Kayak Construction Final Part

The cockpit combing is made up of three pieces (five actually since the lower two are half pieces that only cover the left or right sides of the cockpit) that are glued around the cockpit opening. The first two are extensions that build up the height of the combing and the last is a cover piece that acts as a rim on which to attach the spray skirt. Mustard consistency epoxy was applied to the build up pieces and they were nailed into the deck beam at the front of the cockpit. Every clamp in the shop was pressed into service to hold the lower pieces down. Any glue that squeezed out was cleaned up 

 
The cockpit combing cap was glued into place just like the other pieces with the exception that pads were used under the clamps to prevent damage to the plywood. The hatch opening trim pieces were also glued into place. These will act to help make the hatches more water-proof.  I ran out of clamps so I had to raid the clothes pins! BTW, the white color to the epoxy is because it has been sanded.

 

 
After the clamps were removed from the combing, the edges were cleaned up by sanding them.

A router with a round over bit was used to make a radius on the upper and inner aspect of the combing. The other edges were rounded over with sandpaper and the entire combing was smoothed up for finishing.

A couple of coats of epoxy were placed over the combing so that the entire kayak is now sealed in epoxy.

This is the scribing tool that I made to mark the deck for masking. After problems with the Mark I version I modified it so that the scribing screw is located next to a radius. This allowed the mark to stay the same distance from the top of the sheer even though the camber of the sheer and deck change over the length of the kayak. The screw is a nice alternative to a nail (as described in the manual) since it can easily be adjusted in or out to change the depth of the scribe mark.



Here is the painted hull as of now. I need to sand at least one more time to get the hull perfectly smooth before what I hope is the final coat of paint (there are still a few run marks in the paint from previous coats).







The paint is applied with a disposable roller and the bubbles are knocked down with a foam brush. The result is very glossy and deep finish. It literally looks like a yacht!  

I spent six hours hand sanding (wet sand 320 grit paper) the hull for hopefully the last time! Here is what the deck looks like with the masking on it.


 
It is finally finished!




Here she is on the car:


These are the car racks (Oak and swim noodle)


The Kayak rolls on this cart (Oak and swim noodle)


Which has detachable wheels so that it can be stored in the aft hold for portaging.



There is a roller mechanism that allows me to roll the kayak up onto the car top by myself.


I ended up adding two detachable lengths of 1/4 inch steel round stock that stick into holes on either arm of the roller assembly and look like old fashioned rabbit ears when in place.  These act as guides for the kayak as it rolls up onto the car top.  These were added after I almost lost the kayak over the side of the car while I was loading it in moderate winds

I've spent many hours over the last two years using this kayak around the state and it is a joy to  paddle.  It is fast, tracks well and is light enough for easy loading and portaging.  The wheeled carrier is a must and the roof roller mechanism works especially well once the stabilizing rods were incorporated into the design.  I am very pleased with the set up and recommend it to anyone who is interested in building a kayak.

 

Kayak Construction 4

The deck now overhangs the hull by a couple of inches and needs to be trimmed flush. A special guide was used to mark the edge of the hull on the upper surface of the deck and a coping saw was used to trim the deck to within an eight of an inch from this line. A plane was used to bring the deck flush to the hull and a radius was sanded into the deck to make a smooth transition from deck to hull.

I added a couple of decorations to the deck to spruce it up a bit. The first was a marquetry compass rose. It came premade and is designed to be mounted proud to the deck. A thin coat of clear epoxy was applied to both surfaces and electrical tape was used to hold it in place and a layer of waxed paper was placed over it.

A jug willed with water gave even pressure over the curved deck surface.

Here is what it looked like after gluing

I also made on the computer as a logo of sorts. It was printed onto sewing pattern paper using a laser printer (as per some discussions that I saw on a kayak forum). The paper “disappears” when a coat of clear epoxy is applied and the end result looks like this.

Lighter weight fiberglass was used to cover the deck. A single sheet was cut at a diagonal and the two triangles were used to cover the bow and stern decks. These pieces were placed on the decks and trimmed so that there was one inch of overlap on the deck and about two inches of overlap onto the hull sides.

Clear epoxy was mixed and applied with a roller to the deck fiberglass. I made the mistake of laying the sheet of fabric on some carpeting to when I cut the angles. The fabric picked up some junk from the carpeting and I had to stop frequently to pull up the whetted fabric and remove various bits and pieces of material from under it. Here is the end result.

If you look carefully at the compass rose you can see a mistake that I made. I over sanded the edges of the marquetry and thinned them out so that the grain pattern of the background shows some of the lay-up epoxy through it

As you can imagine, I was very bummed to see the highlight of the deck not look up-to-par. I thought about removing it and then I came up with a possible solution. What about making a roundrel on sewing pattern paper that would make a clean transition between compass rose and deck as well as cover up the over sanding? Using the same technique as for the logo, I printed out an appropriate sized roundrel and applied it over the compass rose. Here is what it looked like after a light sanding to lower any ridges.

A layer of fiberglass was placed over it to protect the overlay. Now the rose looks much better with a crisp and clean transition marking its boarder.

Hatches are placed in the bow and stern sections to allow access to the areas in front and behind the bulkheads. A paper pattern of each of the hatch openings was laid out in the correct positions on the deck. A hole-saw was used to create openings for the saws that I used to trim to size. Stiffeners were epoxied to the undersides of the openings and were held in place with many clamps.

The fore deck access sits right next to the forward bulkhead so there wasn’t much flex there but the aft compartment access sits a couple of feet from the aft bulkhead. These stiffeners really help make this area more rigid.

 
The hatch covers were reinforced with three inch fiberglass tape and stiffeners were glued across them to bend them to shape.





Here is what the hull looks like now.

  

Go to Final Part

Kayak Construction Part 2

The kayak is now ready to be trued up. I flipped it over and clamped on four boards to the upper planks. These boards were then clamped onto the horses so that the kayak was suspended in the air. Two long straight boards were laid across the sheer clamps and I sighted down the hull to see if there was any “twist” to the hull. Once the boards on the sheer clamps were parallel, I knew that the hull was true. I also checked that the bow and stern were true to one another. This was a fiddly step.

 

While the kayak was locked into conformation with the clamps and horses, fillets were placed in the keel and hull chines. Epoxy mixed with wood flour (purified saw dust) was made to a “peanut butter” consistency.

Masking tape was placed one inch from either side of the joint to facilitate easier clean up. A squeegee with a one inch radius was used to spread the epoxy fillet. The masking tape was removed and three inch fiberglass tape was then placed over the fillet.



A coat of clear epoxy was applied over the tape and the tape turned from white to clear when it was properly saturated.

The entire inside of the hull was coated with clear epoxy with the exception of the cockpit which had a full sheet of fiberglass placed over the ‘glassed fillets.

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This is what the ‘glass looked like after the first coat of epoxy. The mesh shows prominently through the epoxy coating. Additional coats of epoxy will fill this weave in.

Fillets were also made around each of the bulkheads to make them waterproof. Once the fillets were dry, the hull was locked into its final shape. All of the copper wire twists were cut off and the wires were left permanently buried in the epoxy fillets. The entire hull was sanded and each of the chines and keel were rounded over. This rounding will be important when the outer part of the hull is fiberglassed. This is because fiberglass fabric does not want to lay well over a sharp edge. Any minor cracks in the joints or nail holes in the hull were filled with the peanut butter consistency epoxy mixture. Here is what she looks like at this stage.

 

The hull was carefully cleaned up from any dust that might be on it and a sheet of fiberglass cloth was placed over it. This fiberglass was smoothed out using my hands and it was amazing to see how the cloth can conform to the bow shape.

The cloth has a fairly loose weave and will move “on the bias.” This means that if you smooth the cloth at 45 degrees to the weave, it will change conformation to the surface being covered. If you look carefully at the fabric, you can see what I mean by the change in the way the weave lays on the hull.

A dart was cut into the stern end and the cloth was covered with a coat of clear epoxy. Here she is with one coat of epoxy and the overhang trimmed up.

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Now she is really starting to look like a kayak!

Go to part 3