Kayak Build pt. 4

The shear clamp and stems are fitted.

The shear clamps are what the hull and the deck are fitted to and what joins the two together. They are a bit tricky to do, since they are 7/8" by 3/4". When planing these to the correct dimensions, the worry lies in the fact that the two sizes are so close. For anyone contemplating tackling one of these, when you get to that stage, I would suggest you mark it to make sure you don’t make a mistake. Different coloured bingo dabbers or china pencils or some other distinguishing mark indicating which one is which. One corner also needs to have a rounded corner routered on to it.

Here just one side it fitted to make sure everything is all right.

Here both shear clamps are put in place. No stems as yet. The ends of the shear clamps at both the bow and stern need to be angled so that they come to an appropriate point.

Inner bow stem clamped in place and being roughly shaped with a belt sander. The tricky thing is that the stems need to be shaped, but it can really only be done as you move the strips up. It can’t really be done ahead of time. The shape is dictated by the strips. So it is done little by little as you move up. It’s especially tricky up towards the top.

A sense of the shape we’re aiming for.

And the inner stern stem clamped in place.

The shear clamps in place, covered in tape to avoid getting glue on them.

Shear clamp cut and angled so that it mates up with the stem, and glued.

Now the strips can be added and the hull formed.

Go here for part 5 of the build.