Glass on hull

The weekend went rather well, I was able to put on a seal coat of epoxy on the hull Saturday morning and it was dry enough by Sunday morning to put on the fiberglass. The roll of fiberglass that I ordered isnt wide enough to cover the entire bottom at once so I put on two pieces to cover, it should add some extra strength anyway. I think if I was to do it again, I would wet out just one layer of glass at a time, as doing two was a real pain. I dont know if I got the glass pressed down against the hull tight enough and it took about two hours to do. Good thing it was only 65 degrees in the shop, it gave me extra time to work with the epoxy before it set up.

Ramblings

I now understand why boats have female names...

Glass on deck

the glassing process is really simple, and its kind of fun. i thought the deck looked good with just a sealer coat of epoxy on it, but wow, the clear glass adds depth. i spent about an hour last night doing a final sanding, cleaning a little and fitting the glass to the deck then putting on the epoxy.

only 44 days until the SD Kayak Challenge!

Sealer Coat

now the true beauty of the wood shines through. after another day of sanding and preparing, i have put on a sealer coat of epoxy on the deck. with the temperatures and humidity in my shop, i expect it to take days to dry enough to put on the fiberglass.

Saturday Update

things are moving faster now, the final sanding is about complete, the hull is ready for fiberglass and i should get that on today. the shop is at about 65 degrees and the suggested temp for epoxy is at least 75.... but the race is getting closer and i cant wait for warmer weather....no fear, just get it done!

thursday's note

just a quick note that the fairing is complete, next step is to fill in  a couple of blemishes and do the final sanding. i might even get to some fiberglass this weekend... woohoo!

Quick update

yesterday i bought a random orbital sander and started using it on the kayak.... why did i not buy one of these years ago....

all righty then..

So the fairing is nearly complete. I spent about 12 hours doing nothing but sanding, planing, shaping... and I'm still not happy with it. I'm thinking that i need to start on the final sanding and touch up any other spots i missed or messed up. I also glued up some panels for the cheek plates and the seat back. If anyone wants advise about this process I suggest that you walk away from it every once in a while and come back fresh... that helps a lot.

Sanding

The instruction book suggests that I start the fairing process with a scraper to knock down edges and remove the glue squeeze out, then spend lots of quality time with a hand plane to create the nice fair curves... I started with the belt sander and the high speed air sander, this is going to take some serious grinding..

More progress

Talk about awesome weekend take 2! The deck has been stripped, after 20 hours of painstaking cutting, fitting, planing, trimming, fitting, swearing, fitting again. I think I have it done. This is not a perfect, museum quality piece.... This is a boat that I will paddle, drop, scrape, bang around in all summer, and its looking pretty dam good too!

still lots to do, next step is the sanding and fairing....... woohoo!

Progress

what a great weekend, it all started Friday night when i replaced the starter on the old motorcycle....... and it worked! after that i spent about 16 hrs working on the deck of the kayak. as you can see there is a bit of a wiggle on the center line, I'm still thinking of a way to fix it without tearing it all apart. but I'm happy with what i have done so far. only 67 days till the SD kayak challenge!

a better day

I did get some quality time in the shop yesterday. I finaly managed to finish up a couple of wood boxes that have been sitting on the bench for awhile. Thanks to the equilizing factor of a great air sander, smooths out all of the mistakes. And now that there is only 85 days to the SD kayak challange, im getting antsy about finishing the boat. I made more cedar strips for the deck and prepaired some more walnut. I still dont know what the final look is going to be, but I feel a design growing somewhere in the back of my head. I think the hardest task I have done yet is fitting the shear strips for the deck. Getting the bevels right and maintaing the twist is a little tough. Once these strips are inplace and solid, the remaining should go pretty quick.

Frustrating

ok some days you just shouldnt go out to the shop. i was attempting to use my plunge router with my dovetail jig and was just making a mess. i should have used the other router with the fixed base, the plunge kept slipping even when locked tight. then to add to the fun, the straight bit decided to slip down making the cut even deeper. the moral of the story is.... use the right tool, and replace that collet when it starts to slip...

To Cold

Its way to cold to be working in the shop today. I dont want to waste the propane to heat it up. So im working on some plans and specs in the house where its nice and warm.

Stripped hull

The hull is stripped, now to move on to the deck. i did the final closure strips with walnut, im thinking it looks pretty cool if you ask me. next step is to flip it over, release the forms and then start on the deck. im still thinking about a pattern for the forward end, but i have to see the shape of the deck first.

Wisdom?

I do believe that a boat takes on some characteristics of its builder during construction…. mine is just a little twisted…..

Still working on it

Another eight hours spent in the workshop, planing, shaping, gluing, clamping and tapering. I now have the deepest respect for those people who build a lot of kayaks. As this is my first build, each piece, each joint is a new skill i don't yet have. work progresses in spurts, sometimes slow, sometimes quickly, but never quick enough.

I have run out of ceder strips again and will have to pick up another board this week.  I am going to fill the final closures on the bottom with walnut, should look cool. I'm not sure what the deck is going to look like, pattern wise. I still have a lot of walnut that I can make smaller strips work with ceder fillers but we will just have to see.

A kayak can truly start you on a journey, even before it gets wet.

134 days till race day

Its tough to get time to warm the shop up to do more work on the kayak. When the temp is down in the stupid range, it takes a lot of propane to keep my fingers working. Anyway im still working on the keel strips, I have the first one almost ready to install, I just need to steam in a little twist for the bow end to get the point right. I figured out that if I cut out the straightest parts of the warped walnut strips and nail them together, I can run them through the plainer and straighten them out, then I can scarf them together to make the length i need. Its working but slow going...

Keel Strips

I'm working on the Keel strips now, I'm thinking these will be pretty important to keep straight and fitted tightly.

oh yea 140 days till the SD kayak Challenge

Sunday's Update

Ok, so this is not going as fast as i thought it would. 143 days till the SD Kayak challenge and my boat still leaks, big time. slow and steady wins the race right? I have installed the strips up to the chine and am now ready to do the bottom....
i know, i know, im going to take my time and do a good job....