Building a strip Spring Run kayak

[Kevin Wolfe]

After much research and contemplation, I decided to build A Spring Run kayak by Redifish Kayaks. All of their designs got very good reviews and seemed to strike a good balance between ability to paddle and build. I order the plans on Thursday so hopefully I'll be getting them in the next few days.

I'm going to do the best I can to chronicle this experience here including the good, the bad and the ugly. I would consider myself an intermediate woodworker if someone asked. I have build a few benches, turned some bowls and built a chair. While not perfect, they are nice enough.

Back to the kayak. I couldn't resist getting started on the strongback for the forms. I used one 19/32 sheet of OSB from the big orange store. I started by ripping 6" wide strips 8' long with my dewalt track saw (did I mention that I love that thing).
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All done.
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Now to build two separate beams that will be joined later.
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I build a small internal frame that was about 3' long to go inside the two beams to connect them. It was a really tight fit so I have to persuade the beams together.
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Final shot of the 16' beam ready for the forms. Now I need to build the saw horses for it to sit on.
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Sorry the pictures are sideways. I'll have to remember to hold the phone sideways for future shots.

[Bradley Potts]

Kevin, thanks for putting this up. I've been holding a strip-built kayak build for when I have a shop, so seeing this will be useful for me to follow.

-- Bradley

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Excellent choice. I like the Spring Run. I am teaching a class in boatbuilding and we are building a Guillemot Night Herron hybrid. That way they get to experience stitch-n-glue as well as strip construction.

Bradley, you don't need a shop. Do you have a covered porch? I have built many kayaks and surfboards on the porch! You don't even need a table saw if you want to pay extra for ready-milled strips.

[Kevin Wolfe]

It's funny you mentioned the table saw. I don't own one. I have a 17" grizzly band saw and the track saw in the pics. I have seen people who rip strips using a jig and regular circular saw. I'm about 90% sure that I am not going to use cove and bead. Just not sure if I want to go about milling all of the strips (loud and really dusty). This project will push me to buy and get proficient at using a block plane.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I do not use cove and bead. I used to, but then started just beveling the strips to fit. I can assure you it is a much better method in the long run. Also you inevitably ruin a few strips before you get a good cove and bead on the same strip. I mill my strips with a 3 degree bevel, then further bevel as needed to make them fit tight with a block plane.

For certain, get a good block plane. The LN #103 bronze is an excellent choice. I have that one along with the 60 1/2, 9 1/2, and the matched set of Veritas skewed rabbet planes. Of all these, the rabbet planes are certainly my favorite for versaitility, but the 103 really is the best if just using for strip building. it's small, easy to hold, and well made. I also recommend you get an inexpensive Japanese pullsaw and a good crosscut saw with a miter box.

Keep us posted.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Because I am using a rolling bevel with my strips any suggestions on block planes? I have watch a few of Nick Schade's videos and he uses a rebate block plane for beveling the top of the strip already on the form and what looks like a Lie Nielsen apron plane.

While I would love to have both of these, that's close to $300 on two block planes after shipping. I was hoping for other suggestions.

BTW, if anyone wants to sell a block plane, I'm all ears.

[Kevin Wolfe]

I got my plans last night! They came in one of those long triangular boxes from USPS.

Now for some honest opinions although some might seemed nit picky. I would have preferred the plans come in one of those tubes that is sealed at both ends so that I can more easily keep them for later and keep them from getting damaged. I know, knit picky.

The other thing relates to themselves. The station template (I will get pictures up later I promise) is one template with all of the lines drawn on top of each other. Per the instructions, you are supposed to use carbon paper and transfer the the template to the wood by tracing over it. I have to admit, I'm not real fond of this idea. I would have rather been able to cut out all of the templates and glue them directly to the wood and then cut them out. This seems like it would be easier and would eliminate having to transfer reference lines and the such. Hopefully Staples has large sheets of carbon paper. Either that or I need to find a way to photo copy this one section 15 times and cut each one out like I would like to have it.

Finally, the instructions were a 20 page black and white guide to building the kayak (photo copy stapled). I have looked over it (although not in great detail). They seem well written and the copy quality and photos are decent. It will be a good reference. I have also read a lot online so this guide really helps with Spring Run specific details.

That's it for now. Might work on the stands for the strongback tonight. This weekend I will try and get up the risers and forms.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

If you have not already, buy "the strip built kayak" by Nick Schade. It tells you all you need to know. As for the plans, that is a common way to do the station moulds. If you do not want to do carbon paper, you can use a pounce wheel to transfer holes through which you use a pounce bag full of carbon (photocopier toner works well) through the holes and trace them with a pencil to connect the dots. What I usually do, however, is transfer them to vellum (trace them) and then cut and glue to the material for cutting.

This works fine for kayak parts, except for stitch and glue where you are transferring very long patterns. If there is the smallest wrinkle in your pattern (and there always is) it throws the whole thing off.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Made a little progress this weekend. I was hoping to get the forms done, but kids, house, dogs etc all come first. I would up copying the form templates so I could have a full sized cut out for each. Staples can copy things this big for about $1 per copy. I cut each one about 1/8 to 1/4 inch outside the line.
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I then glued then to the OSB I had left over with the can of Loctite spray adhesive you see on the table.
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I then proceeded to cut out all of the templates to a very rough shape. I'll get them finer using the bandsaw. The jig saw had a tendency to splinter the OSB a bit if you moved to quickly. Also, important lesson learned, I should have used rubber cement for the glue. The spray adhesive worked for many of the templates, but I did have a fair amount of them lifting off the OSB. The surface is just not smooth enough for the spray. If I had used particle board or MDF, it probably would have worked but OSB is cheap (half the cost per sheet).
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Finally a copy more random pics. This is the coming and hatch cut out templates just in case anyone wanted to see what they look like.
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And under my track saw bench (DIY MFT table) are the 17 risers for templates. I ripped two 6" by 8' strips off the OSB board and then set up a cross cut stop block and cross cut each with the track saw on the table in the pic. Oh yeah, I built the horses for the strongback. I'll have to grab a pic or two of them as well, sorry.

That's all for now folks. Hopefully I will get the templates finished cut this week so I can have the strongback with forms up by the weekend. Now I really need to find wood for the strips and decide what pattern I want on the hull and deck. Also decided that an apron plane would work best for this project as it appears to be easier to hold with one hand when beveling strips.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Little progress last night. My boys had a friend over which gave me a little extra shop time. I already had the saw horses done but thought I would post a pic anyway. Top rail is a bridle joint for added strength. The bottom rail is half lapped. This was made from 1 1/2 2x4's that I ripped on the bandsaw.
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Also, got the remaining forms cut out and sanded. For the sanding, I took and belt sander and clamped it sideways to the bench. I then clamped a 3/4 piece of plywood in front of it as the platform. Be careful when you do this to ensure that the sander is 90 degrees to the table table. Mine wasn't so I shimmed it with a scrap wedge.
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Right after this I drilled the holes. I already had a 1.5" hole saw so my holes are a little bigger than the plans. The one thing I noticed is that I got a slight bow in some of the OSB. It really shouldn't make a difference in any of the forms accept the bow and stern. I'll find out if they are good when I get the whole thing set up and pull a string line.

That's it for now. Next step is to bring the strongback back in the garage (in the shed now) and start setting up forms.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Little update from last night. I got the strongback in the garage, riser blocks screwed down and clamped the forms on just to see what it would look like. If you use your imagination, you can almost see an upside down kayak there. This was a pretty cool milestone. Up until now, I have been cutting and gluing a bunch of OSB. Now, it actually looks like something!
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I just remembered to add a tip that everyone probably already knows, those $1 spring clamps from HD are invaluable. I have about 14 of the 2" kind right now. I'm going to get at least 20 more (mix in some 1"). They hold well (one clip holding up each form) and are easy to move around.

[Don Orr]

Great progress so far! I'll have to remember to check this thread often.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Quick question for anyone. It looks like cedar strips for this thing may be a no go. The lowest cost I can find is about $7 per board ft and they are not totally clear (1 knot per board but still). I may need to consider going with white pine which seems like the next lightest option. If I do, I would make the strips a touch smaller than 1/4 to save on weight.

I would like to have contrasting strips in the boat but want to make sure I don't add too much weight. I asked about staining them on another forum but the consensus was that when fairing the hull and deck, the stained area might be sanded away. This leads me to two other questions:

1) Is there a way to stain/dye/color wood that would penetrate deeper into the fibers?

2) If I stained the pattern strips after they were all put together, is there an effective way to mask off (keep color off) adjacent wood?

[Pat Barry]

I too am looking forward to your progress. My thought is that you should really take a good look at sourcing cedar for this project. I suspect split cedar is the traditional choice and it is for a reason. If you get pine, I'm afraid you would be getting kiln dried pine, ripped to size, not split, and the resulting strips would therefore be weak and prone to failure. Especially if you are thinking about thinning up those strips even more than cedar would be in an effort to save weight. How short of a piece can you live with for your strips?

[Kevin Wolfe]

OK, update since I ran into some technical problems.

First, I found a lady on craigslist who actually had two 1x6x16' red cedar boards. Turned out her husband built a canoe and over ordered. I will keep looking for more while I get these strips made, but chances are, this kayak will be a mix of cedar and white pine/poplar/basswood or something cheaper. I figure a couple of lbs here or there shouldn't be a big deal.

Second, I found a critical error on my part. I didn't fully read the instructions and set all of the forms level with a mason's line I had drawn from end to end. WRONG! I noticed the error when I was trying to fit a test shear strip. It just wouldn't fit right. Well, it turns out that Joe clearly states in his instructions, that I must set the horizontal markings on the form flush with the top of the risers. After redoing it, I now have the right shape which adds the rocker to the boat. I have all the stations clamped back in place and will screw them in tonight. I also am going to laminate the stems tonight as well.

That's it for now. Stay tuned.