Paddles and Oar

Today didn't feel like I got much done on Shan Skailyn. I'm mostly working on all the peripheral stuff these days. Anyway, I managed to get a second paddle done. I really like the wood used for the blade on this most recent one (the lighter colored one in the picture). It's much lighter and straight grained than the other stuff I used. The other one looks like rosewood, but feels too light to be rosewood. The other stuff was a major pain to plane down because of the irregular grain. I will definitely be making the third paddle out of this lighter weight straight grained stuff.

I also laminated up some strips which will eventually be the oar paddle. I'm planning on having the oar, mostly as a back up in case the rudder fails. Not sure what length will be needed. Gary recommends 8' to 10' oars for his boats, or "generally half the length of the boat". So I went ahead and made a 10' long oar handle. You can always make it short, but not longer. It seems like I chose a fairly heavy wood for this handle. Not sure how I feel about that. At this point I don't have a whole lot to choose from, especially when I'm looking for 10' length. I could have made it all from one solid piece, but the wood I have isn't quarter sawn or anything special that will make it more stable. Often, once you cut into this stuff it bends on you. So I cut strips out of the same piece, alternated the grain direction between each piece and laminated it that way. Should be much more stable, and much stiffer that way. Not sure how thick of a handle I'm going to make. Gary's book shows as thick as 1-13/16". Since this is a heavier wood, I'm kind of thinking of going closer to 1-1/2" to cut down on weight, and hoping the wood is strong enough... no clue on the type of wood, by the way. I have a 2-1/4" brass oarlock on the way for which I don't want to undersize the handle too much. One downside to laminating 5 strips together is that it uses a lot of glue! I think I used nearly a quarter bottle of titebond III. Yeah, that's what I'm using for the paddles and other peripherals... hardly have any epoxy left and no moolah in the budget for more. So I'm saving what I have just in case I need to glass a bit more or glue something that is actually part of the boat.

Shan's Tiller

Having just come back in to the bush from being in town for a while, I didn't have a lot of time this weekend for anything but laundry, laundry, and more laundry... oh yeah, and unpacking boxes and boxes of food and trying to organize it all. Imagine only getting a grocery run every 2-4 months.

But I did manage to get some little bits here and there, during which I managed to glue up one more paddle blade, and even better, construct the tiller for Shan Skailyn's rudder. I was concerned about using a bolt at the pivot point (at the base of the tiller) for fear that the thing might work itself loose. Since I still have some leftover brass rod, and some loose stainless steel washers and retaining pins, I decided to rig something up with that. My only concern with the retaining clips is that they're yet another little pointy, grabby thing that a rope is bound to snag. We'll deal with than when it becomes necessary.

For the paddle blade, I'm not sure what kind of wood I'm using. It's the same stuff that the Mibu folks use for making siding for their huts. It's very very lightweight, long grained wood. Hope it's strong enough for a paddle blade.

First paddle nearly complete

On one of the three paddle handles I molded, I was able to get one totally glued up with the blade. This morning I did an extra good sharpening on my hand plane and went to work. I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing turned out. Yeah, I know I said I was going to do a variation of one of Tim Anderson's quick paddles, but ended up deciding that with all the time I have between now and the maiden voyage, I'd like to try to glue things up proper. I might do a quick paddle for the fourth just to have some variation to play with. One other thing is that I planed the blade thin enough that I'm worried about the glue joints splitting. So I'm thinking of making several 'bowtie' inlays on either side, spanning the joints which should add quite a bit of structural strength. The other option I'm contemplating is to just maybe slap some fiberglass over the tip of the blade.

So the whole thing, unfinished, and without the topmost handle piece weighs exactly 2 lbs (32 oz). Not sure how that compares with other paddles out there, but it feels light to me. And if you're interested in knowing, the blade is made of what I believe to be rosewood, a very commonly available wood here in Papua New Guinea.

Hiking Seats and Paddle Genesis

(Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Can't seem to get my email out intact... We need internet out here in the bush!!!!!)

Finally put the hiking seats together. Actually kind of piddled away at them in the evenings throughout the week. I decided to deviate from Gary's design (something I've done sparingly on this build) and go with webbing for the hiking seats. I've got a bony rear end and the thought of sitting on wooden seats doesn't appeal to me if I can avoid it. These are comfy cozy! In addition I'm sure they're lighter too. Anywhere where a little bit of effort can save a good deal of weight is a good way to go. I cut the frame out of teak. Teak has it's own nice preservative oil in it (which gums up saw and planer blades, by the way) which is why I skipped varnishing. I figured this stuff will weather nicely without any treatment.

Then this morning (sat) I milled up some old dried bamboo I have sitting around. Just enough to get some strips about 7/8" wide. I wanted this for making my bent shaft paddles. I'm hoping to make a variation of Tim Anderson's instant paddle. Just going to try to make it with the bent shaft. The plan is (mostly based on a guess) to make it a bit of a stretched out version of what one typically sees on the bent shaft paddles. My guess is that because I'm sitting up higher above the water than I would on one of those OC's that my paddles will need the appropriate adjusting. Bent portion up high enough that it does what it's supposed to do in relieving tension on the lower hand. The blade is also stretched a bit at about 15". Then the angle of the blade will be 8-9 deg instead of 10. I realize I may have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. I'm just gleaning info from the little tiny bit I've downloaded from the internet for reading here in the bush. Otherwise I have no resources that talk much about paddle design. I may end up making one of these and throwing it away because it sucks. Anyway, today I decided to try my hand at milling bamboo for the shaft. Bamboo is so light and strong I figured it may make for a great, lightweight handle. Once the glue dries I'll test it out under some pressure and torsion and see what it feels like before continuing with it. If it feels strong enough I'll make the other handles (going for three total) and then move on to the blades.

Oh yeah, in other news, I've scheduled Shan Skailyn's maiden voyage up the coast for March 18th. It's a long way off, but logistics require it. It's mostly because of so many months between now and then that I decided to goof around with the fancy bent shaft paddles instead of something much simpler. Why not, right?!

Paddles from the best... I think

Recently when we were in Wewak, in the Sepik region, I was able to find out that if you want a paddle made, the best people by far to have make them are the Iwam people. They're river dwellers and seem to be well known for their skills on the water... and for their paddle making. An expat friend of mine happened to have a paddle (see pic) made by the Iwam and I was impressed with it's light weight and strength. So I decided that rather than making the paddles myself, maybe I'd try to see if we couldn't find someone from the Iwam who would be willing to do the job for me. My expat friend made the arrangements sometime after we left. I wasn't able to make the arrangements myself because these folks don't make it out to town often. It's mere chance that you see someone from that area. As it happens, the day after me and my family flew to Madang, my friend saw someone he knew from Iwam. He agreed on a fair price for the paddles and will make them and bring them to Wewak sometime.
So sometime in the near future (maybe next few months) I should be the proud owner of 4 paddles for Shan Skailyn that look a bit like the one in the picture. One difference I was told about is that they typically make the end of the blade taper out with a longer (but still flattened) point. The paddle in this pic was modified by it's current owner. I might modify it a bit too maybe by wrapping the ends of the blades with fiberglass to keep from splitting, and then putting 4-5 coats of varnish on them.