Box Beam Strongback

As if two projects were not enough, I am embarking on yet a third project - the Guillemot Double Kayak.  The Guillemot Double will be a stable, roomy kayak for Renee and me to play and camp with.  At 20' long, it will be relatively fast. It is strip built, and looks like fun project.

The first step in this process is the strongback.  The strongback is a 17' 11" 2x4.  Dimensional lumber isn't stable enough, so I built a box beam strongback out if 1/2" ACX.  It used roughly 5/8 of a sheet of plywood.

I cut the plywood into five 2 7/16" widths and five 3 15/16" widths.  The wider strips were rabbetted on the edges to accept the narrower strips.  The ends were tapered according to the plans.  See The Strip Built Sea Kayak by Nick Schade for more information.

 
 
 

Learning to tie my shoes

Finally, at the age of 47, I have learned to tie my shoes.  No, really tie my shoes.

Last Thursday (4 days ago), I reached down and tied my shoes again.  I wear boat shoes so I can slip them on and off, but still they tie, ideally, not often.  I have to tie my shoes every hour.

At that point the light bulb went off:  I remembered reading on the great Animated Knots by Grog site that the shoelace knot is a square knot.  Now, I had never given any thought to my shoelace knot.  I just tied it when it needed it, but now I am tired of tying them every hour.  So I examined my shoes.

Granny knots!  Ugh!

No wonder they constantly came untied, and every bow I tied was twisted and ugly.  Now to figure out how to fix it.

Simple.  I tied my shoe, and paid attention to the start.  It was a granny knot this time.  Then I tied it again, pausing to reverse the start (the lace on top becomes the lace on the bottom).  Bingo!  Square knot.  I tied both shoes.

So why am I posting this on Monday, 4 days later?  Because this is the first time since then I retied my shoes.

For more info, see the Grog's site, or Ian's Shoelace Site by Ian Fieggen.  There you will learn about far more than knots.

Kindergarten teachers - make your life easier.  Learn this knot the right way so that the 1 or 2 kids in your class without velcro clasp shoes won't need you to tie their shoes more than once a day.