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CLC Kayak Sail Rig build

keabird

keabird

Paddler
Joined
Apr 27, 2006
Messages
458
Location
Edmonds, WA
In case anyone is interested I finally got the go-ahead from my wife that I can start building a sail rig for my boat. I will post photos here and on my website if anyone is interested in the build.

I am quite excited about it. Ever since I first learned that I could build a kayak several years ago, I have wanted to add this sail rig to one. It looks like a ton of fun, and the best part is that it can be left at home if I just wanted to do some pure paddling.

I am building from a set of plans, my first time to not start from a kit, so this should be interesting. I am picking up the wood tomorrow and will start as soon as I can.

specs will be: the amas (floats) are 10'6" long with a 9" beam. This will give the whole boat just over 10 feet of beam.

Here's a photo of the plans.


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Are you going to use a standard sail, or a "flying wing" type sail? I understand that the flying wing can reduce the amount of tack for an upwind course by as much as 30 percent, because of the loft of the wing cofiguration, but have been unable to findspecs for building one in a size appropriate for a kayak. I'd love to build one for my sof.
 
I am going to be using a Klepper S4 sail. This has a jib and a main for a total 54 sq ft. I like this because it can be reefed, sailed under just the jib, or completely lowered while on the water. Bought the sails today, now I just have to build the rest.
 
I laid out and cut the bulkheads today. I cut them out of 6 mm okume ply. I then laminated three layers of the 6mm together for extra strength. The plans call for just one piece of 9mm but I heard that there can be cracking. I think 18mm should be sufficient!

The bulkheads have their funny shape because the top part sticks above the deck so the akas can be attached to them.

This was a new experience cutting pieces from a blank piece of wood. Fun not to rely on the computer guided CnC machine!


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In a marathon day today I cut all the panels from plywood blanks, fiberglassed both sides of the four bulkheads, joined the panels with butt joints, stitched them together, and glued the seams. Whew I am ready for bed. I was very excited to find that everything fit together with only a few very minor gaps. Not bad for cutting the panels by hand!

Here's a couple of photos of the ama's (floats).


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Looks good! At this rate you will be sailing by Sept. As a long time sailer and new kayaker, I am following with interest. I have seen Hobie's plastic version of a sailing yak, but it is comlex and looks heavy. I also have only built boats from pre-cut panels so your project is good for me to follow on that point too.
 
Yes I am very motivated to get this done before the end of the summer so I can use it! I too thought that the hobie sail/yak looks interesting, but it is heavy and expensive! Cutting the panels is not as hard as I thought. I just used a fine blade jigsaw and cut proud of the line. Then a nice sharp block plane to get done to the line. Large strokes gets the straightest line I found.
 
I've always used a down- cutting blade for cutting panels, keeps the tearout (if any) on the bottom, so you can see your cut; also, try to always cut down grain, as with a plane, and any tearout will bw miminized.
I'm following this thread, too, since I thinking of converting my last sof to sail, ever since seeing the Yost design at: http://robroy.dyndns.info/baidarka/slid ... .html#sail
He says he never completed the project because it got too complex for his tastes, but there are pics of the complete folding frame, with amas & akas, just no details of the flying wing sail, which is what I'd like to use.
 
I sealed the interior of the amas with epoxy and glassed the seams.

I also did the lay up of the first aka (cross beams) today. That was the single hardest thing I have ever done in boat building. The akas are made from strips of 1 1/2" x 1/4" strips of sitka spruce. The strips are 12 feet long and there are 8 per aka. I tested the jig out with one strip and it was super easy. With all 8 plus all the epoxy between strips it was like trying to bend a steel girder. I actually broke a couple of my larger clamps trying to pull the *%&^ thing against the jig blocks. Then once clamped, a couple of the blocks disintegrated.

Next time I will be doing only a couple strips at a time and just do it over a couple of days. :shock: :shock:


Also I stripped the deck of the starboard ama. I don't have enough strips to do the port one, so that will be getting a ply deck.


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I just realized that my so-called hardest bit of boat building ever could have been much harder. I only laminated 6 of the 8 strips. I think it would have been totally impossible without some mega heavy duty clamps that I dont have the money to buy for this one job.

I laminated 3 strips of the second aka today. It is much more manageable.

Also if anyone wants to see more photos than what I have posted here check out my sailrig section on my websites at:

http://www.keakayaks.com/sailrig/sailrig.html
 
That's gotta be the prettiest clamp rack I ever saw, keabird! I am distressed about the mis-matched amas, though, are you sure there's no way to score some more strips? there must be some one around who can supply you with a few... give a shout, maybe on the buy/sell forum, or general discuss, oh, heck, post a request on ALL of them!
 
Stumpy,

Dont be too distressed! I realized that I had just enough left over strips to fully deck both amas. The patterns aren't going to match but they will at least both have stripped decks! I am very excited to have been able to use these things at last. They have been hanging off my shop ceiling for some time all lonely and jealous of the rest of the strips getting to go places never to rot all snug under a layer of fiberglass.
 
I fiberglassed the deck of the starboard ama this morning. I love the way the color of the strips really shows up under the epoxy. I also cut out the shape of the leeboard. It is made from pieces of okume plywood and a piece of hardwood for stiffness. The hardwood is a piece of bloodwood I got from a friend.


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I glassed the other ama deck and sanded the leeboard to shape this afternoon. It was very satisfying to feather the edges and get the board looking nice and smooth. The one time it is good to sand into the underlying plys! It is going to look great under some fiberglass.


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Where does that lee board go? do you put a bracket on your kayak? Since you only mention one, I would assume it goes somewhere in the center. I'm not that familiar with trimarans, but used to sail cats, which use a lee board in each ama, unless it's a hobie, which use a proprietary concave outer huul shape, which virtually eliminates the need for one.
 
Stumpy said:
Where does that lee board go? do you put a bracket on your kayak? Since you only mention one, I would assume it goes somewhere in the center. I'm not that familiar with trimarans, but used to sail cats, which use a lee board in each ama, unless it's a hobie, which use a proprietary concave outer huul shape, which virtually eliminates the need for one.
Click to expand...

The leeboard is mounted with brackets attached to the forward aka. It is mounted as close to the kayak as possible to get it near the center. It can be mounted on either side of the boat, and I am going to put it on the starboard side. In case you are curious, it is 38" long and just under 10" wide x 1/2" thick. It seems big enough to do a good job. The handle is in place so it can be swung up for shallow water/ launching/landing.
 
I fiberglassed one side of the leeboard and the extended rudder that I made. I am really pleased with the way they look under the glass.


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