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The baidarka building process:


Gunwale prep
The Deck
Bow, Stern and Keelson
Ribs
Hull Stringers
Deck Stringers and Cockpit
Skin Sewing
Finishing

The Baidarka Building Process Illustrated

The Skin

Now that the frame is complete, we sew on the skin.


We start by draping the fabric over the inverted boat and centering it so the same amount of fabric hangs off both sides. The fabric in this case is a nylon weave.


When the fabric is centered on the keel, we start sewing around the nose.


We will be stretching the fabric along the length of the boat. We stretch it and then mark where the tail will be when the fabric is fully stretched. We will sew down from this point for about two inches and then pull on the fabric and hook it over the tail.


When both the nose and the tail are secured, we turn the boat righ side up and staple along one side and then pull the fabric tight and staple along the other gunwale.


Now we sew down the length of the deck from the ends toward the middle. The stich pulls the two sides of the fabric together. We pull the staples as we go.


Decklines near the cockpit can be installed at any time, but decklines that won't be reachable after the central seam has been sewn need to be installed before the deck is closed up.


After the first seam is done, we trim the excess fabric so we have about an inch of fabric on one side and about two and a half inches on the other. Then we fold the long flap over the short flap and fold the excess under the short flap.


Now we sew the overlapped flaps down to the deck using a curved needle.


And we alternate stitching between the flap and the deck.


Here we see what the second seam looks like when it's finished.


We sew a lapped seam on the vertical portion of the tail as well, but trim the fabric more tightly than on the deck.


With some of the heavier fabrics, there will be some puckering in the fabric around the area of the tail on the deck. We can sew up the extra fabric to get rid of the pucker.


The last thing we do is sew around the coaming. The first set of stithes is used to pull the fabric up to the base of the coaming.


The second set of stitches holds the fabric against the side of the coaming. We also trim off any excess fabric.


Finishing the Boat
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All content copyright © 2006 Wolfgang Brinck. Personal non-commercial use permitted.