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Tik Tak Build
Dave W has been invaluable as a volunteer - he has a boat down at the docks and is able to do wonderful things - like clean the Boathouse, paint the canoes, and prep parts for builds.
These are the parts to two Tik Tak Ten-ish kayaks. We are going to build them tomorrow. They have been painted - three coats - with Porch and Patio paint - by Dave W.
Dave masked off all the gluing surfaces - edges of the top and bottom, stems, edges of the sides.
There's Dave, himself, painting the interior of Aurora. Friend of the Boathouse, Rick, is on the right.
I decided to re-drill all 400+ pilot holes for the screws. They'd filled with paint. I like this corded Ryobe drill as it has a clutch - I'm sure there are other drills with this feature now, but when I got it, it was the only one I could find.
Bud (left) the Port Master for Toledo (and benefactor for the Boathouse) was showing a local reporter (Debbie, right) our operation when Connie and Patience (and Dutch, the dog) showed up for a paddle.
They are acclimating Dutch to being a water dog. He is getting better.
Our next project will be to build a pair of racing Coracles (that's a joke, people) so I showed Patience how to do a Figure 8 stroke and let her practice a bit.
Rann (left) came by for a visit while Dave (center) and Rick got ready to head to Pig Feathers.
And since he was there, I put him to work making the rudderhead for the Goose.
Sorry for the bad picture, but this is coating the inside surface of the rudder cheeks with epoxy impregnated with graphite from Duckworks. The graphite makes the surface slick - and should help with binding.
Time to tackle the foredeck on the Goose. The internal bulkheads are a little out of square, so I screwed it down to one edge and traced out the overhang. Not the most efficient use of plywood, but it worked. Rann and I mucked around a bit with the deck beams, slung some epoxy, and called it a night.
Here's the Goose, getting ready.
The mast step is a curious beast. We put some backing between the beams so when we add downhaul blocks, they won't tear the deck off. It ended up being really tight for the mast, so I used my Shinto Saw Rasp from Duckworks to shape it to size.
The next thing was doing some cosmetic work. When I ordered these self-tapping screws from McFeely's, I thought they were going to be the bee's knees, but that big bugle head is a problem - the threads usually tear out before the head seats fully.
The answer is to countersink - which is an extra step.
OK, back to the deck on the Goose. The cockpit is 32" wide and has a 2" arc to it. I cut it to shape lefty-righty, not it was time for final shaping.
Time to get familiar with my boat. I crawled inside . . .
and did some tracing. All the deck beams, and most important, the hole for the mast.
OK, enough of the Goose. Time for the kids building the Tik Taks. Connor was the oldest at 14 (just off screen to the left) then Sebastian, Anthony, and Patience. While we waited for the rest, we . . .
practiced driving screws. The goal was to get the screws to seat just enough so the head was below the surface of the wood, Good thing we practiced - it is a skill.
Kids can only take so much practice. Raina and Hanna showed up just in time to drive a few screws, then it was time to go for a paddle.
The guys actually requested the pink canoe. If you want your boat to get used, paint it pink.
OK, they knew what a finished Tik Tak looked like, they saw the parts, and they understood the build process. Step 1: Fill the pilot holes with screws. We were using #6 3/4 Stainless Steel from . . . where else? Duckworks.
That's a lot of screws.
Then, a photo team from the high school showed up - and they had a drone. They might as well have tossed a bag of candy out there, as fast as the kids abandoned the boat build.
It took a bit, but we finally got back to task.
Time for the flip - Boast Turning is an important stage in construction.
Everybody got a chance to try laying glue. Caulking guns are not made for youthful hands.
Time for the second boat. If I had trouble keeping their attention the first one, it was doubly hard on this one. Good thing it went twice as fast because they were familiar with the process.
There we go - two Tik Tak Kayaks in . . . . longer than the 2 hours I had hoped for, but less than the 4 hours I had today. Come to the Depoe Boat Boat Show and take 'em for a paddle.
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