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JW Kite build - ready for Gunwales

Looks great. I think mine came in at about the same weight. Your seat mockup looks pretty high, but as you can see, the Kite is quite stable even when empty. Enjoy!

Mark
Hi Dogbrain.

Thank you for your help early on in this build!
Yes the seat mock up was quite high but it felt like the Kite had enough secondary stability so it worked out quite well.
 
Love the color !
Your finish is great ! Looks like a Sports car.
Reminds me back in MY day, 1970 when Plymouth came out with Plumb Crazy. Loved it then and now.

I too think the seat looks high, but if it is comfortable ? Go with it !

Jim
 
Love the color !
Your finish is great ! Looks like a Sports car.
Reminds me back in MY day, 1970 when Plymouth came out with Plumb Crazy. Loved it then and now.

I too think the seat looks high, but if it is comfortable ? Go with it !

Jim
Hahaha Thanks Jim! I checked out the Plymoth in Plumb Crazy. It's a powerful paint job. Might go for something like that on my next build.
The canoe looks really shiny and nice in pictures (still), but in real life and up close it's far from a perfect finish. It is certainly good enough for me though.
The seat mockup was probably 1" or so too high in the test launching when I was sitting on that tool box. I have my seat frame ready to go with 4 coats of varnish on it but I have not been able to source stainless crown staples to fasten the webbing to my seat frame with. I don't have time to order since I'm travelling back to Norway in a few days. Guess I'll have to order and have them delivered to Norway instead. So until them, I'm seat-less.

Working on a mock up carrying yoke now. At first I did some experimenting with a design that used a brass rod sticking out 1/4" from the yoke and went inside a brass pipe fitted through the inner gunwale. It then secured with 3M dual lock on the underside of the outer gunwale. This worked but felt a little flimsy and like the 3M might come loose if pulling too hard on the yoke when flipping the boat around and lifting it. Next up is the more tried and tested -clamp to the gunwale style yoke. I've salvaged a couple of quick release wheel skewers from an old mountain bike that might come in handy for this.
Edit: I revised the drawing. I will probably go with something more like the second scetch.

Btw. I sent you a DM Jim! Check your inbox.
 

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I borrowed the yoke design from Bell, years ago .
Modified it to use as a backrest also,.

here are a couple pics, before I added pads

IMG_1686_zps8ov7bfow.jpg


IMG_1685_zpsib8ljrfq.jpg
 
I went with the second scetch and so far it works better than expected.

If I had some regular screws with star nuts I would probably just have used those like most people have. But I don't have time to order and so this idea was born after looking through the scrap drawer. I didn't have any big enough washers but in the scrap drawer were also some Danish coins. Turns out that the 5 kroner (0.75 USD) has a hole in the center that will fit perfect over a 5mm threaded rod.

The travel on the quick release rod is 2mm when flipping the tab. I thought that it might not be enough movement to get a positive lock without tightening the nut down tight first, which would pretty much defeat the purpose of using quick locks. It turns out that the travel is actually more than needed. When it's open you actually get enough play to remove or attach the yoke, flip the tabs and the yoke is very secure. I tried pulling it back and forth but it wouldn't budge at all in any direction. I might upgrade to some newer quick locks in aluminium later because these are a bit rusted, not to mention the weight of these...

My yoke is spruce and pine. Bare weight is 348 grams/12.3oz

These old school heavy duty quick locks weigh in at 166 grams/5.8oz (without the foreign currency). I'm not concerned about this weight but for those who are I'm guessing that modern aluminium ones might weigh half that.

Since the skewers are much longer than needed for this project and they only have threads on the ends I had to cut them off and re-thread with a hand cranked thread cutter in standard 5mm thread. It was pretty easy. Now I just need to round everything off, shorten the skewers and varnish.

One thing I will say about the yoke though. I think it looks cool and it has a lot of "shape" going on. On my next one I will not make such sharp "horns" sticking out in the front though. So far so good.. It feels good to carry with it and it distributes the weight of the boat well over the shoulders but I do realize that those sharp horns could hurt if you hit your neck or back on them. I might in fact just round them way down. They don't really do anything as is anyway.
 

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Glad it worked, and it is something I am interested in trying now, I have a spare yoke handy. I've never been a fan of those horny yokes, I always found they bit into my shoulders.
 
Lol, I was going to take it too far, but reigned myself in. I wonder if there is a way you can patent that idea, I think it is the most innovative and effective clamping system for a yoke that I have seen. Neat, simple and fast.
 
Cam handles can be found all over the Internet. No need to steal any off bicycles unless of course that is your idea of fun.
Jim
 
I like the yoke, and the cams. I've built a clamp on sailing rig using star nuts for a dinghy. On a canoe with open gunwales, I lash it on with webbing.
 
Lol, I was going to take it too far, but reigned myself in. I wonder if there is a way you can patent that idea, I think it is the most innovative and effective clamping system for a yoke that I have seen. Neat, simple and fast.
I have only tried it in the shop thus far where I have put it on and taken it off 5 or 6 times. Once you've dialed in the setting then it's a very quick operation to put it on and take it off and it seems to lock in very tight. If you would put a spring between the yoke and the clamping block to push them apart when the lock is opened it would probably work even better. I've ordered some new quick locks and springs and will try this out when they arrive in a month or so. So far I haven't found them in the right length for this application so cutting and threading the rod is still needed.


If I have in fact invented this new yoke system I feel that it is in my full right to also name it. So hence forth, anyone who uses quick lock clamps on their yokes has got
"The Strippers Horny Yoke" And yes... It Rubs You The Right Way.
 

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Haha, I like it!!
I used a similar cam lock from a mountain bike to keep the kick up rudder that I made for the sailboat that I built.
Plenty of axial force available
 
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