on the water

So here we are, on the water. after 120 hours I finally get the boat in the race. It handled really well without any major issues.

Top speed during the race was 6.8 mph. We went 60 miles on the Missouri river in 14 hours with 30 mph headwinds...

that my friends is a long day...

 

Final Details

Ok so its been raining and humid. I don't dare put another coat of urethane on the yack, because it will never dry before we have to haul it to the race on Thursday.
Here are some final detail pictures that I took yesterday.
I hope the next set of pictures shows it on the water!

Rudder is installed

Sea Turtle for the journey

Sun-n-swirl for Sun over water

Light Check, all systems GO!

Almost there...

lots of progress this weekend, and lots of interruptions.
 Hunnie, i know the race is only in a couple of days, and i know you need to spend time on the kayak, but can we go to town and buy 1000 bricks for you to stack one by one? it will only take... i don't know... 5 hours? sure dear, whatever you say...

so, progress wise. painted hull, check. one coat of varnish, check. seat backs and cushions, check. foot pegs, check. rudder, check. control cables... awww crap..

Painted Hull

Because the hull turned out so blotchy, I decided to paint it. I found an old can of latex enamel paint

 from a long lost project that never happened and mixed it up to see what it looked like. Here are a couple of pictures that show the first coat....

p.s. the race is in 10 days.....

Getting Closer

Finally the epoxy has dried and I have finished the last of the fiberglass tape in the shear seam. The cockpit coamings are installed, the lights are on. Next is to start the finishing process, and install the seats, battery and charger. I just might have it done by race time!

Clamps

People ask me, "why do you have so many clamps?"

simple.... i need them.

Tacky

The final coat of epoxy is still tacky. I ended up sticking a small heater inside the boat to try to dry it down. Spent an hour preparing the coaming pieces and setting up the lights.

Going faster

Lots of progress this weekend. I got the seal coat on and fiberglass and the first fill coat on the deck of the kayak. It doesn't sound like much but it takes soooooo loooonnnng for the epoxy to dry enough to work with it.

 Like any true obsession, I go through periods of love and hate. I just cant wait to get to the shop, but I hate how long it takes to get anything done. Today is a good day, now that I can see the final color of the hull. I like it again and wont have to paint it.
Im loosing track of hours but I think I put in a total of 8 this weekend.

How do I ???

Hmmmm... how do you move a 20 foot kayak by yourself?
I wonder how good this will work. The idea is to put the kayak on the pipe about halfway up the hull and strap it on to keep it from sliding. Initial tests last night were not good but with a little help I think I can figure out a way to make this work. I scrapped an old 10 speed bike that hasn't been ridden in at least 12 years. Bought a couple of 2" pvc end caps for a piece of 2" pvc that I had on hand. I drilled holes in the end caps and used the existing bolts and nuts to tighten it all together. The end caps are removable for storage.