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I recently pick up a ‘77 Hyperform tandem kayak with the intention of converting it to a solo sailing tripper. Time to start taking apart the hull.
http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/CooperMcCrea/slideshow/Hyperform Tandem Kayak Disassembly
The massive rudder blade comes off with a simple pin and keeper. 15 oz gone.
The rudder pivot is likewise easy to remove, along with the crudely attached cables. Another half pound out. Although if I can make a Kruger-style rudder shape & retraction cord work the pivot piece will go back in.
The oddly “hinged” seat pan and backs are held in place using the same pins and keepers as the rudder blade. 8lbs, 4 oz out, and the seat hangers and frames are yet to come out
Vintage “gas pedal” style rudder controls. 1 lb 2oz. More cunning attachment hardware.
Front foot braces – 10oz
Foam pillars bow and stern. Perhaps the best installed pillars I’ve ever seen. Glassed and glued into place. With a saw cut, finagling and brute force I could remove the ethafoam, but the fiberglass “walls” will need to be cut out. The foam pillars alone were 2 lbs, 4 oz and the decks are plenty stiff without them.
The more complex disassembly required a Dremel tool. The tandem seat hangers and frames were molded as part of the cockpit rims and needed to be cut out. I stupidly tried cutting out one of those hangers with the hull upright on standard-sized sawhorses.
I know better. Working upside down, bent over into the hull, is a mistake. After mis-cutting the first of the four seat hanger sides I wised up and moved the hull onto the 4’ tall sawhorses so that I could work right-side up, facing my work at a convenient height.
The half-circle ethafoam stiffeners between the seat frames and sides of the hull were held in place with fiberglass and resin, as were the foam pillars.
A lot of Dremel cutting and grinding was required to remove that glass, in addition to cutting out the two seat drops/frames. Another 3 lbs 4 oz came out.
I have learned not to trust my math skills, but that looks almost 17lbs removed, and there’s still some sanding and grinding to do before commencing with the actual rebuild.
There are still a few pieces that need Dremel attention, but two sessions working inside the hull, PPE clad and immediately showered and changed (actually, I aim a leaf blower at myself before I even take the mask or respirator off) are all I can stand for now.
With the hull gutted I moved it outside and power washed the inside. There was 35 year’s accumulation of grunge stuck inside the hull. Now there is only 15 year’s worth of crud; even with soapy-soaking, scrubbing and powerwashing some of the dirt/pollen/pollution is still firmly adhered to the inside of the hull. Some of that grunge isn’t coming out.
And then to re-weight it and see how close my math skills and scales prove.
61.5 lbs when I got it……and crap, with the hull gutted and washed I weighed it several time, but my bathroom scale is less than consistent when standing atop holding a 16 ½’ boat – repeated weight-ins gave me a range between 47lbs and 43.5lbs.
I only weighed it once at the get go, so I don’t know how accurate my initial 61.5 lb weight actually was. I’ll trust the individual parts and pieces removed weighed on the small weight scale at 17lbs, and all that really matters is the final weight after outfitting.
Now comes the fun part – putting in a solo seat, utility/sail thwart and outfitting.
http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/CooperMcCrea/slideshow/Hyperform Tandem Kayak Disassembly
The massive rudder blade comes off with a simple pin and keeper. 15 oz gone.
The rudder pivot is likewise easy to remove, along with the crudely attached cables. Another half pound out. Although if I can make a Kruger-style rudder shape & retraction cord work the pivot piece will go back in.
The oddly “hinged” seat pan and backs are held in place using the same pins and keepers as the rudder blade. 8lbs, 4 oz out, and the seat hangers and frames are yet to come out
Vintage “gas pedal” style rudder controls. 1 lb 2oz. More cunning attachment hardware.
Front foot braces – 10oz
Foam pillars bow and stern. Perhaps the best installed pillars I’ve ever seen. Glassed and glued into place. With a saw cut, finagling and brute force I could remove the ethafoam, but the fiberglass “walls” will need to be cut out. The foam pillars alone were 2 lbs, 4 oz and the decks are plenty stiff without them.
The more complex disassembly required a Dremel tool. The tandem seat hangers and frames were molded as part of the cockpit rims and needed to be cut out. I stupidly tried cutting out one of those hangers with the hull upright on standard-sized sawhorses.
I know better. Working upside down, bent over into the hull, is a mistake. After mis-cutting the first of the four seat hanger sides I wised up and moved the hull onto the 4’ tall sawhorses so that I could work right-side up, facing my work at a convenient height.
The half-circle ethafoam stiffeners between the seat frames and sides of the hull were held in place with fiberglass and resin, as were the foam pillars.
A lot of Dremel cutting and grinding was required to remove that glass, in addition to cutting out the two seat drops/frames. Another 3 lbs 4 oz came out.
I have learned not to trust my math skills, but that looks almost 17lbs removed, and there’s still some sanding and grinding to do before commencing with the actual rebuild.
There are still a few pieces that need Dremel attention, but two sessions working inside the hull, PPE clad and immediately showered and changed (actually, I aim a leaf blower at myself before I even take the mask or respirator off) are all I can stand for now.
With the hull gutted I moved it outside and power washed the inside. There was 35 year’s accumulation of grunge stuck inside the hull. Now there is only 15 year’s worth of crud; even with soapy-soaking, scrubbing and powerwashing some of the dirt/pollen/pollution is still firmly adhered to the inside of the hull. Some of that grunge isn’t coming out.
And then to re-weight it and see how close my math skills and scales prove.
61.5 lbs when I got it……and crap, with the hull gutted and washed I weighed it several time, but my bathroom scale is less than consistent when standing atop holding a 16 ½’ boat – repeated weight-ins gave me a range between 47lbs and 43.5lbs.
I only weighed it once at the get go, so I don’t know how accurate my initial 61.5 lb weight actually was. I’ll trust the individual parts and pieces removed weighed on the small weight scale at 17lbs, and all that really matters is the final weight after outfitting.
Now comes the fun part – putting in a solo seat, utility/sail thwart and outfitting.