ORCA 17 Finished

Boats up to 15' for oars, power or sail. Please include the boat type in your question.
Berend
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Orca

Post by Berend »

You did a nice job! How did you experienced the building time. I hope I'm able to float my V12 in a couple of weeks.
Have fun!!
Floating is not the issue, sailing is!
Berend

Toni V
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Post by Toni V »

Nice!

My orca is 'waiting' for couple weeks, work and travel stuff.

About the weight:

4mm okoume weights about 2 kg/m2
6,5mm birch weights about 4,4 kg/m2 (4mm 2,7 kg/m2)

So using exterior 6mm plywood might increase the weight a lot compared to 4mm okoume. Wood fibers tend to hold moisture quite well, so in humid places the plywood would be even heavier (moisture also lowers the plywood's strenght).

---edit---
Just a quick addition: My hull plywood pieces are weighting 17 kg's now. The seat opening is not cut and deck panels are still oversized (mostly ~5 cm or so).

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Evan_Gatehouse
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Post by Evan_Gatehouse »

Nice to see it floating. Looks good with the knuckle out of the water when empty.
designer: FB11/GV10,11,13/ HMD18/
SK17,MM21/MT24

zeuson
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Post by zeuson »

I weigh close to 200 pounds with clothes and gear, so if floating with the knuckle (whatever that is?) above water when empty with me sitting in it is a good thing, that's good. I think the boat is close to 85 lbs, which is pretty heavy. The exterior plywood and the figerglass expoy coating, my first try, ads up. It paddles real well and I am very pleased with it, even if it is a bit heavy. It slices through the water pretty effortlessly, but I'm a beginner so I probably don't know what real performance is. I took it out a bit more towards the bay, the Cheasapeke, in 15 knot winds and played in the waves a bit on Monday. Didn't even come close to getting rolled or anything like that, so I feel pretty confident with its stability. It seems like a very good design and was very easy to make. My thanks to the desegners and providers of the very affordable plans.

Ken

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Evan_Gatehouse
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Post by Evan_Gatehouse »

What type of exterior plywood did you use? If it was BC type pine I wouldn't be too surprised about the weight.

4mm Okume is 13 lbs / sheet

Douglas fir 1/4" is about 26 lbs / sheet

Longleaf Yellow Pine 1/4" (common to Eastern/Southern US) is about 33 lbs / sheet.

You can see that with 3 sheets of plywood, weight differences between types of wood really can add up. However, you should take heart that a heavier kayak is more stable than an empty one, so a kayak built from 4mm okume will feel a bit more tippy than a heavy one like yours.
designer: FB11/GV10,11,13/ HMD18/
SK17,MM21/MT24

Beach
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Post by Beach »

Evan,

I am ordering a set of plans for the Orca you designed...I am having a hard time finding Okume here in Norfolk Va and shipping really increases the overall cost of the wood...given my situation what alternative would you recommend? I do want a stronger lighter Kayak...

Also.,..do you know if Jacques is open for business post Frances? I have a money order made out to him and am waiting to hear whether he's open for business before I send it...

zeuson
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Post by zeuson »

I used BC pine bought at Lowe's. I also glassed the top and bottom, seems like overkill now, but the fiberglass made it much easier to get a smooth finish verses the wood on the sides. I built it mainly to exercise with and maybe do some kayak camping on occasion, so being a little heavy is okay by me.
I think if I build another one or anything out of the exterior plywood I will run the planks through a planer and take off just enough to make it smooth and skip the fiberglass covering. I used the spray shield today and it worked good. If I can just figure out how to get in and out without getting wet or tipping over, I should stay pretty dry.


Ken

zeuson
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Orca

Post by zeuson »

I've had my Orca out on the bay a few times now. I built a longer rudder. The kayak is pretty long and in the waves the stern comes out pretty quickly. If you get a bit of turn going you end up getting really turned by the wave. The bigger rudder should help. I've also got a spray skirt, which is nice to use, a pump, apaddle float and a spare paddle. I also have a rod hloder to do some fishing. I will go for a longer trip before the water gets too cold.

Ken

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stickystuff
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Post by stickystuff »

Boat plan on line is up and running. All is well. I received my orders couple of days ago.

Beach
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Post by Beach »

Got my plans the other day...cant wait to get started......

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