Sectional Sea-Kayaks
Dirk Fabian
Ever since the recent paddlesports show in my town, i've been dreaming
about getting one of those fancy 3 piece sectional sea kayaks that NDK
make. If you haven't seen them, the 3 pieces of the boat are connected at
the bulkheads by big plastic bolts. You can throw the boat in a trunk or
have it ride on a plane as over-sized luggage, and when you get to your
destination, you have a stiff durable fiberglass boat ready to go.
I know of one guy around Madison who paddled his sectional around Iceland
- he's a phenomenal paddler, and Nigel Dennis used them for his Antarctic
trip. Both of them say that the boats are as solid and watertight as a
regular 1piece boat. Does anyone have other experience to add to this
assessment?
Secondly, it seems like that to make a fibreglass boat, you just break
out the hacksaw, slice up a normal boat, and re-glass the bulkheads on
both sides. Has anyone here ever done this themselves? I wouldn't do this
to a new boat, but i wonder if i couldn't turn my current boat into a
sectional with some work. Now the lay-up in my CD boat is like paper
compared to the British boats i've seen...i think this is the flaw in my
plan. What are the rest? Is this a possibility? This can't be any worse
than building a boat from scratch can it?
Thanks for the input - Dirk
Michiel Verhoef
that I think it should be possible to use an existing sea kayak to make
a sectional kayak. Just remember to make the bulkheads strong enough
to keep the assembled kayak in one piece. As the forces applied on the
bulkheads are pretty strong these need to be a lot stronger than the average
bulkheads... It probably won't do to simply paste on the resin to the
sections.
Of course this is all relative to one's experience with resin and boatbuilding
but I'd say this is a job for an expert.
Just my $0.02,
Michiel
Sailboat Restorations, Inc.
shouldn't be that hard to make any composite kayak a sectional, assuming
proper skills. But what I've been trying to figure out is whether there is
a way to do it so that the three (or four?) pieces fit *into* each other for
transport. Although being able to break the boat down is better than *not*
being able to do so, having to carry three five-foot-plus bags with the
separate sections amounts to quite a project, and would certainly raise
eyebrows at the airport. If you could fit them all into one package, it
would be much better. Any thoughts about that?
Mark
Michiel Verhoef wrote in message <39000318...@xs4all.nl>...
Michiel Verhoef
I must have the URL somewhere, I think it was related to Ainsworth
paddles. Anyone?
Thing is, if you want bulkhead you can't stuff the pieces into each other.
If you want to stuff the parts into each other, you can't have bulkheads.
So you either have to make a sectionable kayak without bulkheads or you
have to carry three large bags..
Hummm, must give it some thought this weekend because it sounds like
an interesting project :-)
Michiel
John Fereira
>I've seen a plastic sea kayak once that could be stored like that...
>I must have the URL somewhere, I think it was related to Ainsworth
>paddles. Anyone?
Ainsworth makes a three piece fiberglass take-apart kayak. I've also seen a
3-piece Nordkapp, but not any of the NDK models.
The Ainsworth site is at http://ainsworthpaddles.com but it doesn't have
anything about the kayak. I only know about it because I saw pictures of it
one of last years buyers guides.
John Fereira
Ithaca, NY
ja...@cornell.edu
Sailboat Restorations, Inc.
having a one or two inch section tabbed down well where the bulkhead
attaches, on both sections? This "tab" would stick into the interior about
two inches and run around the inner circumference of the hull and deck. You
would have a separate bulkhead, and you could bolt the bulkhead to the tab
each time you bolt the sections together -- the through-bolts would run
through one "tab," through the bulkhead, then through the other tab. . . ?
Get the idea? If this were done right, it *might* allow enough space to
slide sections of the kayak into other sections, inside the tabs.
Michiel Verhoef wrote
Ulli Hoger
Dirk Fabian wrote:
>
> Secondly, it seems like that to make a fibreglass boat, you just break
> out the hacksaw, slice up a normal boat, and re-glass the bulkheads on
> both sides. Has anyone here ever done this themselves? I wouldn't do this
> to a new boat, but i wonder if i couldn't turn my current boat into a
> sectional with some work. Now the lay-up in my CD boat is like paper
> compared to the British boats i've seen...i think this is the flaw in my
> plan. What are the rest? Is this a possibility? This can't be any worse
> than building a boat from scratch can it?
>
> Thanks for the input - Dirk
Hi,
not exactly what's in your mind, but I built one. It's a stitch and
glue boat, a Volkskomponentkayak, a local design by Whynot boats. For
impressions check my WWW page
http://is.dal.ca/~uhoeger/
It's finished now and is approx 25 kg (using plastic bolts and less
paint will get it easy down to 22kg).
Cheers
ulli
Sailboat Restorations, Inc.
of the finished boat? How does it paddle? Have you transported it via
airplane anywhere? Thanks.
Mark
Ulli Hoger wrote in message
<3900EA7C...@erase-this.zoology.uni-frankfurt.de>...
Timo Noko
through over-sized hatch and you had 2 pieces of luggage.
Unfortunately both pieces were 1.5 meters long and 0.5 meters wide and
thus both were over-sized, which meant US$400 extra charges, if you
were unlucky or flying in Aeroflot or Continental.
Much worse you could not carry these two pieces in a Lada-Taxi at all.
Breaking the kayak into FOUR sections (1.2 meters) would solve all
these problems, but then the construction would be more complicated and
the benefits (compared to a folding boat) are lost.
IMHO hard-shells are not safe solo-touring kayaks in the first
place. You can always reconstruct a folding kayak from materials found
from the woods and from the beach, whatever happens...
kotimonoko?
In article <39006E16...@xs4all.nl>, Michiel Verhoef wrote:
>I've seen a plastic sea kayak once that could be stored like that...
>I must have the URL somewhere, I think it was related to Ainsworth
>paddles. Anyone?
>
>Thing is, if you want bulkhead you can't stuff the pieces into each other.
>If you want to stuff the parts into each other, you can't have bulkheads.
>
>So you either have to make a sectionable kayak without bulkheads or you
>have to carry three large bags..
>
Ulli Hoger
"Sailboat Restorations, Inc." wrote:
>
> That's a great looking project, Ulli. Any chance we could see some photos
> of the finished boat? How does it paddle? Have you transported it via
> airplane anywhere? Thanks.
> Mark
You are right, I was a bit lazy to update the web page. I will do that
in the next days and post as soon as there is something new to see.
Unfortunately the weather up here prevented paddling on "real" water so
far -maybe this afternoon. Since February I had it in the pool a couple
of times. It takes about 30 minutes to bolt it together (maybe less if
I buy a clutch-wrench -you know these things which slip over the nut and
go only one way). To take it apart it takes about half the time.
However, I tested a boat design last year before I decided to built
one. From this and my pool sessions I can tell that it tracks very
well, it is very responsive to edging and leaning, and it rolls a bit
harder than other boats (i.e. CD Strom or WS Sealution). It feels quite
a bit different from all the plastic boats I paddled so far, it's a hard
chined boat. It goes without a rudder or skeg, according to all the
other Volkskayakers here in Nova Scotia that is fine. But if you need
one you can add one.
There were 3 reasons for me to go this way. 1) I live in an apartment
building and can't store a 5 m boat, 2) one day I will go back to
Germany and want to take it with me, 3) I loved the idea to built a boat
by myself.
Gerry, the Whynot Boats guy and Volkskayak guru, went down to Mexico
with one of these boats. As far as I recall he flew AA and was able to
check 2 pieces as normal luggage and the 3rd piece for an extra 100$CAN
(his real luggage was stored in the hatches). So far no negative
reports, but he should be back in the next days and we are all curious
to find out how it worked out (traveling with a VK, building VKs with
the locals, and paddle on warm water).
Cheers
Ulli
Nita
they are no longer making the take apart kayak. Too bad cuz it was a
truly unique design and, contrary to another posting, I believe that it
collapsed to one airline legal sized bag. Ironically, Ainsworth is now
focused on producing kevlar baseball bats. Watch out for this
one...they've passed all of the tests for little league, hit further
than aluminum but sound like wood and aren't supposed to cost more thatn
Al.
Eric
Knu-Pac Portaging Systems
www.knupac.com
Dirk Fabian
Ulli Hoger <hoe...@erase-this.zoology.uni-frankfurt.de> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>not exactly what's in your mind, but I built one. It's a stitch and
>glue boat, a Volkskomponentkayak, a local design by Whynot boats. For
>impressions check my WWW page
>http://is.dal.ca/~uhoeger/
>
>It's finished now and is approx 25 kg (using plastic bolts and less
>paint will get it easy down to 22kg).
>
>Cheers
>
>ulli
Sweet Boat. So when you installed the bulkheads, did you leave any gap
between them? And how did you mark exactly where the two pieces came
together?
Here's another request to put some finished boat pictures up on your
website. I'd love to see the finished version together and apart.
- Dirk
Ulli Hoger
Dirk Fabian wrote:
> Sweet Boat. So when you installed the bulkheads, did you leave any gap
> between them? And how did you mark exactly where the two pieces came
> together?
>
> Here's another request to put some finished boat pictures up on your
> website. I'd love to see the finished version together and apart.
>
> - Dirk
Here some basic details:
The double bulkheads were hold together by 4 woodscrews and spaced by
approx. 2mm cardbord in between (depends what saw you will use to do the
cutting). Then the front and rear bulkheaddouble-assemblies were then
glassed in place with epoxy, fiberglastape, fiberglascloth like the
normal one piece bulkheads in a on piece kayak. Apart from this
doubleing of the bulkheads the boat was built like a normal kayak up to
the point when the outer surface of hull and deck was ready to be coated
with epoxy and glassed with fiberglastape. In fact you could built a one
piece kayak this way to keep the option to break it up later if
neccessary. However, at that point the location of the bulkheads was
exactly pinpointed by drilling holes from the inside to the outside of
the deck along both sides of the double bulkhead.
_______________ deck outside
drillhole /!\ drillhole (! is the double bulkhead, hope you get the
idea)
/ ! \
Between the two small holes a big hole was drilled from the outside to
connect the small holes and make the insertion point for the sawblade
between the plywood bulkheads -stained ,i.e. not brown cardboard helps a
lot to locate the gap between the bulkheads (important detail -before
cutting the boat into the three pieces the bolt holes were drilled into
the bulkheads, bolts were inserted and secured with nuts. This makes
sure that 1) the holes later match exactly in position and 2) during
cutting the boat doesn't break apart as soon as you approach 360
degrees. Six bolts on each end are used to bolt the kayak together for
paddling -I use stainless steel, some people experimented with plastic
(nylon) bolts and nuts, only Alu was a bad idea) Once the saw is
inserted inbetween the bulkheads it is guided around the hull and deck
fairly easy. You simply don't use a lot of muscle power to find the
direction. The holes in the deck are later filled with epoxy (that's
what you do with a stitch and glue boat anyway) and the outside of the
bulkheads and the rest of the boat is glasses with fiberglasstape,
fiberglascloth, and epoxy anyway.
To get a real snug fit of the two bulkhead surfaces we covered them with
epoxy-fairing compound mix, placed waxpaper inbetween and bolted the
pieces together.
That takes the extra hours compared to the one piece kayak (~60h vs.
~80h).
I am working on an update of my webpage (http://is.dal.ca/~uhoeger).
There are now pictures of the finished boat ready for paddling
(assembled).
As soon as I unload it from my car and brake it into the 3 pieces (most
likely tonight since the weather looks shitty till end of the week -no
paddling) I will get some pictures of the assemly/disassembly process.
Here comes a digital camera real handy.
Cheers
Ulli
Aled
If your boat has an outside seam, drill a very small hole from the inside
right up against your original bulkhead out through the skin as a pilot hole
to start cutting before glassing in the new bulkhead. Cut out a piece of
bulkhead sheet, usually 3 layers of 1.5 ounce mat, from a paper template, to
fit as closely as possible to the existing bulkhead and hold it in position
by temporarily sticking it in with double-sided adhesive foam tabs, the type
used to stick posters to walls, or by maintaining a gap between the
bulkheads using 2p pieces and Blue-Tack. This gap is critical as it needs
only be as wide as the hacksaw blade you'll use to perform the hull/ deck
cutting. Glass the new bulkhead in place with 3 more bandages of 1.5 oz mat.
Drill the bolt holes before you split the boat to guarantee alignment!!!
Also, drill the holes as close to the outer edges of the bulkhead as
possible and still allow you to get big washers on, and your fingers and
spanner in to tighten up the bolts later. Now for the tricky bit... find the
drill hole along the hull/ deck exactly between the separated bulkheads and
start sawing away. Remember to support the bow and not let it drop on the
floor!
Other complications...
If your existing boat has the bulkhead glassed on the cockpit side, as in
NDK boats, as opposed to older VCP boats, you'll be faced with the problem
of having to re-glass the original bulkhead through the front hatch and
somehow working the new second bulkhead around or over the original
cockpit-side bandage. Its a real pain! Personally, I'd opt to remove the
whole bulkhead and fixing bandage with a disk grinder (yuch! spit out dust,
yuch!) make 2 new bulkheads and glass them in place (remembering the gap
between them for the hacksaw) giving you the nice option of maximising your
front storage compartment and being able to use the bulkhead as a solid
footrest. Glass the cockpit side first, it stops the whole lot falling out
if you press too hard from the hatch side.
Thin sheet cork (floor/ wall tiles!) or neoprene may be used as a gasket
between the bulkhead surfaces to make a watertight seal. Bolts are 8mm
stainless, Nylock nuts and big penny washers.
Cutting up your seakayak registers as one of those "moments" in life...
Aled
Ulli Hoger
the page with the assembly and disassembly shots is up. The wet weather
prevented outdoor shots from the boat in its natural enviroment -spring
comes late in NS.
Cheers
Ulli
The URL http://is.dal.ca/uhoeger/