PBK 19 Build, I hope

[Chinook]

What worked and what didn't

After a season of use I thought I would update this thread with some lessons learned

1) the cockpit coamings, fortunately I never showed the quick installation catch I devised, it turned out to quick release at times of it's own choosing, I reverted to the cursed thumb screws as shown on the plans, this adds nearly 10 minutes to the assembly time.

2) The stringers all snap together in the middle of the boat, unfortunately the stern ones have an aluminum hinge really close to the frame this limits the amount of flex, this has been no problem for the smaller stringers but too much for the larger 3/4" gunwale stringers about a month apart they both split, fortunately a 10 minute repair with a hose clamp in the field. I have since gone from a snap joint to a bolt and wingnut that has reduced the required flex from 18" to 6" and the have been no further problems.

3) The fabric for the hull turned out better than expected
http://www.outdoorfabricscanada.com/Sam ... _3430.html
True I didn't have high expectations but it has survived being dragged up gravel beaches, landing on rocky beaches with caution, and a lot of worn stone beaches it has a few scuffs except for one incident
On one of the first few trips out I succeeded in running on to a rough granite boulder at 5kph we scrapped along one stringer and finally came to a quick stop in about 8' stuck on the rock. The 1/2" cut in the fabric below is the result



As the fabric is tight across the stringer no significant water came in and we didn't know about it until an hour later when we were putting the kayak on the car and a couple of cups of water ran out. I've since put 3" strips of cloth over all the stringers below the waterline and had no further problems, if I was doing it again I would double all cloth below the waterline to form a double bottom and that add wear strips to the stringer, I think that would be fairly idiot proof a prime requirement for my boats.

[Chinook]

What work and what didn't part 2

4) The hinges where the stringers fold don't have enough wood left in them to handle the tension load and 3 on the bottom have fail as indicated in the picture, the wood having pulled out, I was completely unaware of it at the time it wasn't until I was dismantling the boat that I found them. These has since been fixed by removing more wood (about 1/16") and epoxying 2 layers of 8oz glass cloth around the ends to form a 6" long socket around the wood (hope that makes sense) so far it has passed the car roof


The brass hardware has been replaced with aluminum rivets

As it was only the bottom stringers that broke in tension it has 3 likely causes that I can think of
1) the normal working of the boat in a seaway, least likely in my opinion
2) Carrying the loaded boat up the beach, hard on the back we now use rollers.
3) Cranking down on the straps too hard when on top of the car, we traveled about 300km this summer like this.



The repair seems to be holding up to the roof test so the plan is to redo all 16 joints I have no use for a boat that can't take this kind of abuse.

5) Percy knew what he was doing, the design continues to impress me secondary stability is impressive, the layout of the deck and cockpit coaming shed water well we have never had solid water in the cockpit although we don't play in the breakers we have been in open water with winds in the 15-20kt range nothing unusual for a kayak but all I want. A spray deck is under construction just in case


And finally if you don't like deserted beaches with idyllic campsites don't come to Nova Scotia the pictures below were taken on the south shore in the Cape La Have islands (about 100km from Halifax) in July on a weekday, we saw no one







On another trip on the NE coast we were out for a week, similar idyllic spots all week we saw 3 kayaks and one recreational fishermen

[john allsop]

All things considered your modifications have worked out well and you should be pleased with yourself. My home made spray covers are held on with "pop" fasteners which work out quite well, i suspect Percy Blandford used them as well as my TYNE,s spray cover is held on the same way and it is virtually a copy of Percy,s ideas if not designed by him. He his still with us and i am sure would be interested in your "canoe" as he called them. What you have done would be of interest to the historic canoe and kayak assocation, i think there are two members here in Canada.