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Over a year ago my son asked if I would help him build a kayak.
I said, "Yes!" of course. We already have three PDRacers
in our shed and a Marisol skiff designed by Gifford Jackson on
a trailer by the garage. We searched the web for the right kayak
and were very tempted by Ganymede
but found out that the plans were still on the drawing board and
not for sale (now available). We read the Duckworks article "A
(Rio) Grande Sojourn" and quickly ordered the
plans for Imresboat.
Winter came about the time we got the hull panels wired together
and we put the boat in my brother-in-laws barn.
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Simplest way of attaching deck, drywall screws
with plywood washers. When dry back them out and fill holes. |
This spring we pulled it out and set about finishing it up. Construction
and glue up all went well. Plywood for the decks came from two
doors I picked up at the end of someone's driveway.
Sawing the edges off on the table saw and then knocking out
the cardboard center yielded beautiful sheet of 1/8th in plywood.
All that we purchased for the boat were the 8" hatch covers,
paint and the epoxy. Fiberglass cloth was a left over from an
earlier project. Framing members came from two by fours torn from
a remodeling job.
Half of the coaming in
place. |
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Stern shot shows how it all comes together. |
The coaming pieces required steam to bend. We accomplished this
by boiling two gallons of water on the stove and wrapping the
two pieces together in a towel. laying them over the sink and
ladling boiling water over them for approx. 15min. Then we quickly
screwed on piece directly on the the already installed deck. The
second piece we simply clamped to the first and left them to cool
for the night.
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Gluing on the first half of side/front deck. |
We gave every surface a coat of epoxy. Then we primed it all
including the inside and painted with latex house paint.
Our Imresboat weighed sixty lbs minus the hatchcovers and paint.
Our double paddle was built directly off the free
plan set by Michael Storer. Next, after our first
real paddling we realized that some foot braces would be good.
We will probably make our own... design ideas? Feel free to suggest
something.
Jonathan and Caleb Bornman (father and son).
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Caleb rolled the paint on and I tipped it with
a brush. |
| My turn on the test run on a small pond. Paddle
is a one by one with plywood scraps, don't confuse this with
Michael Storers paddle which is a beauty. |
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Designed by Jim Michalak and plans are available in our Store.
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