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?

The spray skirt so far

Here's the partially completed spray skirt on the cockpit of the boat, supported by a cardboard box that has a yellow life vest over it.


I didn't plan carefully enough before I trimmed and glued the edges, and I had to add more material so that it wouldn't sag in the front. As a result it's uglier than it needs to be.

Next, I have to figure out what to do with the top of the tunnel. I might glue another slab of neoprene onto the back to make it as high as the front, or I could cut down the front and make some kind of zipper stop so the slider thingy doesn't get lost.

Edit, October 2011:  I put this project aside for some reason, and forgot all about it.  I was thinking recently that it would be nice to have a neoprene spray skirt for cold or rough conditions... and I finally remembered that I already have one, almost.  With any luck it will be done before winter, and I can post the details on this blog.




 
Edit, March 2013:   I really didn't know what I was doing when I started this project, and I never had enough neoprene to finish it, so the project was put aside and forgotten.  I sold the kayak that the skirt was made for (and forgot to give the skirt to the buyer), and it doesn't fit the kayak I'm using now, so I doubt that it will ever be finished, especially since now it doesn't seem to have been such a good idea in the first place.  I might use some of the neoprene to make knee pads and seat cushions for another old kayak.

Neoprene (in good condition) from an old wetsuit (or from an old pair of neoprene waders found at a thrift shop) might work as well as new material if you follow other online instructions (like these), which is what I should have done to begin with.  This skirt happens to fit one of my project boats, so I may turn it into a zippered cockpit cover.

Homemade neoprene spray skirt

I was going to make a nylon spray skirt, and then I found one that cost about $20 after shipping from Sierra Trading Post, and I got that instead. In the meantime, the neoprene skirt I was using just fell apart one day, so I'm making a neoprene spray skirt from an old wetsuit. The wetsuit was provided by Peter at the Cal Sailing Club (after I posted a wanted ad on the Freecycle mailing list).
What you see in the above photo is the forward portion of the spray skirt. It's made from the front of the wetsuit and includes the zipper. Some of the edges have been glued to hold the shock cord that will hold the skirt in place.

The second photo shows the aft portion of the skirt, prior to being trimmed and glued for the shock cord. Packing tape is going to be used to hold everything in place while the glue dries. I'm using Aquaseal instead of neoprene cement because I already had the Aquaseal.

The two parts of the spray skirt are going to be trimmed and glued together. Then I'm going to have to figure out how to finish the top of the torso part - maybe with shock cord or a drawstring, or I might roll the edge and glue it to itself to make it more durable.