Planning for the 4th of July Weekend

Hello,

Didn't get the chance to work on the Kaholo Stand Up Paddleboard tonight. Arrived home late and we had a visitor.

I will be working in the southwest Michigan boat shop (My Parents' summer place) this weekend so I spent a few minutes planning what items I hope to bring along.

We will be loading 8 people, 2 dogs and everyone's stuff into the minivan for the trip so space will be at a premium. I'm thinking that my plywood will be riding on the roof rack. My sister and her kids are riding with us, my cousin Kyle is riding with us, Mr. Nacho and our neighbors' dog Lulu are coming along too. Lulu is Mr. Nacho's sister, she is owned by our neighbors and they are away. Mr. Nacho and Lulu have been getting in some serious dog on dog playtime since she arrived around 6:00 PM, they will sleep well tonight. Mr. Nacho won't give Lulu a moment of peace.

Back to Kaholo talk. I'm planning to cut out the two forward bottom pieces this weekend and prepare them to be joined to the larger, aft bottom piece.

The Kaholo is about 14' long and plywood comes in 8' sheets. To get to the plywood to the 14' length the two pieces are joined by a scarf joint. This joint is made by using a block plane, see pictures 1 and 2 below, to cut "ramps" into the ends of the pieces to be joined. The joint should be 8 times longer than the thickness of the wood. For this application I will cut the "ramps" about 1" wide.

1.

2.


The wood is then joined by thickened epoxy glue. Once joined, the panels will be the correct length and will bend properly and assume the correct shape.

I will also be creating the blanks for the side panels this weekend. These pieces will also be scarfed together.

The fabric I ordered as decoration for the Kaholo arrived via UPS today. A picture is below. My plan is to cut the fabric into some cool shape(s) that will be applied to the Kaholo under the fiberglass cloth. I'm open to shape ideas if you have them. Most people apply the fabric to the forward end of the board in a shape that follows the shape of the board. Some put the fabric at the aft end too. This is a totally optional step, but I think it will trick out the board nicely.



The fabric is blue, purple, green and yellow batik fabric. The pattern contains kelp and sea turtles. I found it online from a place in California.

That's all I wanted to share tonight. Have a great Independence Day Holiday!

Okoume Jeff

Kaholo Stand Up Paddleboard Progress Report - June 27 & 28, 2009

Aloha Everyone!

I made good progress on my Kaholo Stand Up Paddleboard over the weekend. We went to my Parents' summer place in Southwest Michigan on Saturday. I loaded up the Family, Mr. Nacho, a half-sheet of 6mm Okoume plywood, and my tools for the trip. My plan was to work on the Kaholo on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.

Of course the best made plans are often delayed. In this case the delay was threefold: A stuck camper, a boat full of water and a deflated tube.

My Dad's cousin and his wife brought their big camper up from the city and were in the process of parking it when their tow vehicle became stuck in the soft, sandy ground. The neighbors provided a tow (Thanks John!) and after we filled in the ruts and found enough boards to create a "plank road" for the the camper and the truck to ride upon, the camper was moved to its parking spot for the week.

The kids wanted to tube behind the boat, but the boat was full of water from sitting unused for a couple of weeks. The boat cover, approximate age 25 years, still keeps some of the rain out, but quite a bit found its way into the boat. It took a full lap around the lake at idle speed to get all the water out of the bilges.

The tube upon which the kids wanted to ride was semi-deflated. I ran the compressor, found an air hose and filled the tube up.

By the time all the excitement was over it was dinner time. The gang opted for pizza on the beach in South Haven. We loaded up two vans, stuffed eleven people in and lit out for Little Caesar's. As everyone knows, when outside of the Chicago metro area opt for the national pizza chains. You may not like the pizza but you know what you are getting.

Sunday dawned warm and sunny with a nice breeze. Here is a photo of the lake on Sunday morning:



I got an early start and transferred the lines for the interior parts of the board, the bulkheads and stringers, from the plans to the thicker 6mm Okoume plywood that they are made from.

Below are some photos from that process.

The first photo shows some of the tools that I used to transfer the lines:

• Metal yardstick
• Plastic French Curve
• Flexible curve (the blue thing)
• Balsa wood batten

Of all of these instruments I have found the yardstick and the batten are most useful. Also, given the number of curves, I found I could freehand the lines between the dots on the curved portions of the plans and achieve satisfactory results without futzing (technical term) with the French Curve.

The photos below show: (1) the plans on the wood and the awl used to transfer the lines to the wood and (2) the dots that were transferred from the paper plans to the plywood using the awl and partial connection of the dots:

1.


2.

Photo 2 is Bulkhead #1. The two "X" marks on the plans are for holes that will be drilled in the bulkhead.

After all the lines were transferred to the plywood and all the dots connected I had 7 bulkheads and 4 stringers to cut. Work moved to the garage.

I became re-acquainted with my sabre (jig) saw and spent a good portion of the day cutting out the shapes. Lessons learned from/reinforced by this experience include:

• Let the saw do the work
• Cordless circular saws seem cool but they lack the power to go the distance
  
• Plywood sawdust is nasty - wear a mask/respirator next time

A picture of the finished product is below:


I'm pretty proud of the finished product. My cuts are not perfect, but all of these pieces will end up inside the paddleboard and the people at Chesapeake Light Craft insist that the "stitch and glue method" of boat build is pretty forgiving.

Update from last post: I said I was going in search of cypress wood at lunchtime, I did not. I joined a group of people from work for a great lunch instead. We went for Mexican food at Hay Carumba! in Park Ridge. It was a nice day and we sat outside in the sun. The food was good, the company was good and the imaginary margaritas were delicious (had to go back to work).

That's all for now, watch for future updates.

Thanks for reading,

Okoume Jeff

First Post - Kaholo Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) Project Update - No Pictures Yet

Stay tuned for commentary and photos of my attempt to construct a Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) Kaholo Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) from plans. Plans and kits are available from www.clcboats.com.

Target completion date for this project is July 31, 2009, in time for a couple of weeks of southwest Michigan shakedown cruises before attempting Ocean paddling in mid-August.

I've secured the plywood, African mahogany plywood called Okoume. The plywood is milled in Europe and is very high quality and somewhat expensive.

I've begun transferring the plans to the plywood. Earlier this week I cut out a piece that will become the aft bottom of the Kaholo. Last night I finished transferring the lines for the forward bottom pieces to the plywood. I plan to cut those pieces out in the near future.

I'm going in search of some additional wood supplies later today. I need 48' of 1/2" X 3/4" cypress for sheer clamps and bottom stiffeners. Hopefully I can find cypress, or a suitable alternate, in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Keep you posted,

Okoume Jeff