My little helper and I built the strongback mostly based on
Tom's strongback building directions. The strongback came together extremely quickly.
The deviation came in some of his wording -- his materials list showed 39' of 2x4. I took the simplest route and bought five 2x4 pine/SPF from Home Depot. As it turns out, his layout of the actual strong back have 6 1/2' and 2 1/2' pieces being butted together. To build the strongback with the materials that I had bought, I went for a slightly shorter strongback at 12'. To determine the length of the strongback needed, you simply take the offsets for your kayak and determine the distance from the first to last cross section. For the Sea Flea, the strongback is way longer than needed. For the Sea Tour 17R, it'll be just right.
I've created a quick diagram that shows how my strongback was actually assembled.
One thing I want to point out which required a quick trip back to the hardware store is that
you need a drill bit long enough to drill through the three 2x4s all at once. I also varied from Tom's directions in that I used washers on both sides of the boards; it's probably overkill, but I did it anyway.
The assembly called for clamping the 2x4s together. Clamps are one thing that I have next to none - for this, I borrowed some quick/bar clamps from my father in law. Paige was helpful in
tightening the nuts and bolts of the strongback. She helped a bit pre-drilling the holes for the deck screws and helped a bit with drilling the deck screws into place.
Once the top was put onto the strongback, I attempted to use a chalk line and snap a center-line onto the strongback. One of three possibilities occurred -- 1) either they're a lot more difficult to work with over a 14' distance (yes, 14' - the strongback itself is 12' but the top overhangs either end by a foot); 2) I'm a dunce; or 3) there is something wrong with my free chalk line. Any of them are realistically possible. Ultimately, I just used the yard stick and a pencil to draw in a center line.
After the center-line debacle, I thoroughly marked the
bow and
stern directions to alleviate any future "duh!" moments. For the Sea Flea, I put blue painter's tape down and marked each cross section. It was the first time that I could actually start imagining the kayak.
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Sea Flea 11 Project Costs
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