Kaimusailing

A different kind of boredom. We are experiencing the relief from the SUMMER WEATHER PATTERN, which includes high humidity, mostly southerly winds, and high ambient and "feels like" temperatures. Which means I will be posting about boring boat repairs, descriptions of mundane woodworking tasks to the point of inciting terrorism.
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I met a kayaker who responded to my request, "Where did you kayak from?", with the reply, "Oregon".
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He is Hank Landau and started by following the Lewis and Clark expedition in reverse, from Oregon to St. Louis. Later he kayaked to here, ending his Pacific to Atlantic kayak trek. I am mentioning him because he is writing up his travel in a book, only 6 chapters so far, but he hasn't quite finished up his kayaking, only now putting his vessel in storage. The book will follow I am sure after he gets back to Oregon and writes it all down. He has a hand written journal to guide him. He is about 75 years old, and like me, needs to write things down right now so he can refer to them later. Otherwise all is lost.
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I have this idea that each individual is born with a certain amount of native knowledge, you could call it instinct, or common sense, and a certain amount of adaptable learning ability, but you cannot have both, you have more of one and less of the other, and that explains a lot of human behavior. Some people just know what to do with the basics of life, but they are at a loss when the discussion ventures over into theories and speculation. Others need help getting their shoes laced properly, but they are able to learn how to split the atom. There are some who have a lot of both traits and then others who have less. This is my new theory and I'm looking at our society in a new way.
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As the weather starts its inevitable cooldown from the summer heat stroke, I will be working a lot more and hopefully finally getting Kaimu back in the water. From the instinctual side of my brain, I feel a great reluctance to subject myself to more of the gulag and the brutal hard work required to relaunch the catamaran. From my theory and logic side of the brain, it is business as usual, do this and do that and the project will get done. Logic, as I have said before, is a terrible taskmaster.
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The logic of building the outrigger canoe has me working on the rudder/daggerboard and its cassette(s) which hold the rudder in position and also provide a means for it to release when it strikes a rock or other object in the water.
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The rough blank of the rudder/daggerboard is ready and the cassette(s) were cast around it, kind of like a leading edge skin long enough to reach from the top goudgeon at the crossbeam to the lower goudgeon, which can be called a "wae" or boss or strut. It's just a sturdy piece of hardwood that is attached to the inside of one hull side, passes through the other, and terminates in mid air just above the water surface. It protrudes out of the hull about the same as the butt end of the crossbeam does, and it's directly below the crossbeam, so the rudder/daggerboard can attach to those two points. It's an outboard rudder.
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The original plan was to have two, one at each crossbeam, and the forward one would become a daggerboard and its tiller would be fixed in position, the aft one would be the rudder. Because I only bought enough wood to make one, we will have one for the time being and shift it each time we shunt the craft.
All this work is taking place in reduced temperatures from the exceedingly high heat of the past months. Rain, however, has fallen almost every day and often without much warning. Working in the open and uncovering the many tarpaulins that cover tool chests, materials, and work surfaces, leaves everything exposed to the sudden rain squall that comes in over the marsh, or like the past few days, comes in from behind the trees to the north with no warning.
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Still, it is looking better for logical progression of work. Epoxy can set up under cover, if nature gives us enough time to prepare things, and then next time we can do the next step in the process.
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I set up the outrigger canoe after having it all clumped together in a sort of storage heap for the past few months. It stores very compactly, taking up about 18 feet in length, 3 feet or so in width, and a bit less than 4 feet high. There has been no deterioration of the properly epoxied and painted surfaces, but the unfinished crossbeams and crossbeam mounts look like maybe the wood fungi are starting their work. It doesn't matter, they will be cleaned with alcohol and finished and maybe will last long enough to evaluate the prototype. Already I have lots of ideas in the way of improvement, but too many ideas will result in an entirely new craft instead of an evolution of the current design.
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The crossbeams were notched just a little bit to help them fit together with the beam mounts on the hulls. This all could be resolved in a few days and we could be paddling this around.
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The daggerboard/rudder and its cassettes need finishing work, drilling to pin them to the gudgeons, but they are not needed for paddling, the sail rig needs to be made. The mast steps will be simple sockets on the sole and mast partners of glass/epoxy wrapped around the crossbeams. The masts will be stepped on the centerline of the hull and be held by a loop of fiberglass against the crossbeams.
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The photo is of the mock up of the rudder/cassette assembly. A bungie holds the rudder in the cassette. The cassette is the gray looking strip on the front of the rudder. It has 4 wooden gudgeons attached to it, each one positioned above or below one of the gudgeons from the hull.
If the rudder hits anything in the water, it can kick back against the bungie and not rip apart the gudgeons, hull, or itself.