Setting Up

 After getting all the forms trimmed, I decided to set up to the waterline level, as in last years' build. Much to my surprise, form 6 had the least distance between waterline & keel! I had assumed that it would be the biggest form, form nine. Puzzled, I went back to Kayak Foundry, zoomed in, and sure enough, that's how t is. The keel slopes back down to forms 7 and 8, then curves up to the stern. 

Additionally, I discovered that I had placed forms 1 and 16 incorrectly on the bow & stern forms. O. K, that's enough "false starts"!

Hmm, maybe not. 😉 I set up the box beam and alignment strings, then looked for the form with the least distance between keel & waterline, to use as a gauge. I found that several of the forms were very close in that measurement, and actually had difficulty picking one. That brought me to the conclusion that this design does not have enough rocker. It was mentioned on the Kayak Foundry message board. 

So, "back to the drawing board", as in Kayak Foundry. I dropped the keel down a few clicks to add rocker. I reprinted the forms (this time, giving Staples' copier a pass), and remade them on 1/2" MDF, being tired of the bulk of the 3/4" stuff. I seem to recall using 1/2" material in the past.

It seems that I didn't add much rocker- several forms in the center had almost no drop from the string, which caused the quandary mentioned above. I set up to the waterline.

Showing how flat it is in the middle. Almost no rocker until form #5.

At the stern, very little rocker until form # 15.

So, I accomplished my goal of designing a kayak with low rocker and a long waterline. I wont know how it handles until I paddle it.

Starting

I printed the forms routinely, lots of paper and tape, as with my last Kayak Foundry build. I thought it might be easier to work with copies, so I went to Staples. I paid $20 for slow, mediocre service. It was easier to work with the copies, but after all the forms were glued to Masonite & trimmed, I found that form #2 and the Bow Form misaligned by over 1/4"! I began to suspect that Staples' copier was off, but after careful measurement, I determined that the copies were O.K. I finally realized that I know how to finagle, shim, and adjust forms during the build, so I trimmed the Deck Side of the bow form & went with it. If necessary, it wouldn't be the the first time that I had to make adjustments on the fly.

I have two superstitions about starting a build. On every good build, I have managed to hurt myself a little (things on the order of stapling my finger, dropping something on my foot, etc.) and made a false start on some phase of the project. This time. I stuck my finger with a measuring gauge, and had the quandary about the forms. I also had to re-make forms 1 and 2. 😉