Arenal Kayaks Boatshop

Boat construction is considered by many to be the ultimate test of carpentry skills. Also a test of patience as many hours of work sometimes spanning years are required to construct a seaworthy craft.

Strongback

Took a while to come up with the strongback. Thought I'd find something in the various piles of lumber that I've collected. But, nothing appeared straight enough, especially 16 feet long. So, I decided to get some 1/2" plywood and make a box beam from that. Went together well enough and actually came out quite straight.

Now that I have the strongback, it was time to cutout the 2"x4" opening in the center of each form. With that completed I can put all the form pieces on the strongback now and start to see the shape of the boat appear.

Next, cutout endforms and fit them to strongback as well as attach and align the forms. Once I get to this part it'll be necessary to rig up some pulleys in the ceiling of the shop for lifting the boat out of the way. There's not enough room to leave it out and it doesn't fold up so I'm thinking just hoist it up to the ceiling when I'm not working on it.