Kayak - Construction pages - Stripping the deck

Stripping the deck - front

	The kayak 'right side up'. It's actually looking quite good, isn't it? Above is the actual strip&glue model looking down.

A look into the hull, before starting with the planning and construction of the deck.

	The bow is shaping up - a special feeling, when the strips start 'closing up' the kayak!

Only 2 strips more till the deck is interrupted for the cockpit. Note the two rope tourniquettes to force the shape!

	The amount of staples (plus the external forms, not present here) are a clear indication of the measures necessary to get the strips to conform to the complicated bow shape!

The force excerted by a strip, only 19 by 6.5mm is much more than one imagines! But thanks to the experience from the previous kayak, I learned to have a lot of respect for wood.

	Same view, but of the stern. In the external form, the extra strips increase the pressure on the sheer strips.

A view from above: we're actually closing the deck!

	Several sketches to try to make the selection easier. I tried to size the areas according to the quantity of strips remaining.

All the time, I had been thinking on how to finish the esthetic aspect of the deck. Also, but by necessity, I had to ration the dark wood.

	Finally I decided to use a strip of almost white kiri wood, of which I had precious few, as a separation between the two different colored timbó batches.

Two more strips. These strips are parallel to the center of the kayak, as an added contrast to the other, curved, lines.

	And two more strips. As these strips are very visible, I tried to limit the use of staples to a minimum, using duct tape to press the strips together.

Detail of the strip endings. Tourniquette, external form, and a clamp to assure the correct alignment.

	View of the bow, from the cockpit. At the starboard side, the central panel is finished. The remaining space will be filled with another color of timbo wood.

A little foresight frequently saves time. With a clamp, and pieces of scrap wood to protect the work, I align the newly glued strips with the old work.

	The central part of the front deck is ready...

and a closeup of the bow. Rather nice, isn't it?

	A planning error: in one of my classical moments of hurry, I glued two strips to the left of the white separator, making it quite difficult to install strips to the right.

So, the only way out was to glue in a couple of strips above and below, and then make a 'key' strips that fits exactly in between. Try to avoid this unnecessary precision work!

	Now with that last key strip installed.

The last strip still needs to be trimmed at the other end. And then I have to repeat the entire process on the port side, as I made the same mistake there...

	The fore deck almost ready! (only a few short strips left to install near the cockpit, but I want to leave those for later) Note that precious few strip remain on the shelves!

Continues with the aft deck.

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