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.

More Folbot notes - seats, longerons, plywood

The seats were modified by some prior owner, maybe because they wore out or mildewed.  The renovated seats have that terrible cheesy open-cell yellow foam rubber--the stuff that absorbs water like a sponge.  A seat that doubles as a sponge doesn't seem like a terrific innovation to me; sitting down on a seat with an unexpectedly soaked cushion is only fun for the spectators, not for the poor dork who has to use the seat.

The just-plain-stupid foam cushion in one of the Folbot's seats.

The seat has a passable (but poorly glued on) vinyl cover, so what it needs now is some kind of closed-cell, durable, cushiony stuffing that will remain buoyant in all circumstances.  Some PFDs--maybe all of them, who knows--have sheets of white closed-cell plastic foam inside, and it seems like this stuff could be cut and glued to make a passable seat cushion.  Another alternative would be to use pool noodles or pipe insulation, maybe cut into a bundle of strips to make the seat less lumpy.

Foam sheet from a PFD.

PeteS on the Folbot forum suggested a boat cushion--which could be a Type IV PFD, which is a useful thing to have on any boat.  It could be held in place over the plywood seat bottom with (for instance) some simple clips on shock cord, in such a way that it could be easily and quickly detached if necessary.

The bottom of the seat and the brace.

I think the seat plywood is original, and I'm not sure about the braces.  If the brace is original, it may have come off when the glue failed from old age--which is a problem that affects the paddles and the boat's wood frame--and the screws pulled out of the plywood.

The bow assembly.

The longerons are the aluminum tubes that run the length of the hull and support the skin and the sides of the deck.  The flattened ends of the middle longerons are cracked where they attach to the bow and stern assemblies, maybe because they need to be shortened; page two of the Folbot Super assembly manual at John Burch's site says something about shortening the tubes if they are so long that they aren't in contact with all the frames.

The forward end of a middle longeron from the bow assembly.

I suppose the best solution would be to replaces the tubes; the next best would probably be to weld the crack shut.  I don't consider replacement an option, and I don't know how to weld (yet), so I sanded the cracked area inside and out and put epoxy putty around both sides of each crack in the forward tubes.  When I get around to the stern tubes I'll clean with a solvent after sanding and then work some liquid marine epoxy into the crack and add the putty when that's dry.  Wrapping the tube end with fiberglass tape and epoxy might be another option if it doesn't add too much bulk to the tube.

The longerons are supported at the bow and stern by bolts that runs thru the wood and thru the tubes. Rather than try to shorten the tubes I might try move the hole forward by drilling a new hole for the bolt a bit forward of the old one at the bow, and epoxying a hardwood dowel into the old hole to fill it.  If that doesn't seem to make it harder to get the bow into the skin, and if the tubes are still too long, I could try the same thing at the stern.  This trick is reversible--the old holes can be drilled out and the new ones filled--but it would be harder to lengthen a shortened tube.

The edges of the tube at the flattened end seems a bit sharp, and I'm going to sand these down so they won't be able to gouge the inside of the skin.  It seems to me that if the tube ends had a slick surface that didn't cause friction with the skin then assembly might be just a bit easier--but maybe not enough to justify the effort.  Or maybe it would help a lot; I'll just have to try it to find out.

The end of the stern assembly. 

The stern assembly looks like the bow assembly (pictured above).  There's a rotten spot on the stern, maybe from a damp garage floor.  In the lower left you can sort of see where the lamination of the plywood is uneven.  I think that this is caused because wood shrinks as it ages less in the direction parallel to the grain than it does perpendicular to the grain, and since the grain of each ply in the plywood is at right angles (or at least at a different angle) to the grain in the surrounding plies, the odd plies are either higher or lower than the even plies.

I suppose the edges could be filled with epoxy instead of being sanded down and then sealed with epoxy or oil or whatever.  They ought to be sanded when the wood is re-varnished every n years anyhow--plywood edges can look really good if they're sanded properly before being finished. If the boat's skin has shrunk (I hear that's a common problem) then sanding the edges, and some extra off of the foremost and aft-most extremes, should be mandatory.

The rotten spot ought to be cut out and replaced, preferably with some more marine plywood, since it looks too deep to just sand away.  It would be nice to have some kind of abrasion-resistant patch under the ends of the longerons so that the varnish wouldn't be scraped away.  (Or maybe the longerons could be fixed so they don't scrape.)

Folbot Super paddle repair notes

I'm blogging my notes in case they're any use to someone else who's got an old Folbot to fix up.  I'll blog repair notes for the Tyne tandem folder when I remember to take some photos. 

The Folbot paddles.

 I got two two-part kayak paddles with the Folbot.

One paddle blade was beginning to separate from its shaft, making that paddle unusable.  Both paddles have chipped varnish and some mildew stains on the wood.  Each blade has a thin aluminum sheath folded onto and riveted to the end, and these are corroded inside and out, sometimes to the point that the rivets are beginning to fall apart.

The aluminum sheath on the end of the paddle blade.

I removed the partially-detached blade by using a heat gun to to warm up the glue as I pulled the blade away from the shaft.  I think the other three blades will have to be re-glued to the shafts so that they don't fail at some inconvenient time. 

The cleaned and partially sanded blade.

The aluminum sheath.

The detached blade minus its sheath.  You can see a little of the old glue where the shaft was.

I removed the sheath from the loose blade by breaking off parts of the rivets with pliers, drilling out the shafts as needed, and so on.  I scrubbed the blade with a nylon brush and water to get as much of the white corrosion gunk off as I could, then began sanding to get at the rest of it.

The blade is going glued back on to the shaft once the end has been sanded to remove the varnish.  I'm going to use epoxy (mixed with dark sawdust) to fill the holes and the small cracks between the holes and the blade end (probably) wrap the blade and shaft ends with fiberglass tape.  The blade will be re-varnished as needed once the shaft is ready to be varnished.

Fiberglass tape.  This seems to be easier to work with than strips of fiberglass cloth, which can fray badly at the edges and make a mess if you aren't careful when you are adding the epoxy.

 The varnish on the shaft is chipped and damaged in places, especially at the end of the ferrule.  I took the ferrule off to make it easier to sand off the varnish.  The ferrule is held on with a pin and by the indentation where the pin was driven in.  I pulled the pin in the photo out with my fingernails and some needle-nose pliers and then I drilled out the hole to remove the indentation so that I could pull the ferrule off.  I could use a brass or stainless flathead screw when I put the ferrule back on--maybe with some kind of coating to keep the dissimilar metals from corroding--or I could drill a new hole for the pin and pound it back in, then fill the old hole with epoxy.

The inside end of the shaft and its bronze ferrule and retaining pin.

I'll probably re-varnish the shaft before I glue the blade back on--that might make it easier to clean up the excess glue.

I'll post some notes about minor problems with the tubes, the wood frame parts, and the seats another time, and I might post about the carry bags and other trivial stuff if it seems like there is any interest.

Folbot Super

This is another folding kayak from a garage sale. It may have been made in the '70's; it's in good condition and only needs minor repairs.

Parts that might help identify the year or decade when the boat was made.  The striped material is a sample of the vinyl used on the Folbot's deck.

One of the paddles.  The vinyl covers on the paddle blades are mildewed and stuck to the blades, and the aluminum strips at the end of the blades are corroded.  The paddle were probably left leaning upright in a garage or a shed where  the ends of the paddle blades could become wet or damp.  I may replace the aluminum with a fiberglass strip, and do some refinishing.

The boat needs a few minor repairs, but it's complete and in good condition.  Some of the wood parts ought to be refinished, and everything needs to be cleaned, but I may wait to do most of that stuff until the boat's had its sea trial (and I'll need to find a volunteer to man the second paddle for that).

The Folbot, set up without the seats or the pads for the back rests.

A canoe cart, and more kayak carts

I've started putting together a cart for the Navarro canoe.  It's made with the wheels and part of the frame from a jogging stroller.  The finished cart will have an aluminum frame that can be broken down to be stored in the canoe or a car.  The wheels have a mechanism that makes them easily detachable, so the space needed to store the parts just needs to be a bit more than the size of the two wheels.

I might also want the width of the cart frame to be adjustable so that the frame can be set on the gunnels and support a tent or tarp over the canoe, so that I can sleep in the canoe and not have to find dry land to camp on--and I guess the frame could support the canoe so that it acts as a tent on dry land...these ideas still need some work.

I'm going to have to test to see how much weight the wheels and frame will support; they may not be up to the job.

The black parts are the cart's frame, from the aluminum frame of a jogging stroller.  The frame was cut in the middle so that a length of aluminum tubing could be added.  The bushings are for the wheel axles, and the kickstand was part of the stroller.

The wheel bushings were welded to the aluminum-tubing frame, but the tubing had broken around each bushing so that the axles were only supported by a plastic casing around the bushings.  PVC couplers were epoxied into the tubes and cut away enough that the bushing and the broken tubing could be epoxied back into its original position to both the tubes and to the couplers.  The PVC provides extra support for the bushings on the inside of the tubes, and fiberglass, steel wire, and\or steel hose clamps will be used to reinforce the outside.

This is a wheel attached to the frame.

The finished cart will look something like this, probably with another cross piece near the axles.  The tube in the middle will be detachable at each end so that the cart can be broken down, and so that a different length of tubing can be used if I want to use the the cart for a kayak or for gear instead of for the canoe.

The new kayak cart will be made from an aluminum golf bag cart.  I don't really need another kayak cart, but the golf cart was only $2, so it was a must-have purchase.  Once it's finished I can sell or give away the steel-frame cart I've been using, or make it a cart for camping gear.

Part of an aluminum-frame golf cart.  The object is to make a simple folding frame that can be stored in a kayak, so the unnecessary parts were removed, and part of the long center tube will be cut off.  The wheels are detachable.  The yellow strips are cut from fiberglass battens, and will be replaced with something sturdier.

And finally, here's a photo of the old kayak cart in action at Ferry Point in Richmond.

The Necky Looksha Sport LV on the cart on the beach at the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline in Richmond.

The old steel-framed cart.  Even tho the wheels are detachable, it's too big to fit into the aft compartment of the kayak.  The new cart will have a simplified folding mechanism, which ought to reduce the weight and size considerably, although it will be more difficult to fold and unfold.  I suppose I could make a very simple, small, and lightweight non-folding frame, but that would be boring.

Edit, Dec. 2014: the steel-frame cart was stolen out of my car several weeks ago.  If you know the whereabouts of the cart please let me know; and in the meantime, if you can determine that the person in possession of the cart was the person (or one of the people) who broke the lock on the passenger door, ransacked my car (leaving everything on the street or sidewalk), and stole the cart, please feel free to put on a heavy steel-toed boot, and give the slimy degenerate a good hard kick to the crotch - in a tactful way, of course.  Alternately, you can inform the owner of the BMW that the same people damaged of the their whereabouts - I'm sure he's anxious to talk to them.

The Loony yoke

This is the yoke from the Loon 17.  (It has since been cleaned.)

The ends are kind of messed up.  There's a crack a few inches long from one screw hole, and the wood seems to be missing that was between the holes and the ends.

I think I can glue or epoxy the crack (before attempting to refinish the yoke), but I'm not sure what to do about the missing wood.

(Update, November 12:  I epoxied the crack shut, then cut out a rectangle about twice as wide as the screw hole and epoxied in a piece of teak, and added fiberglass tape to the underside of the end.) 

New project boat

My newest project boat is a Navarro Loon 17 canoe.

This was once a beautiful boat, but it was neglected for a long time, and fell off of a moving car at least once.  It has significant damage to the hull, and the gunnels are almost entirely ruined.  (The seats are in excellent condition--I think the previous owner may have replaced them instead of repairing all the other problems.)

And the boat has a cat on it--I'm sure that wasn't there when I bought it.

Some of the cherry-wood ribs are broken or cracked.  I may have to settle for quick-n-dirty fixes for those, since the damaged ribs are over the places where the hull is damaged, and getting the hull fixed takes precedence over aesthetic concerns.  I guess I'll try repairing the other parts of the hull that need it as practice, and then see if I have the chops to salvage the ribs and repair the adjacent hull.

The bow (or it could be the stern, it's hard to tell) is smashed up.  I don't doubt that I can repair it, but I'm going to have to come up with some other scheme for attaching the painter, since the brass painter loop has had it.  The cat doesn't seem to be damaged, but may have suffered some sort of emotional trauma.

There's a hole in the bow (or stern) that I think was caused when the fiberglass was abraded away when the canoe hit the road after falling off a car.  The uppermost end of the bow was almost damaged, but may have been partially protected by the brass painter loop.

I don't have a table saw or a band saw, or the patience to to cut 20-some feet of wood by hand, so I'm on the lookout for some hardwood strips that are around the right size to make the gunnels.  If you happen to live near Crockett, and would like an opportunity to use a canoe or kayak, maybe you could help me re-saw some wood to make the new gunnels for this boat.

I'm hoping that I can use this canoe for one or two camping trips, and maybe for a multi-day camping trip in the delta.  I'll probably have to settle for some day trips on a local slough, if I can talk someone else into manning the second paddle.