The Kayak Project
Part 2: Model Making
In order to get a feel for how the boat would go together, and to fill in the missing pieces, I decided to build a model before starting on the actual construction. I bought a 12" artist's manikin which (assuming a 6 foot tall person) translated to making a 1:6 scale model. I drew gridlines on a piece of plywood, traced the plywood rib forms, and then transferred the shapes to graph paper.
I mounted the graph paper cutouts on cardboard, traced onto thin plywood, and cut out using a coping saw. I bought basswood strips for architectural model making from the art store near campus and superglued the pieces together.
In building the model I arranged the pieces in a way that seemed to make sense for a single person kayak. However, after looking at the size of the boat relative to the person and re-examing the original components in the garage, it became clear that I should switch ribs C & D and build a two person kayak. This would also require redesigning the cockpit coaming into a longer elliptical shape:
