Thumb tacks and a batten

One of the easiest methods to obtain a straight seam on a SOF deck is the method recommended by Morris. A temporary batten is inserted where the seam will be. The cloth is marked along the far edge of the batten or a little beyond, and is then cut with a red hot knife. The edges of the cloth are rolled around a piece of 1/8 inch cord and made to lie next to one another on the batten, to which they are held in place by pushing a thumb tack through the cloth into the batten every few inches. As Morris states, if the seam which then is sewn below the wrapped cords does not pass through all 4 layers of cloth, the seam will fail.

Of course, a perfectly straight deck seam is not required and is not desired by some builders. The SOF kayaks built in Greenland, now usually covered with canvas, have a beautifully sinuous deck seam.

A picture of the process is on the right.