The akas are extremely important and will be placed under heavy loads that constantly change force and direction.  The must be assembled from the best materials and with great care. 

Although the aka kit parts are machined to make assembly possible without a jig, a good jig will make the job much easier and repeatable so that all four akas are the same.

The jig starts with two 2x4s and some scrap pieces of 2x4 left over from previous tasks. 


The beam is standing on end and is 8 feet long.


A piece of 3/4 inch plywood is added to the beam for a working surface.  This plywood was left over from making the vaka table.


We need several forms which are 1 foot square with a notch cut out that is the proper size for beams.  These forms were also made from plywood left over from the vaka table project.

Notice the Bosch jigsaw.  This is one of the most important tools you will need to build your boat.  Buy the best you can afford and then buy the best blades you can find.  This saw is one of the best, but the blade is not so good and leaves lots of rough edges.  That's OK for this project, but not good for cutting your marine plywood.


When all the forms are cut and stacked you can begin to see how the ends of the aka will drop down a bit.  This is an important point to make sure that each form as the slot cut to the proper depth according to the plan.  The first four forms are cut to the same depth.  The last three are cut increasingly deeper.  I set the baseline at 5 inches above the table top in order to have plenty of room to work.


Add cleats to the forms for the clamps.  Set these cleats at the same height for all forms measured from the bottom of the slot.


I used 2x4s as the base for the forms to connect to the top of the beam.  This picture shows all the forms in place.  The gap near the end is according to plan.  All the forms before the gap have the slot to the same depth.  The akas are straight until that point and then the bend starts.  It is critical that all the previous forms are used even though the aka is straight.  If you leave any of the first forms out you will have two problems.  First, the pressure of the bend and the end will cause the other end of the aka to deform slightly.  Second, you need to apply pressure to the glue bonds used to make the aka box beam.