> Hi all! Can you help me find a source that carries all sorts
> of kayak hardware.

The beauty of these boats is that you don't need much hardware. Native boat builders built these things for centuries using scraps from their hunting, and whatever the sea would cast on their shore. Since these forms of delivery are erratic at best we now use mailorder. The supplier of your plans (probably) mand several books on kayak construction list suppliers.

> Everything from deck rigging to seats to (and please
> forgive my ignorance for not knowing the name of this) the adjustable
> metal thing that goes in the middle of a paddle, therefore making
> it adjustable. If a paper catalog is available that would be super
> as I love to look and the stuff and day dream and that doesn't work
> with a monitor too well.

> Deck rigging can be optional. You can build a kayak without it. If you decide to use it, it can range from a length of clothesline to some exotic synthetic material. Dreaming over catalogs does not get you on the water. Regretably. The basic materials are not too expensive to get started with strip or stitch-and-glue construction. by the time you finish you'll have more incested, of course. Skin on frame styles can be incredibly inexpensive. Books that include plans can get you started for a nominal cost.

> Question #2: Again, please forgive my ignorance, but is balsa
> wood ever used in un-structural situations of a boat. e.g. bulkheads,
> fore and aft of the deck... will it be strong after it's glassed.
> By the time it's glassed, will I have saved any weight over not glassing
> a stronger wood?

Is balsa used in boat building? Yes. It may be used in structural or non structural situations. If the designer of the boat calls for balsa, thenyou use balsa. It will be strong after it is glassed. Will you save weight? Maybe. Will you spend a lot of money? Definitely. Will it be easy to find balsa in the sizes and shapes you want? Probably not. (Of course if you live near a rain forest where the stuff grows you could always chop down a balsa tree, in which case the stuff would be convenient and cheap). Most of the boats discussed here are built with cedar. Many other woods are useful, but cedar is widely available, easy to work with, and reasonably cheap. Balsa has excellent strength to weight. Cedar is simply 'very good' in that category. There are several lumberyards from which you can order cedar in long, clear strips or long clear boards and cut your own strips. Getting long pieces of balsa is not so easy. You can splice together common fence boards with diagonal joints ( called scarf joints) to make long pieces of inexpensive, knot-free cedar.

> Question #3: Anyone have ideas or plans for adjustable seats?
> I was thinking of making a large cockpit that will fit 2 but can move
> the seat to CB when I am alone. Does this make sense? Can't figure
> how to attach it so that it can be moved.

A few ideas here. A) Make two identical seats that fit the hull snugly where you want them for tandem paddling. To secure them to the hull, glue 4 blocks of wood to the hull for each seat, two on the leaft and two on the right. On each side one block of wood goes to hold the front of the seat, and the other holds the back. This will keep the seat from sliding. A friction fit can work, or you can secure the seats in place with brass or stainless steel bolts and wingnuts. After getting the seats properly located for tandem, remove one of them and place it near the center of bouyancy. paddle the boat, and move the seat back and forth until you find a good location for it. Mark that loacation with a permanaent marker. Back in the shop you set the seat on those marks and install another 4 blocks of wood in the same manner as you used before, to secure the seat where it ought to be. Back rests can be attached to the sides of the cockpit and moved or removed as necessary when changing positions. You may need two or three. The mounts for the seat backs can be made of 2 slotted pieces, and can be adjusted for the width of the cockpit with bolts and wingnuts. some people use nylon fabric straps to hold their backrests in place. If you go this route, just build in three sets of attachment points, instead of only 2, so you'll have a place for all the necessary backrests.

The designer of the kayak usually will have designs for a seat with the plans. If not, a simple box made with a cedar slat top will serve to keep you bottom from intimate contact with the kayak's bottom. I'd proably make such a box from scrap 3/4 inch thick cedar stock (nominal 1 inch or 4/4 lumber) Roughly I'd make the box 12 inches square, with 3 inch high sides. The bottom would be open. I'd set the box in the boat and see how it fit the hull. It owuld probably he high in the center. I would use a plane to make it fit better. I'd run a few pieces of the same scrap stock through my saw to make strips that were 12 inches long, 3/4 inch wide, and anywhere from 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. I'd use brads, small screws or staples and glue to put these flexible strips on the top of the box. When the thing was assembled I'd varnish it, or maybe give it a few coats of epoxy resin if I had the money, or a few coats of linseed oil if I was being cheap.

B) If you use mini cell material, lay a wide strip down the center of the cockpit. It will resemble a long motorcycle seat, and you can sit anywhere on its length.

C) build 3 seats in the cockpit in the first place. Design the middle seat to double as foot braces or foot rests for the rear paddler.

On to ferrules for paddles. Have you tried to make your own? Seems to me this should be possible by using some scraps of fiberglass cloth and excess resin. I have not tried this myself, but I would look at it if I wanted paddles that came apart. If I was starting completely from scratch I'd reduce the diameter of the ends of each paddle half by about 1/8 to 3/16 inch ( 3 to 5 mm) I'd paint boath ends with twon thin coats of epoxy to seal the wood. One paddle half I'd lightly sand. I'll glue the reinforcing ''ferrule'' on here. The other paddle half would get a smooth sanding, and maybe a coat of wax or cover it with Saran wrap sp the resin used in the next operation would lot stick to it. I'd make a jig to hold the paddle halves in alignment, and wrap the joint with several layers of fiberglass cloth, brushing on resin as I added the cloth so that it would saturate the fabric. When I had 5 to 8 turns of cloth around the center of the handles, and the fiberglass was even with with rest of the paddle I'd stop and let the resin set. When it was set I would gently remove the one waxed, or Saran covered end. I might need another light sanding to get the parts to slide back together, but that should be all. If the ferrule wears and gets too big, I build up the small side with another coat or two of epoxy resin. If the ferrule is too tight, I sand it out, or sand the matching piece. No fancy hardware. Just a reinforced center joint. If you don't want to actually make that center piece, there are preformed fiberglass ( and carbon fiber) tubes for sale by the foot which can be cut to length and bolted on or glued on. A piece of rigid copper plumbing pipe might serve, and so could a piece of rigid plastic plumbing pipe. For short term use you could even use a piece of thinwall electrical conduit. ( of course that will eventually rust)

Now, Why bother with ferrules? Are you building a collapsible kayak? if not, then since you can easily store a 7 foot paddle in a 13 foot boat, so why bother storing half paddles? for what you would pay for a ferrule from a kayak supplier you could buy the wood to make another complete paddle. If you want to vary your feathering angles, just build two or three different paddles. The ones that are not ''perfect'' are great for spares when the good one breaks or gets losst downstream. (so what if the spare has high wind resistance -- it will get you home) Murphys law for paddles: If they can come apart into two pieces eventually you will lose half a paddle.

Best of luck to you Hope some of these ideas can help you. Paul Jacobson