Virtual Gunwales (Building I)

The consequences of trying to build a semi-replica as first qajaq are becoming quickly apparent. I haven't touched a piece of wood yet, I haven't even gone beyond locating lumberyards and wood stores in the vicinity, and I am already pondering issues somewhat worriedly. For now, I mostly fret about the gunwales.

For a Greenland qajaq to obtain her sheer line, her gunwales cannot be just two long rectangular prisms. They need some amount of shaping. In fact, the precise amount that combines with their flare angle, spreading at roughly the center, joining at the ends and pinching at strategic locations to produce the desired line. The qajaq-building books provide clear, easy to follow indications so you end up with gunwales just right for the boat they help you build. Obviously, that boat is not the one I want. As I already said, I want ("I need" may actually be more accurate) to reproduce, a particular, individual qajaq. One, of course, whose sheer looks significantly different to me.


Enter FreeShip. I put my hopes to solve the gunwale shape problem on this piece of software. With it, I constructed a 3d model of DNM Lc. 43, traced the gunwales' outline on it, pretended the resulting shapes were plywood panels and then politely asked the program to unfold them for me. This proceeded without a problem and I obtained the figure on the image below (click on it, please). This is supposed to be the flat-plate tracing of Lc 43's gunwales. The shape the two long pieces of wood need to be so that when I bend, spread, join and variously manipulate them they will create the attractive sheer line I've come to love.


My main problem is one of trust. I would greatly appreciate some kind of reassurance that the form provided by my operations is actually the one that will correctly build the boat before I blissfully start trying to reproduce it in wood. Keep in mind this is the first time I do this whole thing. What I've got seems plausible, but, with my lack of experience, I'm not sure how much of a judge I can be. If I am wrong, the consequences would be quite annoying. Hence, this is a leap of faith I am finding a bit hard to take. Seems time to start asking around.

And I haven't even really started yet.