Hi Tom,
We have just completed the Sof course in Hobart and its been a great week and 6 great boats produced. 1 Scaled up Disko bay , 1 scaled down Disko Bay and 4 F1's. I would echo all the comments from your course, Brian was an interesting and knowledgeable teacher and it was fantastic to see the raw materials develop into a boat so quickly. Learned heaps along the way and keen to try more down the track. We had a few minor issues with inadequate power tools (mine)and we broke about 30 ribs but all that was good to see the solutions to problems as as well. I squeezed into my Disko Bay for the first time yesterday so its early days but it sure feels good , can roll it but have to get used to the GP after using a wing exclusively for the last four years. Did manage to wet exit after coaxing the knees past the masik, and even managed a straddle re-entry. I called the boat Declan because "once you get the decklines on you won't see any of the faults".

Iv just reternd home from a trip down to Golden Beach on the 90mile beach, I took the new F1 out for a paddle in the surf for the 1st time, I must say its so easy to controle, the surf on the 90 mile is always bad dumping surf and I had no problems geting in or out, the volume of this litel boat is just right it dosent get beried in the wave , even when its starting to dump on you and its realy easy to swing around to get out of the way of waves and its realy efortles side surfing in and I almost always felt stabel in it , the light flex is suprizingly good to .
tomorow the new sail design goes onto it .

Hey Greg - glad to hear it all went well.

I've not had a chance to paddle my boat much - sore back has been plagueing me for 2 weeks now. Time for some drear core strenght focussed work.. I must install a lumbar support in the dico bay too.. my pooe european spine desperately needs it.

I'm amazed that you could pony into a DB. Pretty nice to know you can actually get back into it.

I have just got the combings together on my daughters kayak. It will be 11'6 long and 16" wide. Framed from some hoop pine paddle blank stock, left over paddle cut offs for deck beams, and old bits of rib stock for ribs. Screwing the deck beams rather than mortise and tennon. Combing from a bit of spotted gum that was to make a paddle spline.
Getting the gunnles together is such a great thing to make you feel like you are building a boat. Just 2hrs from rippings stock, and it looks boat shaped.. a little trimmer router makes a great rib mortiser too.

Got any pictures from launch day or did brian manage to lose his camera again ?


Mick - I'm still jealous of the F1.. glad to hear it surfs up to its reputation! Thats the certainly the next cab off the rank in a week or two. (maybe 6 or so..)

Tom

I know what you mean about the core strength work. After a week at the workshop I was having trouble touching the floor.

Here are a couple of pics and Brian still has his camera.......... at this stage. Thanks again for sending down the skin. The suppliers only sent five and we were expecting seven. Could have only been five boats on the water!

It will be good to see pics of the boat you are building for your daughter.

PS when I did the exit and re-entry I was in pretty shallow water but didn't need the bottom.

Beautiful boats!

The minni disco bay for Lyn looks just-right sized, and it seems yours fits Geoff too?

I think a huge thank you should go out to the Scouting organisation. Seems their sheds are actually perfect for kayak building. I reckon that the scouts could make lovely boats as part of their activities.


Ellas Kayak is coming on well. Deck beams are in, masik laminated up last night and bow and stern pieces in. Total build time so far 3.5hrs.
Today I will bend in the ribs (all 9 of them.) Wack on some deck slats for and aft and hopefully fit a keel line.
Should be ready for skin by close of Austraya day. (Assuming I have enough success avoiding building the bookshelves my other half keeps asking for

I'll post some pics later.

Tom

Hi all,

I have had one of my best weeks ever building the SOF kayak. I learnt names of tools, and how to use them, I now even know some woodworking terms.
And I now have the most beautiful boat ever built
I have only had the one brief paddle, and started to become comfortable with a "tippy" feeling. Hopefully I can work towards some Greenland rolls.
I am still very excited and can't believe I have built my own boat. Brian was a great teacher, and my fellow students were a great bunch to work with, they didn't seem to mind a fumbling female in a generally male domain, I think the continual supply of freshly baked biscuits might have helped.
Lyn

good morning, Lynn, I told you that you wold have a grate experiance, and woldent have a problem with the wood work side of things, and yes your disco dose look realy grate, we will all have to exibit them at next years wooden boat festival !

To all of you that built a SOF boat at the workshop congratulations on a job well done. They look stunning!
I particually like the Disko Bay Greenland kayaks. I am interested in building a SOF Greenland style kayak and the Disko Bay has really taken my eye. Can any of you tell me where I can obtain the plans to build one.
I am presently reading the Robert Morris book "Building Skin on Frame Boats" It has a Greenland style kayak in it also.
Also what covering did you use at the course and what did you paint over it ? Was it stiched or glued together ?

Graham

RebelRaider wrote:To all of you that built a SOF boat at the workshop congratulations on a job well done. They look stunning!
I particually like the Disko Bay Greenland kayaks. I am interested in building a SOF Greenland style kayak and the Disko Bay has really taken my eye. Can any of you tell me where I can obtain the plans to build one.
I am presently reading the Robert Morris book "Building Skin on Frame Boats" It has a Greenland style kayak in it also.
Also what covering did you use at the course and what did you paint over it ? Was it stiched or glued together ?

Graham

Graham. The boats were covered with ballistic nylon and coated with a two pack polyurethane sourced from Skin Boats in America. See skinboats.com. I'm not sure where to get plans for the Disko Bay. The course leader, Brian Schulz, had all the measurements that he had personally calculated. He is at capefalconkayak.com.

gsimson wrote:Graham. The boats were covered with ballistic nylon and coated with a two pack polyurethane sourced from Skin Boats in America. See skinboats.com. I'm not sure where to get plans for the Disko Bay. The course leader, Brian Schulz, had all the measurements that he had personally calculated. He is at capefalconkayak.com.

I think the Disco Bay is in Harvey Golden's Skinboats of Greenland. Beautiful thorough book, but I haven't bought a copy yet. http://www.traditionalkayaks.com/KOG.html. He and Brian are both very helpful gentlemen. ... ok, Brian might take offense at being called a gentleman...

Yes the Disco Bay is 'KOG 67' A lovely boat for a big bloke when its scaled up a bit.

Thankyou all for your information and help regarding the Disco Bay construction and plan sourcing.
I do like the look of the craft and would be interested to hear more on how it handles itself in quartering winds etc.
I am also looking at the Greenland designs in Cunninghams and Morris's books.

Graham

Good morning,
Iv been giving the F1 a real hamering over the last 4 munths. and hears what iv found.

Its every bit as good as its reputation, and easy to see why the Coster which this boat was modeld off reached calt statas. its fast for its size, a lot to do with its paddling whaigh of 15kg. the sail I designd for it is back in the loft with sume modifications hapening, Iv realized that I need to make a sail speshaly for small boats the likes of the Avoset and other short decked kayaks. it sails well but with its short length it dos wonder a bit , not unlike Norm Sanders Inyit clasic dos with a sail .

Iv been playing around with diferant seating idears. the original foam pad preferd by Brian is OK but I found my ancals wher aking after about 2 to 3 hours. Iv tried a Nadgge seat, its superb, no more sore ankels and its taken a litel bit of the rock shore initial stability away, making it more responciv to edging and leaning, and a heap more playfull. Im going to try sumthing inbetween as well .
my F1 has ternd a golden toffe couler , almost overnight, this is due to UV , I dont think thay get as much UV in the states as we do hear.
And I can load it up for 3 days, and it dosent seam to behave eny diferantly, I travel realy light nowdays, and recon I can easily get a week into this litel kayak .
Iv also started on the F2 Iv riped just about all the wood down to size, and now when I get a chance il laminate up the deck beams and comings . althow I am contemplating yousing glas comings from Maistrom , ther big and Iv already got decks that fit .Il post sum Pics as soon as Iv started lashing it together.

Hi there,

I'm looking to build a SOF kayak, I would have loved to have done the Brian Schulz class but a bit late for that! I'm planning on going it alone. I have a fair level of woodworking experience. One problem I've got is that the Robert Morris book is no longer in print, does anyone have any idea how I could get a copy?

Cheers,

Les

Lyn Murray wrote:Hi all,

I have had one of my best weeks ever building the SOF kayak. I learnt names of tools, and how to use them, I now even know some woodworking terms.
And I now have the most beautiful boat ever built
I have only had the one brief paddle, and started to become comfortable with a "tippy" feeling. Hopefully I can work towards some Greenland rolls.
I am still very excited and can't believe I have built my own boat. Brian was a great teacher, and my fellow students were a great bunch to work with, they didn't seem to mind a fumbling female in a generally male domain, I think the continual supply of freshly baked biscuits might have helped.
Lyn

Hi again all,

I am now successful in rolling my SOF, both sides. so feel very pleased with myself. It's a great boat to work with, although I still haven't managed any long trips with it, I'm happy at the moment learning skills. I'd like to work towards multiple rolls, we'll see how that goes.
I'll hoping to have it at the Wooden Boat Festival in 2011.
Lyn

les wrote:Hi there,

I'm looking to build a SOF kayak, I would have loved to have done the Brian Schulz class but a bit late for that! I'm planning on going it alone. I have a fair level of woodworking experience. One problem I've got is that the Robert Morris book is no longer in print, does anyone have any idea how I could get a copy?

Cheers,

Les

Hi Les,
I have a copy of the Morris book (not for sale) and it is good but there is plenty of other reference material around which is just as handy. Building the Greenland kayak is an excellent book by Christopher Cunningham still available to give a good grounding in the techniques . The web is then a great source for plans etc of different boats as well as techniques. Have a look at skinboats.org, wolfgangbrinck.com/boats/ and Brian has some good info on his site for the F1 at capefalconkayak.com


Greg

Lyn Murray wrote:Hi again all,

I am now successful in rolling my SOF, both sides. so feel very pleased with myself. It's a great boat to work with, although I still haven't managed any long trips with it, I'm happy at the moment learning skills. I'd like to work towards multiple rolls, we'll see how that goes.
I'll hoping to have it at the Wooden Boat Festival in 2011.
Lyn

Go Lyn,
How about helping building a boat the the wooden boat festival?

Hi again all,

I am now successful in rolling my SOF, both sides. so feel very pleased with myself. It's a great boat to work with, although I still haven't managed any long trips with it, I'm happy at the moment learning skills. I'd like to work towards multiple rolls, we'll see how that goes.
I'll hoping to have it at the Wooden Boat Festival in 2011.
Lyn[/quote]

Hi Lyn, I am also looking at bringing mine down to the wooden boat festival as well.

Thanks for your reply Greg. I've bought the Chris Cunnigham book and one by Mark Starr. Do you have any suggestions re timber choices, Chris Cunningham is not keen on Red Cedar, but I seem to recall the F1's built out here where made from Red Cedar.

Les


[/quote]
Hi Les,
I have a copy of the Morris book (not for sale) and it is good but there is plenty of other reference material around which is just as handy. Building the Greenland kayak is an excellent book by Christopher Cunningham still available to give a good grounding in the techniques . The web is then a great source for plans etc of different boats as well as techniques. Have a look at skinboats.org, wolfgangbrinck.com/boats/ and Brian has some good info on his site for the F1 at capefalconkayak.com


Greg[/quote]

Well, it is still available, just not very cheap
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1551924447/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274041761&sr=1-1&condition=used

Geoff