Next Project?

could this be the next project? not according to my spouse. but perhaps in early spring..

where to start

I spent an hour between dinner and the next meeting I had to attend, starting to clean up the shop and get it ready for winter and the next round of projects. I tell you that I have abused everything and there is not a clear counter top or work bench anywhere. There is even some rust on the table saw and the band saw table.(shudder)

hello September

Wow, that was the quickest summer I can ever remember. I havent been in the shop much at all since the kayak was finished. The weather is cooling off and soon the ground will freeze and the snow will fly. I have a lot of projects lined up and ready to go, I just need a little time to get them started and let the sawdust roll....

Canceled

After five months of preparation, countless hours in the shop, 175 miles of travel... the race was canceled due to unsafe water conditions.
i do need to make some modifications to the kayak, the foot braces are a little to short and i had to hot glue on a skeg to get it to track straight. a little fiberglass and a couple more coats of varnish should finalize it...
 next projects?

B-man needs help finishing up a gun cabinet he built in shop class for Mr. Wong.
I'm not sure what I'm going to work on... i have some small engine repair to do, but ill be back in the shop soon...

Finished

ok is a project like this ever really finished? the weather has been terrible, low temps and high humidity. the spar urethane i was trying to use just wouldn't dry. i ended up putting on a couple of coats of polyurethane on top of the sticky spar urethane to cap it off.

there will be a few more pictures as i get it in the water, im waiting for the wind to drop down below the stupid level to launch..
if we ever get some 90 deg days, i will sand off the drips and sags and put a nice hard coat of something on it... but for now, i need to get it on the water!

shhhhh.......

its done..... but the camera wont download...

Crunch Time

Between late last night and early this morning, I managed to get the inside seam fiberglassed and epoxied. We will see tonight, when I pull off the packing tape if I did a good enough job. I couldnt sleep for the nightmares of the sides going SPRONG!!! if that happens I'm gunna go buy a tupperware boat..

12 days to go...

I don't know what i did wrong. I put some spar varnish on the seat back on Thursday, just to check the final look, as of Monday morning it is still sticky. The SD kayak challenge is in 12 days, do I dare varnish the boat and pray that it is hard enough to transport and paddle? Perhaps i didn't mix it well enough and the humidity has been terrible and the weather cold....
meanwhile.....
The coaming lip is finished and fiberglassed, I just smoothed out the ends and fiberglassed them. in the future I can add fancy looking stem pieces (did I mention that the race is in 12 days?)
Next step is to put the two halves together and fiberglass the seams... time is running out, I don't want to use the word panic but.......

stuff to do:
glass seams, inside and out
do end pours
install toggles and coords
get boat checked out by Game Fish and Parks
purchase licence
figure out how im going to manage to haul the dam thing around
apply final finish
pray that it drys
did i miss anything?

Epoxy has arrived

so the epoxy finally showed up last night and i wasted no time in gluing up the coaming lip and fiber glassing on the foot brace supports. late last night i got to thinking, what if my plastic clamps become stuck in the epoxy permanently? so i had to run out to the shop to make sure i avoided that catastrophe..
next step is to attach the cheek plates permanently and glue down the little dammits that hold down the deck shock cord.

Seems to quiet

yes, things were going really fast there for awhile, then i ran out of epoxy. with a 10 day shipping speed i wont be able to put the last of the fiberglass on until Tuesday. my goal is to get the boat in the water by next weekend. that will give me a good two weeks to tweak it before the big race on the 28th. today i finished up the woodwork for fitting, cut strips for a lip on the coaming. i had to soak them in water to get them to bend around the curves. i finished up the day with yard work, always a crises this time of year.... but it was still a good day.

Fiberglassing

The last of the major fiberglassing has been completed! And I ran out of epoxy. I still have lots to do, the next step is to install the footbraces inside the hull and finish the coaming lip. Here is a sneak peak at what the final boat will look like when finished.

Inside glass

i got the inside of the hull glassed last night. now to do the inside of the deck.

Easter weekend update

On Saturday I managed to sand out the inside of the hull, put on a seal coat of epoxy and a fill coat of epoxy on the outside of the deck. On Sunday I spent the entire day with the wife, kid and family... They were starting to wonder who I was and why I keep coming in the house for sandwiches...

Cockpit

Ok, I chopped a hole in the deck last night. It was surprisingly easy to do.  I am gluing on about 100 - 2" long walnut strips around the hole to build up the coaming. that is another task that is surprisingly fast and easy. The next step is to smooth out the insides enough to get the fiberglass to lay flat. I'm pretty sure that is going to take a couple of days. When I pulled the hull off the forms, I was amazed how light it is, cant wait to put it together.

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!