The Njord: Maya Piraya Papaya
Friday, September 28, 2007, 5 comments
Hello Björn,
Sunday three weeks ago I launched Maya Piraya Papaya, built during my paternal leave, and named after little Maya.
Though a little tippy and nervous, it felt more stable than I expected. It suits me perfectly. The cockpit is 39x60 cm, so I have to sit on the aft deck and slide in with straight legs. In the cockpit I have all the support needed without knee or hip braces.
No skeg or rudder yet, and in spite of some wheathercocking, it is OK. I have paddled some four times in lake Mälaren, in wind and calm, and it takes off like a rocket. The GP ended up close to 1 kg... now it is down to 800 g , gonna make at least two more this winter. Not quite used to it yet, but it gets better each time.
Have already scratched the bottom a couple of times, must be too close to the shore...
Was going to do some capsize drills, but prefer to wait for warmer water next season. But I can lean over far without feeling insecure.
It took 100h with a cost of SEK 6500, 561 cm long and 19,5 kg.
The footbraces are from Anders Jonssons site, but in aluminium.
The seat is molded from a neighbours kayak with the method described on Ulf Johansson´s site. The rim was made the same way, but with polyester and carbon dust. It became so hard that it took three saber saw blades to shape it...
Used polyester for the deck hardware as well, but priming with epoxy.
Thank you for the advice and help during the process and you may refer to me if other want to look at or discuss kayakbuilding or the Njord. I had some problems with dimensional changes of the hull and had to attach temporary sheer stiffeners to force it back to shape...
My next will be a Black Pearl - in a couple of years...
Thanks also to Petrus at Petrus Kajak, helping me with advice and materials - he cut the strips for me.
A warm thank you also to my dear wife Marie for her patience when I sanded, sanded and sanded and to my mother-in-law Gunilla who helped babysitting Maya.
Mvh
// Fredrik Heyman
