Building notes from Morris:
1. This is my second Shrike after the first in 2014. The curved thigh braces are fabricated from western red cedar strips on an ABS pipe form. 6 oz glass was applied to both surfaces of the thigh braces. The thigh braces are flat where they are glued to the deck underside and reinforced with fiberglass tape along the edges. The kayak can be lifted at the thigh braces without fear of breakage.
2. The seat is made from a 1/2″ foam pad with a bit of additional foam under the keel to fill in the V-cavity. I found that I needed to keep the seat low to minimize the tippy-ness. Also I found that I needed to add the hip padding to keep me centered during rolling and rough seas.
3. Hull has 6 oz glass inside and outside with additional 2″ tape on the keel, inside and outside. Inside rear deck has 6 oz glass as well as inside forward deck over cockpit cavity. Cockpit floor has additional layer of 6 oz glass. Exterior deck has 4 oz glass which overlaps hull 1″ to secure the deck-hull joint. I was able to cutout the forward hatch and still retain the curved shape. The hatch hold-down tabs are plywood from Chesapeake Light craft and they have 6 oz glass on both surfaces.
4. Maroske fittings were used to anchor the deck lines. The tubes were formed by wrapping mini-hot melt glue sticks (0.27″ OD) with teflon tape and fiberglass sleeving which were saturated with epoxy. After epoxy cure, the glue sticks were pulled out and additional epoxy was applied to waterproof the tubes.
5. I installed a skeg copied from P&H that uses a bungee spring and spectra cord under tension. A cam cleat mounted on deck allows variable skeg deployment. I noticed that the tracking is naturally good and haven’t used the skeg very much.
6. My Shrike weighs 18.8 kg due to the additional fiberglass and epoxy. It is a pleasure to roll, surf and paddle! Thank you for sharing this design.
