Offsets for Chesapeake 16

Builder's Forum
1

Completed measuring the offsets for the bottom panels of my Chesapeake 16 Kayak and marked the points with brads.  On attempting to find a so-called "fair curve" by wrapping (bending) a 1/2 x 3/4 clear spruce batten around (along) the brads I end up with two "hollow" stations.

The brad marking Station 2's outer curve at offset 4 & 3/8ths is about 2.5mm (0.098") inside the batten's curve whilst Station 13's ( @ 4 & 11/16ths) lies about 6.5mm (1/4") inside the curve.  Has anyone out there ended up with a similar problem.

I am aware that we are told in both the Assembly Manual and by Chris Kulczycki in his book that this is not vital,  What IS important is the fairness of the curve. I accept this fact BUT at Station 13 a quarter inch difference is quite substantial.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Dave

2

Hi Dave...You should be OK.  When I did mine I had a couple of points that wandered away from the batten by 1/8" but my line was fair.  I did go back about 3 times and re-measured all my points before just accepting the line provided by the batten.  All worked out well.  It probably has something to do with the type of wood used for a batten also.  I used a piece of 3/4" X 3/4" MDV that I scarfed together to produce an 18' batten.  It works really well.  A spruce batten may be a bit firmer but should still make a nice line.  Chris