Home » 06.11 Black Pearl (CT) » Black Pearl: Stripped the aft deck
Black Pearl: Stripped the aft deck
Stripping the aft deck went very quickly and smoothly. I trimmed the fore-deck strips aft of the seatback at a 45 degree angle with a pullsaw held against a Speed-square. I mitered to strips to meet this edge. I used 1″ wide square cut strips. The strips did not have a bead or cove to hold the alignment between strips. For the 15 minutes after edge gluing I would check their alignment, gently pushing strips up or down to maintain a fair rear deck. Very little of this post-alignment was needed. The glue (I use Titebond 2) set up very quickly. The area around the cockpit looks very fair with no dips or humps at the aft/fore deck joint.
As stated in the last post, I would only use this method on bright painted boats where the wood grain will not be seen. The aft/fore deck joint may look like a weak area on the deck. Safe to say it is not. The inner and outer fiberglass skins provide the strength. The wood is only a core separating the skins. Plus, the deck in this area is supported by the rear bulkhead. Next I’ll cut out and form the cockpit recess (requested by the Customer to lower the front edge of the cockpit).
Filed under: 06.11 Black Pearl (CT)
12 Responses to "Black Pearl: Stripped the aft deck"
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Now THIS is getting EXCITING…aren’t you glad its a black boat so you don’t have to match grain/highlight strips/etc?
The cockpit recess will certainly keep the front deck profile a little bit lower and sleeker without any anticipated entry issues.
This is starting to look like ONE SLEEK LITTLE MONSTER, eh?
Is it too soon to ask for the forward bulkhead template for foaming out the footsupport?
I am psyched!!!!!!!
Thanks, Dan.
Scott
I’ve been waiting for awhile now to read a building log in English about the Black Pearl. This is pretty exciting. I’m curious about the skeg. Is that a standard part? I can’t say that I’ve noticed it before.
The skeg is one of Bjorn’s options. There are two skeg options: fixed and retractable.
I chose to have Dan include the fixed skeg as I prefer a straighter tracking boat and chose not to complicate the build as well as keep the boat more like the original SOF design that it was derived from.
I intend to use antler sliders, black-dyed leather lines and antler toggles as well. Besides the 1/4 inch water line stripe in oyster color and a special graphic, the boat will be an all-black, low-to-the water roller, playboat, and hopefully also fulfill day-cruising status in reasonable conditions.
Viva-la-low-volume!
Dan – you won’t hurt my feelings if it gets completed sooner than you estimated!!! ;^)
Scott
The kayak is designed to be used without a skeg and that is also recommended on the plans. But as Dan points out, two skeg options are also indicated: fixed and adjustable. Scott´s preference for straigther tracking when day-cruising is a good reason for his choice.
My own Black Pearl is built without sked and used for day-cruising along an unprotected coast. Works fine for me, but when tried by people used to skegs or rudder, they often yell for more trackability. But it is my firm belief that trackability primarily should be a quality of the paddler, not the kayak. One of my pet rants is that a kayak designed for accomplished paddlers should display no recognisable qualities at all, meaning that all built-in behaviour in some ways limits the paddlers options and interfere with his or her actions – as opposed to kayaks for a beginner, who might feel more at ease in a craft that does not obey the sometimes erratic commands issued through the paddle.
But I wouldn´t dream of imposing my own prejudices on the builder/customer. I design the basic kayak, suggest a reasonable level of outfittting, and indicate other options on the plans, when adequate with a discussion on pros and cons.
Ouch, Bjorn!!! You uncovered my secret….I am a lousy paddler!!! LOL!!!
But really, I did weigh the pros and cons before making my decision to go with a small fixed skeg and yes, my boats do tend to wander on me a bit due to my less than perfect technique!! (or should I say less than adequate technique?)
I would be curious to know how many of the 70 or so Black Pearls out there have any type of skeg included on them, whether fixed or adjustable. Do you have that info, Bjorn?
Thanks Bjorn for deriving such a great looking strip boat from the original SOF plans!
Scott
Thanks Scott. IMHO paddling skills isn´t a problem anymore. Just grow a grey beard and there will be no limit
I do not know the percentage skegs among the Black Pearls. Most I have met are without skegs, since they are built for rolling and play rather than touring (but chanses are that I tend to meet primarily that kind of paddlers). The white pearl I showed in another comment have a small fixed skeg and I have seen a few with an adjustable skeg. My impression is that most skegs on pearls are fixed.
oops, there was a link in the last comment that got lost somehow: this http://www.thomassondesign.com/news/news.php?aj_go=more&id=1164140714
Dan, how does the blogging software handle htlm links?
I clicked the above link and it worked fine… I use Firefox but I checked it with IE and it also worked fine. Word Press seems like pretty capable software…
Dan
Björn I love the poetic way that you described the way a kayak should disappear under the paddler.
My beard is starting to go grey. It’s just a matter of time now…
Thanks Bryan,
may be it is just me, but repetitive rolling in winter waters in a marginally stable kayak seems to speed up the process
Great, I guess I’ll have to grow a beard now. I don’t know if my wife will like that idea… It’s going to be a while before it’s grey. I do have one hair on my chin that’s always comes out white. Does that count? Maybe first I should learn how to do a proper roll…