Setting Up The StrongBack - Making a Kayak - microBootlegger Sport - E6

Finally getting the forms strung on the strongback. I discuss the spacer system and how to true up the forms.

[Music]
So I was wrong with the last episode
and what I was going to do in that
episode but I promised you and this one
that I get the strong back put together
so I cut the forms in the last episode
on my CNC machine and now they're ready
to string on my aluminum strong back the
strong back has cut to about 13 feet
long but I need to get the forms lined
up precisely so the first step will be
just determining where to locate the
forms so I've got the informed design so
it slides into the hollow tube of my
aluminum extrusion if you have a box
beam you often end up with a hollow
piece in there and so this is one I
sized specifically to slide inside my
aluminum extrusion so it's going to go
someplace like this what I need to
figure out is exactly where this face is
going to be so this is form 28 which
means it's 28 inches from the bow of the
boat but this form will end up butting
up against the end form right there and
down at the other end I've got a similar
situation yeah I've got the stern end
form which will slide in like this and
this form is form 168 so that ends up
going on here and butting up against
this end of the form so this is form 168
and at the other end it's formed 28 so
the difference between this face and
that face is 140 inches so when I have
this placed in here I need to measure
140 inches up to this point on that bow
form so if I slide this stern form on
here I want to mark how far it comes
forward here so right there if I measure
that that is 9 and 3/8 inches from that
point there so now if I slide down to
the other end
so I want to go 140 inches but I'm
measuring from the far end of the strong
back which was nine and a and three
eights so we'll go 149 and three-eighths
right there so when I insert the same
form you want to have that line up right
there at 149 and three-eighths so it's a
matter of securing this one in form in
place at that position but before I do
that I want to get the other form strung
on so now I've just placed these forms
on the strong back I'm not locating yet
my initial concern is just getting the
bow form in place where it needs to be
so it'll be right in there I have this
big wide opening in in here that there's
nothing really to hold this form Center
so I had these two spaces as size to fit
down into the extrusion on either side
and if I place the form in between them
the form will be Center so now it's just
a matter of getting this to the right
length here right there and shooting in
a screw to hold it in place
[Music]
so now that's not going anywhere
so at this end string on the forms
notice I'm putting them with the
reference lines pointed towards the
closest end I took about half the forms
on this end stringing them on here and
on the other end it's the other half of
the forms the end they're closest to is
the side I place the reference lines on
so it's always going to be towards the
closest end because I put this a scarf
cut in order to get to 13-foot strong
backs out of 120 foot extrusion I have a
big open slot down here
so like the front the bow form this
needs to be dealt with so I put these
spacers in there and the in-form
just slides down in there locks in place
and as long as I have this registered
against the top surface will be good so
once again I just double check that this
has lined up precisely with my mark and
shipping it's good
so now if I slide this form down here
it's not going to slide off it has no
place to go the end forms are being held
in with two screws each so these are the
only fasteners holding the whole system
together is these two to just make sure
the end form doesn't slide off the end
so this is form 28
this is forms 168 and so again those are
measurements distances from the vowel of
the finished boat and I want 140 inches
between this face of form 168 and this
face of form 28 and now I want 10 inches
between each form so I'm using a 10 inch
form spacing here it's sort of typical
for my designs is 12 inches but I find
what I'm using thinner strips that a
little tighter form spacing works out
nicely and since I have the CNC machine
and can pump them out I don't mind
making a few extra forms seems to be
worthwhile for me I want to get 10
inches between reference faces so the
reference face is this front face at the
bow of the boat and the reference face
at the stern of the boat is the back of
the face again I'm going from form 28
there to form 168 here and then the each
one in between I want 10 inches from
reference face to reference face
Caeser half-inch-thick forms the spacing
between the forms should be nine and a
half inches so I've got spacers here
that are nine and a half inches I just
drop that in between get more spacers
and between each form there's one spacer
same at the other end so now I've got
spaces between each one of them all
these spacers are is a couple pieces of
plywood again CNC machine so I cut these
myself on my CNC machine but I've made
them out of plywood and pine whatever it
takes
it's just something that Nestle's over
the strong back holds it in place so if
I make them out of plywood by him
without the CNC machine I'll a bit a
piece of pine eight-foot piece of pine
have some eight foot long plywood pieces
rabbet the plywood into the pine glue
and put a couple Brad's into that to
hold it together and then on a chop saw
cut them off to the appropriate length
in my case this is nine and a half
inches for a typical spacing of 12
inches between forms you'd have eleven
and a half inches but on a chop saw you
can make these all nice and square so
this is just the size it needs to be to
fit over the strong back so it doesn't
fall off the length here is the spacing
between forms and what we care about is
that these are square these ends are
square in both directions that way the
forms will be square so it's not much to
these very simple so the gap for the
last spacer I have these modified
spacers they've got a little angle cut
on them so when I drive a wedge in there
it pushes the forms out either direction
so just drop that in grab a wedge and a
mallet and drive that wedge down
now the forms are very secure not going
anywhere
before the wedges are in everything's
loose start to drive the wedges in that
all tightens up with it all wedge
together things are pretty secure and
chances are good that the forms are now
secured but we just want to make sure
everything's aligned the forms can
rotate around the axis of the strong
back so we just want to double-check and
make sure the forms are all secure and
that's why we put the reference lines on
and that's why we had the point towards
the closest ends so they easy to see as
we sight down the length of the boat so
here we have the reference lines these
happen to be water lines so they're
horizontal lines parallel to where the
water plane will be this is a design
water line for where the boat will float
when it has a typical sized passenger in
it and this is where it's going to be
the part line of the boat for this
particular design it doesn't have a
typical shear like most kayaks so this
flying is a horizontal line across all
the forms which ends up being at the
widest point of the forms at the middle
of the boat towards the end the widest
point ramps up at the bow and down at
the stern and so this will just serve as
a reference line as a part line between
the hull and the deck of the boat we
want to make sure all these reference
lines line up precisely to that end you
need to get your eye up on the plane of
that reference line if it's low things
don't line up and if it's high things
don't line up but you get it right on
the line there and things will line up
precisely in theory that's what we're
here to make sure that they actually do
so
the boat a little closer to the camera
here and so we're going from here
eyeballing out to there make sure
everything's straight and true if we
have one that looks a little high a
little bit low we're just going to take
and tap down on the form so if that
doesn't do it we can try tapping up on
the other side if we have one that looks
a little bit low you can tap up from
below get it lined up so this is an
exercise in getting your eye right down
on the plane of the water lines and
sighting down it to try and see any
discrepancies where something's high or
low if your if your eyes not on the
plane you're not going to be able to see
it you can't do it standing back you
need to get your eye right down close to
everything and sight precisely down that
line so we had a transition point here
here the reference face is on the front
of the boat the closest ends the bow and
here on the other side of where the
wedges are the reference space is now
towards the back and so I have all the
reference lines here on the front where
their business visible from the front
and on here where they're visible from
the back so obviously there's a
transition here where you can't see the
reference lines from this side and site
passed it to the reference lines on this
side so we need to have some sort of way
of transitioning and that reference so
I've got a little strip of wood here
I'll just place that along that
reference lines in this case I've got a
groove there so it's off a top edge of
that reference groove clamp it in place
align it with the top edge and same on
these on the stern half so now we've got
we've established a set of lines that we
can eyeball across
that transition and again I want to get
my eye right down here on that reference
plane and scan back and forth so I can
sort of connect the dots here I can see
these two are lined up and as I move out
I can watch that reference plane cross
through each form and you can't do it if
you're standing back you can't see it
from here you want to get your eyeball
right on that line so you can sight down
that curve it's in this case it should
be a perfectly flat plane all the way
down and so if you look at one and get
the top edge lined up and then look at
the next it should line up with the next
and that one should line up with the
next and the next and the next
so just transitions all the way down and
one nice straight flat plane and if
something looks a little bit off give it
a little tap once you've got it lined up
in this plane we want to go and look
down the center line do the same process
sighting down the center line so process
is the same for the center line get your
eye right right on the plane of the
center line and scan down the forms
looking from one to the next so again
you really want your eye right on that
plane looking straight down the line
from one form to the next if you see
something that looks a little bit out of
whack and try rotating the form a little
bit if you're having trouble with some
of this it may be a bit of an iterative
process starting at the waterline on one
side maybe going to the waterline on the
other side back to the center line back
to the first waterline and you also you
can flip it over right now the strong
backs not secured to anything the whole
deal can be lifted up and flipped over
and you can look at the bottom center
line and by rotating a few times you
ought to be able to find things that are
out of whack by rotating it a few times
you ought to be able to find any form
that's out of whack and usually it's
just a matter of its rotated
the strong back somehow it's not
inconceivable that you cut the whole
wrong and so the holes not in the center
of the form in which case you might need
to take the whole deal apart but chances
are if you're careful cutting your forms
everything will be good and it's just a
matter of getting the rotation right
once you're satisfied that everything's
as straight as you can make it we'll
just put a couple more wax on the wedges
to make sure that's even tighter and
that should hold it secure sometimes
I'll put a little bit of hot melt glue
on the wedges to just keep them from
moving but I really haven't had a
problem with them moving as far as how
Strait does it need to be the strips to
a certain extent will fare themselves
out so if something's a little bit off
you know sixteenth of an inch of
millimeters something like that
chances are that's not going to end up
showing if you get things a little bit
off the boats still going to work you
know I have people worried about that
they're both gonna go around circles or
something that's I'd be surprised if
anybody could actually make a boat
that's going to go around circles
because they didn't get their forms
quite true enough you know if it's off
even if it was off by half an inch you
know like a centimeter from one end to
the other had a bow in it the radius of
that circle is miles it's not going to
actually mess you up much and you might
get to the point we're near the
completion of the boat where you look
down and all you can see is the fact
that it's crooked nobody else is ever
going to know you're not going to end up
going in circles it's really not going
to affect the performance that much
obviously you want to do as good a job
as you can in the long run you'll just
be more satisfied with it but don't live
in fear that somehow if you've got
something off by a 64th of an inch
things are going to be bad it's not
going to be bad it's going to be fine
you know you can be off by sixteenth
easily enough it's not going to reel
affect anything eighth inch you know not
ideal but it'll still be fine
you know you probably don't want to be
off by a half inch but you're gonna be
able to catch that before there's any
problem and if you have a strong back
that you feel isn't stiff enough and
seems to move while you're working on it
get it lined up as straight as you can
and maybe put some more saw horses to
lock it in place a little bit once you
get two or three strips on either side
stop check everything again if you see
something out of whack make some
adjustments let's see if you got a few
strips on it the strips are gonna lock
it all in place and things aren't gonna
move after that you've pumped some
staples into it nothing's gonna move and
so don't worry that you don't have a
aluminum strong back that's really rigid
if your wood box beam has a little bit
of flex to it just make sure when you
started it's as straight as you can get
it and again if it's a little bit bowed
one way or the other
don't sweat it too much I didn't lie to
you this time I got the forms assembled
on the strong back I have more I want to
discuss and show you but this episode's
long enough then the next segment we'll
discuss why I use an internal strong
back as opposed to the external then
demonstrate the shaping of the inner
stems sure to hit subscribe because
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along quickly here and would appreciate
your comments and feedback as I go let
me know if you have any questions until
next time thanks for watching and happy
paddling