws as well.  A length of aluminum tubing from an old paddle if fitted to the end of one shaft so that I'd have a two-part paddle.  The wood finish is tung oil, and there's epoxy on the blade tips.

Although I started it a few years ago it's never been completed.  The shafts ought to be thinned, and maybe the blades should be reshaped, and I don't want to bother with it. 

The back of one paddle blade.

The unfinished wood paddle.

The aluminum tubing joint thing.  The inner-tube cover was meant to retain a pin or clip that would hold the other shaft in.

The marine ply I used was old and stained, but doesn't look too bad.

I started making a greenland paddle just so I could try using one when I was finished.  I used maple, poplar, walnut, and teak scraps that were already hanging around, but next time I won't use as much hardwood.  The redwood was from a local home-improvement place.

This paddle (like the other one) gets put aside for long periods, and probably won't be done anytime soon.

Ugly scarf joint.  If the paddle ever gets done I might put
something on the middle of the shaft to hide it.

The homemade spray skirt was put aside when I got a nylon touring skirt, and I've been waiting for another old wetsuit to come along so I'll have enough material to finish the waist. 

Homemade spray skirt (with a too-small tunnel) that came with my first hard-shell kayak.

Homemade, still unfinished, inside-out spray skirt made from an old wetsuit.

The camera stand should be plugged with some kind of closed cell foam so it will float.  I'll probably use some foam sheets from an old life jacket for that, and then test it to see if it's buoyant enough to keep the camera from sinking.  If it isn't I can add foam to the outside of the stand, or put the camera PFD on the camera's lanyard.

The steel spring in the cheap plastic C-clamp will probably be ruined by salt exposure, but the clamp was already broken, so I don't really care.  The camera will be closer to the clamp (and so a bit less prone to going out of alignment) when I find a stainless or nylon screw the right length.  (And a retaining clip to keep the screw from falling out.)

I could also put the bilge pump on the deck forward of the cockpit, and clamp the camera to that instead of using a stand.  I think the convenience of using the stand will offset the annoyance of having extra gear, and the camera won't be in the way if I need the pump.

Camera, clamp, and PVC stand.

By having the camera mounted on the clamp I can also clamp it to the end of
the paddle and use it for self-portraits at more than arm's length.

And there's other stuff that I just never bother to write up, like the kayak seat made from an old PFD, the Seascape .5 project boat, canoe repairs, the folding kayak project, and re-purposed gear.  Is anyone else interested in that?

Spring button for a Sevylor kayak paddle

I obtained a two-piece aluminum-shaft Sevylor paddle that didn't have the usual type of spring button to connect the two parts, and the dome-shaped part that protrudes thru the two holes on the shafts was missing.  I'm posting my fix so that someone with the same problem will have at least one solution to try.

The "button" is a #8 or #10 stainless Allen-head cap screw.  (Tip: don't go to Home Depot, try your local hardware store.  If you need to replace the spring try the specialty bins at a large hardware store, or try using some spongy closed-cell foam instead.)

The screw head has to fit thru the holes on the paddle shafts, and the washer has to fit in the hole in the plastic part.  The total length of the screw is the same as the depth of the hole in the plastic part.

 

A bit of thread thick thread keeps the screw from springing out of the plastic thing and disappearing forever when the plastic thing is removed.  (Don't ask me how I know this.)  Some thick thread was wrapped around the screw threads and held on with a bit of vinyl tubing.  A small hole was drilled from the end of the black thing to the hole in it, and the thread was passed thru the hole.  It was tied around a bit of elastic cord to keep it from pulling thru the hole, and then was glued with Goop.

The screw head protrudes when the paddle is assembled, but not enough to be really annoying.  The screw head could be ground to a rounder shape to make it more flush

Update: be sure the screw is securely tethered to the plastic, maybe with heat-shrink tubing or epoxy, because the screw is going to try to escape sometime when you've forgotten all about it.  A tiny hole thru the screw head into the socket would provide an ideal place to secure the thread (maybe with a stopper knot on each end), but I haven't got the patience or the proper equipment for the job.

Tyne assembly part 2

How to assemble the Tyne tandem folding kayak, continued.  I'll add some photos when I have them.

The almost-assembled Tyne.  The coaming still needs work, and the forward seat back isn't done yet, and there are lots of other things that need attention.

To recap:

• Assemble the stern\back half of the frame and shove it into the skin;

• Do the same with the forward\front half of the frame.  The parts will overlap in the middle of the boat.

The Folbot Super came with a strap for holding the parts of each half together while they were put into the skin.  A length of nylon webbing will work if you tie the ends together.  It shouldn't be hard to make to a strap the right length with a loop at each end for this job.

• Now: take out ribs FRONT 3 and BACK 3 (if they were already put in to make the assembly easier).  Lift the the center ends of the floor boards up and look under them, and you should be able to tell how they lock together.  Put the ends together (still raised) and press them down towards the bottom of the boat.  Push firmly but don't force them; tug on the skin, push the floorboards and release and push again, and so on, to get the frame into the ends of the skin, and keep doing this until the floorboards are flat and locked together.

• Lock the sides together:  pull the ends on one side towards the center on the boat, and fit the short tab at the end of the aft side board into the notch under the metal thingy on the forward board.  Repeat with the other side boards.

• Get the stringers into their notches.  Make sure that there is a sliding ferrule on the end of one stringer on each side.  You need to put the ends of the stringers together and slide the ferrule from one over the end of the other.  It might be a little easier to get the ends together if you pull them away from the skin, and if you slide the ferrule out a couple of millimeters so that the other end can slip into it.

The sliding stringer ferrule.

• Put in all the ribs, then check to make sure everything is latched and the stringers are in their notches, and get ready to put the coaming on.

• The heads of the bolts in the coaming boards go thru the grommets in the deck and onto the brackets on top of the ribs.  Each of the screw heads on the coaming should go thru a grommet.  If the boat's skin has shrunk then this part can be a headache.  Spring clamps can be useful to hold things together.

Coaming assembly.  I still need to make the coaming brackets for the center rib.

I haven't managed to get the coaming done yet--the grommets, bolts, and brackets don't seem to all line up at the end of the cockpit, so I need to tweak the parts some more. And I kind of think there's supposed to be a cap on the front of the coaming, like there is on the Folbot, but I guess I can do without it.

A look into the cockpit.  You should take a moment to feel sorry for all those people who don't look at my blog and will never get to see this.

The Tyne tandem assembly instructions part one

The is a panoramic view of the assembled hull (without one or two parts), compiled in Photoshop, with the rough spots of the image intact so that it looks like some parts are disjointed. 

The almost-complete hull

It should be clear when putting the hull together how parts are connected, so I won't mention that if it doesn't seem necessary.  Assembly of the stringers and coaming  is a bit confusing, so I'll try to make things clear in the assembly instructions.

Hull parts list:

• four hinged side (gunnel?  upper hull?)  assemblies;

• two hinged floor\keel(\keelson?) assemblies;

• eight stringers total: four are attached at one end to a stem piece, four are loose, and two of the loose stringers have sliding ferrules at one end;

• seven ribs\frames, one with a seat back attached;

• two stem parts--one bow and one stern;

• four side coaming boards and one backboard;

• two deck supporting rails;

•  a seat back supported by the coaming over the center frame

One of the BACK floor boards slides over one of the FRONT floorboards in the middle, so the BACK assembly should probably be the first one in.  I think the assembly goes like this, if we start with the parts labeled BACK:

Unfold and lay out the BACK floor\keel (on the left in the above photo);

Add the stern stem piece--it looks like the bow piece shown on the right in the next photo, and has two stringers attached to it;

The bow assembly, because I don't have a photo of the stern assembly.

Add BACK frames 1-3.  The Folbot Super assembly instruction manual says to leave the parts that correspond to frames BACK 1 and BACK 2 off until the assembly has been stuffed into the skin--I don't know if that will help here or not.

Add two stringers if you have some way to make them stay together--duct tape will work, but take it off again as soon as can or it will leave gummy stuff on the parts.  You don't have to worry about whether to use the dowels with sliding ferrules or not because you can match them up when you assemble the other half.

Stuff the assembly into the skin as far as you can, tugging on the skin and swearing.  Have an assistant climb into the skin and push on the assembly while you shout directions from a safe distance.

Repeat everything with the FRONT assembly.  There will probably be some overlap in the middle when both assemblies are in.

I'll try and finish the rest of the instructions when I actually have enough of the boat repaired to try putting the hull into the skin.

(A note about the coaming parts: they attach to the frames as show in this photo, with the head of the bolt in the cupped slot:

 I don't think they go on until the hull halves has been joined in the skin.  I'll move this note to part two of the instructions if that ever gets done.)

Tyne tandem folding kayak problems and repairs

I think the Tyne tandem folding kayak is somewhat like the Folbot Super.  It's a bit shorter--about 17'--and about as wide (36" or so).  It has wood dowels instead of aluminum tubes for stringers, a rubberized canvas hull (I think) with a canvas deck, and other differences, but I'd guess that when it's assembled it looks much like the Super.

The frame, assembled without the missing parts.  The skin can't be put on until the replacement parts are useable.

I bought a Tyne tandem folder at a garage sale.  It was missing some of the frame parts (including a bulkhead\frame), and had broken parts and a few parts that had plywood delamination.  Previous owners had, apparently, continued to use the boat as problems occurred, sometimes making adequate-at-best repairs when it was absolutely necessary.

Partial guide to terminology and part names.  It's meant for someone else who acquired a Tyne and doesn't quite know what to do with it.  I'm probably the only person who will ever look at this.

 Here are some of the problems the kayak had when I got it, and some of the old repairs.

Broken frame.  The missing wood was replaced with thin garden-variety plywood, and the fittings weren't replaced at all.

Broken side.  The parts weren't glued flush, and a patch of cheap plywood was glued (right on to the varnish) on the outside and seven or eight galvanized screws were added.

Side view of broken side

The old parts and the new replacement wood.  The new part is marine plywood left over from an old project.  It was clamped to the old side so that both could be cut at once and have exactly the same angle for the butt joint.  The holes in the old and new parts will be filled with epoxy.

The side with the old wrecked part cut off.  The bits of plywood that were cut off the replacement wood were glued onto bare wood with waterproof wood glue, and will (I hope) be thin enough to allow the side to flex like it's supposed to.  (I probably should have put them on the outside of the panel.)  Marine epoxy will be used to put the new part on, with a bit of fiberglass on the other side to reinforce the butt joint. 

Broken floor, and a broken stringer.

The plywood that went bad was probably wet for long periods.  Some of it has been replaced with laminated 1/4" white oak until I get some marine plywood.

The bottom of part of the keel\floor.

Plywood removed from under the floor

There are two coaming boards on each side.  The connector shown at the bottom in the next photo joins the forward and after coamings on each side.  I've made a temporary aluminum connector to replace the missing brass (or bronze) one.

Coaming parts.  The parts on the right are missing from the coaming on the left.

Coaming back right and back left parts.

Old and new coaming boards and couplers.  The new parts still need some work.

Replacement center rib.  This is probably supposed to have a seat back on it.  For now it's made from good exterior plywood sealed with epoxy.

By the way, here are a few places to get supplies for a project boat in my area (west Contra Costa County, California):

• MacBeath Hardwoods in Berkeley (and San Jose, San Francisco, and elsewhere) has marine plywood and every other kind of wood, and woodworking supplies.  They're right across the street from
• Urban Ore, which can be a good place to find used things that can be cut up or re-purposed.  At various times I've found very cheap used lumber for stands and temporary structures, stainless steel and brass hardware (sometimes in unopened packages), aluminum tubing, hardwoods (including walnut, cherry, maple, rosewood [once], and tropical woods that I couldn't identify), shock cord, nylon webbing, Yakima roof racks, a canoe paddle, boardsailing equipment, wheels for a kayak cart, an unused spray skirt, and loads of other things.  Sometimes you can go there and find nothing at all useful, and sometimes you can actually find the thing you were looking for.  Take some time and get your hands dirty and you'll probably be much more successful.

• For new boat building and maintenance supplies go to Whale Point Marine and Hardware in Richmond.  They have regular Ace hardware stuff, and they have almost anything West Marine has, including marine-grade stainless steel fasteners, and stuff WM doesn't have, and at more reasonable prices than WM.  There's a West Marine a couple of blocks away if you want to do a shop-to-shop comparison.

• Eagle Marine in Martinez doesn't have nearly as much good stuff as WM and Whale Point M&H, but they have epoxy, fiberglass cloth (ask someone behind the counter), and other useful stuff.  (If you're there on a Saturday morning you might be able to see the guys who are restoring Joe DiMaggio's old Chris Craft in a nearby building.)

• The reuse room at the Contra Costa Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility in Martinez has gallons of paint, lots of wood stain, and I've found paint thinner, spar varnish, teak oil, and other useful stuff--and it's free.  You probably won't find the good stuff if you just go once, and the stuff you take may turn out to be useless, but if your budget is tight then you need to check it out.

I'll add to this post when I get more of the wood parts and metal fittings done, and get the photos taken.  I might make a new light(er)weight skin for the Tyne if I can ever get the right material for cheap.