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Build A Greenland Kayak Part 5
Build A Greenland Kayak Part 5
Build A Greenland Kayak Part 5
Table of Contents
Step 1: Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Step 2: Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Greenland-kayak-part-5/
Author:nativewater author's website
skin on frame kayak builder since 1987
Step 1: Materials
Ribs are best made out of hardwoods like oak. Softwoods like pine or spruce don't bend nearly as well. Elm bends even better than oak, although you're not likely to find
it at most lumberyards. Ash is also a good bending wood.
I like to get my oak boards in 3 inch widths, 5 to 8 foot long. I pick through the boards to find ones that have flat grain that runs straight for the whole length of the board.
The longer the board, the less likely it is that its grain is going to be straight for the whole length of the board. The boards should also be free of any irregularities in the
grain.
Ribs need to be about 8 inches longer than the width of the gunwales where they are being inserted. For estimation purposes figure an average of 24 inches per rib. Lets
say you buy boards that are 5 feet long and 2-1/2 inches wide. Your ribs will be 1/4 inch thick, so you can get about 7 sticks out of each board assuming you lose 1/8 inch
per cut. Each of those sticks will give you two ribs, so each board will give you 14 ribs. Allowing for breakage means that you will probably need three of those 5 foot
boards to make all the ribs for your boat.
Step 2: Tools
Steambox for heating the ribs
Gloves for protecting your hands from hot wood
Saw for trimming the ribs
Clamps for holding the ribs in place on the boat
Image Notes
1. Grain, that is growth rings in this board are parallel to the flat face of the
board. This is called flat grain. If we slice rib blanks out of this board by making Image Notes
cuts at a right angle to the flat face, we will end up with ribs that have vertical 1. Here is a slice of rib taken off a three inch wide board. This piece of wood is
grain. 1/4 inch thick in the vertical direction and 3/4 inches wide in the horizontal
direction. The run of the grain is now vertical.
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Step 4: Soak the rib blanks in water
Ribs need to soak in water for about 3 days before you bend them. I made soaking trough out of a section of rain gutter with the ends capped off. I soak the rib blanks full
length and do not cut them up into shorter sections until it's time to steam.
Image Notes
1. Cut your rib blanks so they are at least a hand's width ( 4 inches ) wider than the gunwales on each side.
Image Notes
1. Though the spoke shave is designed as a two handed tool, it is light enough to be used with one hand. One or two strokes down each edge is enough to round the
edges.
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Step 7: Mark the bend position
With the rib blank laying across the gunwales, make a mark on the rib two fingers width in from the edge of the gunwales on both sides. This is roughly where you want
the major bends of the rib to be. The section between the marks should be more or less flat to slightly arched.
Image Notes
1. Mark the rib two finger's width (1-1/2 inches) in from the gunwales on both sides. This will be where you want to concentrate the bends on your rib.
In general, the flatter the ribs are in the middle, the flatter the bottom of the kayak will be and the more stable it will feel.
Ribs that are more uniformly arched throughout will give you a more rounded hull that is less stable but slightly faster and livelier than a flat bottomed hull.
If you are building your first kayak or don't have much paddling experience go for the more flat hull.
Image Notes
1. Here's the view of a completed hull looking aft. The flat ribs make for a flat
bottomed hull which makes for a stable boat.
Image Notes
1. If you want a stable boat, make the ribs flat in the middle.
2. Most of the bend in these ribs is concentrated toward the ends of the ribs.
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Image Notes
1. This is a narrow, 18 inch wide boat with ribs arched even toward the middle of
the boat. This boat will be lively and need an experienced paddler to keep
upright. Avoid narrow round bottomed hulls unless you have lots of paddling
experience.
Image Notes
1. This boat is 22 inches wide and has much flatter ribs in the middle. This will
be a reasonably stable boat suitable for a first time paddler.
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Image Notes
1. Even though this boat is only 19 inches wide, the builder still managed to get
the ribs fairly flat.
2. Ribs toward the bow become more arched.
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Step 9: Rib steaming
You will need to steam your ribs to get them hot enough to make the wood plastic enough to bend. See my instructable on how to make a steam box for details.
Image Notes
1. This steambox is made out of plywood which is both a good insulator and resistant to warpage.
2. This is the open end of the steambox thourh which we insert and remove ribs. A wet rag over the opening acts as a door that keeps the heat in.
3. Our steam source is a pot of water set on top of a camp stove. A hotplate will also do and is less dangerous (no open flames) and more convenient.
Image Notes
1. A soup ladle transports boiling water from the pot below to the rib.
2. The rib is heated by the boiling water. You will need to experiment to find out how many pours of water it takes to make the rib pliable.
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Step 11: Rib bending strategy
Start with a rib near the middle of the boat in the cockpit area. Put it in the steam box and let it steam for about 5 minutes. 5 minutes will be long enough. As you get into
the swing of things, you might find out that you will need to steam them even less than 5 minutes. Exact time depends on your wood, how wet it is and how hot your
steambox is.
Your next rib can be on either side of the first rib. Alternate back and forth until you have about 10 ribs in place, then put in all the ribs toward the stern. After that put in
ribs toward the bow.
The reason for finishing one end of the boat and not hopping back and forth after you have the first ten ribs in is that the progression of shape in the front and the back of
the boat is different and it is easier to get the transition of shape right if you stay on one end of the boat.
When you made the gunwales, you cut rib mortises to within 24 inches of the ends. You will probably find that gunwales at the last rib mortise are so close together that
getting a tight enough bend in the middle of the rib is impossible without breaking it. So you can leave the last rib mortise on either end un-occupied.
After you pull a rib out of the steambox, you have a limited amount of time to bend it. Once it cools down, the rib begins to stiffen up. So you need to work fast. Once you
have clamped the bent rib to the gunwales, you can still make adjustments to the shape, but the major bending should be done while the rib is right out of the steambox.
Ribs will remain pliable as long as they're wet. As they dry, they stiffen up and settle into their new bent shape.
Image Notes
1. The rib is coming out of the steamer. Image Notes
2. Gloves protect the hands of the builder. These gloves will get wet, so don't 1. If you want flat ribs, do a separate bend at each end of the rib rather than
use your good pair that you wear to the opera. arching the whole rib.
3. After you have the rib out, put the curtain back over the opening of the steam
box to keep the heat in.
Image Notes
1. This is a short rib for one of the ends of the boat and we want a uniform arch
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the whole length of the rib.
Image Notes
1. Our builder is using his stomach to push against the center of the rib to keep it
flat and concentrate the bends toward the edges.
Image Notes
1. Ribs need to be shaped so the hull stringers make contact with every rib.
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Step 13: Rib trimming strategy
You will have cut your rib blanks longer than they need to be. Once you have a rib clamped in place you will eventually need to trim it so the ends will fit into the rib
mortises. If you only have two clamps or not enough clamps for all the ribs, then you will have to alternately bend, trim and seat your ribs.
Grab the rib on either side of the bend mark and bend it. Then bend the other side. Shove the rib between the gunwales and under the keelson and clamp it to the
gunwales. Go to the end of the boat and check to see if the height of both bends is the same and symmetrical. If not, loosen the clamps and adjust the position of the rib
to make it symmetrical.
In general, ribs want to arch up in the middle so that you need to push the legs of the ribs up at the sides to flatten out their shape in the middle.
When you are happy with the shape, move on to your next rib.
Image Notes
1. Insert the first rib near the center of the boat. Make sure it is symmetrical. You
will be bending the other ribs around it to match this shape.
Image Notes
1. Our builder is using his stomach to push against the center of the rib to keep
it flat and concentrate the bends toward the edges.
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Image Notes
1. Mark the intersection of the rib with the gunwale. We will trim the rib 5/8 inch beyond the mark to allow for the depth of the rib mortise that the rib will be seated in.
Rib mortises are half an inch deep. We add an eigth of an inch in length to make up for the fact that the rib ends will be farther apart when seated in their mortises.
Image Notes
1. We're using a stick that we cut to a width of 5/8 inches to mark how much we Image Notes
want the rib ends to extend below the gunwale. 1. We are trimming the rib with a fine toothed saw.
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Image Notes
1. We're using a chisel to taper the ends of the trimmed rib.
Image Notes
1. Insert the rib with the top tilted toward the center of the boat. Tilt the rib upright and push it around a little to make sure it is symmetrical.
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Image Notes
1. As you insert each new rib, pay special attention to the area where the chine stringers will sit on the ribs. The ribs must flow smoothly from one to the next so that
each rib will be supporting the stringer.
Image Notes
1. Here the last rib ended up under the stem board. We cut a notch and just used two separate pieces of rib stock instead of trying to bend one piece to an extreme
angle.
2. The second rib is cracked in the center. It couldn'd do this extreme a bend. It's ok for the rib to be cracked since the crack is right under the keelson.
3. The third rib was the last rib going forward that was bent to a pointed arch.
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Step 21: All the ribs are in place
You're done with this part of the instructable. Take a breather. You just finished the hardest part of making a kayak.
When we come back, you will be adding chine stringers and deck stringers to your kayak and doing a few other little odds and ends to complete the frame of your kayak.
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Comments
12 comments Add Comment
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nativewater says: Jul 21, 2008. 9:10 AM REPLY
If the saplings are flexible enough you can use them. Ideally you can bend them green without steaming. I have used various kinds of wood in the past.
For a kayak, pick saplings that are about 1/2 inch in diameter with the bark on. With the bark peeled, they should be about 3/8 inch in diameter. Space
the ribs 4 inches apart - you can then drill circular mortises instead of cutting rectangular mortises for the flat ribs. For more details, go to
http://www.wolfgangbrinck.com/boats/boatbuilding/ribs/greenribs.html
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