Little Auk 10 finished- Lessons Learned

Builder's Forum
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I finished my Little Auk 10 today. It’s my 4th CLC build but my first strip plank. I bought it partially built from CLC where it had been used in a class. The hull was decent but I ended up doing a lot of patching on it. The deck was not good, so I built that from scratch. I’m no craftsman so I only show it here to highlight things that I did that were a bit different from a normal build. Most of these things have been done by others, so I claim no originality.

  1. They gave me some cedar strips, but not enough to completely redo the deck. I decided to mill my own. I went through the cedar board at Lowe’s and, out of maybe 50 boards, I found a few that were pretty clear. They do have 12’ boards. I cut them up and added the bead and cove. I think if you spend as much time setting things up as you do actual cutting you have it about right.
  2. The Little Auk 10, being short and curvy, is a real challenge along the shear. Heat gun didn’t help much. I ended up steam bending onto a jig i made to get it close to the final shape. This helped, but next time I think I’ll use half- width strips for the toughest ones.
  3. One board had some white sap wood. I thought about tossing those cuts but instead book matched them to create a some nice contrast.
  4. I wanted to make the kayak as light as I could as it’s for one of the granddaughters. I didn’t do anything crazy- standard fiberglass. I used 6 oz on the inside and outside of the hull. On the inside I did not do any fill coats. The deck is 4 oz in and out. I did the outside after joining the hull to the deck. Final weight: 25 lbs. Pretty good I think.
  5. I wanted the coaming to be an extension of the deck pattern, so I saved the cutoffs when I cut out for the cockpit, and used them to make the Coaming.
  6. I decided to put the Coaming on before attaching the deck so I could get to the underside easily. I think this was not a good idea as it stiffened the deck, making it harder to mate to the hull.
  7. I was able to do a single fill coat. Maybe partly due to working in 60’s temperature.
  8. I used Clean Armor as a finish- there’s a separate post on that.
  9. I don’t like putting holes in boats. I mounted the foot rests using the studs CLC sells. I made soft padeyes for the seatback bungee and added small plywood pads to screw in the seat back webbing.
  10. I don’t like the idea of the carry toggles banging against the stem and stern so I made rope handles using a modified fisherman’s knot.
  11. Instead of doing an end pour at the end I added reinforcement before joining deck to hull as the hull is very flat at each end. I used micro balloons to lighten the fill. However they are hard to control and get up in the air easily when you go to mix them in. I’m not sure I want to use them again.

So here’s what I ended up with:

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1 Like
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Very nice! My first stripper was an Auk 14 built from a kit with B&C strips. As you mentioned, bending and twisting B&C can be problematic. In my case there was a lot of foul language involved. I have since moved on the square edged strips only (except for the coaming riser).

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Looks great!

Yes, my next one will be an 11’ and use square edge strips. I found the coves were very fragile (at least for my clumsy skills). Did you use Nick’s Robo-Bevel? I bought one but haven’t tried it yet.

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I tried a Robo-bevel but found it less useful than I had expected. I bought a Stanley 79 plane on eBay and use that quite a lot. Generally, I find that with square edged strips once it fits it’s good. With B&C that’s not always so. You go to sand it smooth and gaps open up.
With my Auk I installed hatches and bulkheads after the fact and had it in a local outfitter’s rental fleet for a couple of seasons before I sold it.

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Yes, I think that’s what happened to me. I would have strips installed pretty tight but gaps would open when sanding.

One thing I should have added to lessons learned: I tend to rush through when building things, but strip planking forces you to slow down. It was good for me and made the process more enjoyable. Also, spend more time to get things just right during assembly. Fixing things after is time consuming, no fun, and is never quite right. And epoxy, fiberglass, and varnish do not hide anything.

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I have to add another lesson learned. I took the boat out on the water yesterday and was reminded how good these boats are, both out of the water and in the water. It paddled so easily and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it tracked for such a short boat.