Diving in with a Kayak Build

[Bmac]

4 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Did the glass get trimmed after the first picture above? The reason I ask is because it looks like there are some folds in the fiberglass sheet along the edges. If the glass does get some folds how does that look after everything is covered with epoxy? My final question is how heavy is the fiberglass? It seems like it should be kind heavy but i have a feeling that it is deceptively light.

Also i can't help but notice that this doesn't look like your shop. Does it make the project more difficult not working in your shop or because it was a kit it doesn't matter much?

So yes, it's not my shop, it's my garage, and it's working well without my main tools as much of the work is easily handled with a handsaw, rasps and block plane. I also have a small festool vac and sanders I moved into the garage. It makes it easier in the garage as my shop isn't tied up, I have more room,  and I'm in a less of a dusty place.

I did not trim the glass after the first pic, I wanted to wrap it down to the hull. You are right about the folds of the draped glass over the sides, those were easily flattened and smoothed once it was wet and you can see in the bottom pic were the glass ends after wetting, basically where the previously sanded surface starts. There were definitely a few rough edges and excess glass fabric still left right at that edge, but that will be easily cleaned up and feathered into the hull. The main glassing above the edge doesn't have any folds but I can see in the second pic it may look like that, it's really just the edge i need to work.I will have some work/sanding to do in the area where the glass ends to get it smooth but it should be fine after the weave is filled with extra coats of epoxy. Basically I'll sand it first before the fill coats to get rid of the excess glass and then final sand after the fill coats. If you are left with a fold in the fabric after wetting, you can still smooth it and make it smooth with sanding, but if you sand through the glassing and it is a critical place you can add a patch of glass to that spot. Also, remember the hull already was glassed so this area where it wraps down to the hull has 2 layers of glass.

The weight of the glassing fabric is a little heavier that regular cloth but is pretty easy to shape once wet.

[Tom King]

4 oz. Cloth, or Silk weight (2 oz.) ?   All that may have changed since I was working with it, 35 years ago.

[Bmac]

Tom it's 4 oz glass, I think they refer to it as E glass, but I'm not sure. It's compatible with epoxy. I've used 6 oz glass on some of my boards, you can definitely feel a weight and thickness difference.

[Tom King]

It's ounces per square yard.  I did a Google search for "fiberglass cloth explained", but didn't find one overall explanation of every type available.  Mostly it was different places explaining what they sold.

This is typical:   http://www.uscomposites.com/cloth.html

I have never seen 3 oz., like that place has listed.  There used to be something called "silkweight", which was otherwise known as 2 oz. which was used for things like covering paddles.  I expect someone still sells it.

Looks like they've gotten away from the old school cloth, that you could only wet out with polyester resin.  That's what we used mostly for boat repair in the mid '80's. 

Only towards the end of the eighties did we see cloth that you could wet out with epoxy, which brought on the world of Really lightweight surfboards, and sailboards.  Polyester will melt regular Styrofoam, so you had to use a heavier foam for boards before they came out with the cloth for epoxy.  That's when you could start shaping foam which weighed next to nothing, and why the boards became so much lighter.

[Bmac]

Another big milestone, for the most part all the pieces of the kayak are together and glued in place. I still have little stuff like the seat, backrest, tiedowns and toggles for the hatch to put on the boat, but that will be after finishing.

So after glassing the deck I got some of my parts epoxied on for the cockpit and hatch opening;

After that I cleaned up and feathered the hull area where the glassing draped over on to it. You can see a few drip lines and the edge of the glass. Epoxy should fill that in.;

 So on to another coat of epoxy over the glassed deck, and I also epoxied the hull where the glass overlap was, you can tell it's starting to blend in nice;

After that coat and a complete sanding I added the last piece to the cockpit combing, and a small sill rim for the hatch. You'll notice a small area in the first pic just behind the combing in the walnut section. I got a small bubble under my glassing, to late to do anything about that. ;

Here are a few pics after sanding the first epoxy fill coat, you can see in this pic the shiny spots are low spots, so I'm not quite level. But I'll stop here and add another coat before I sand through to the glassing;

Here's an area where I'm pretty level with hardly any shiny spots. You will also notice something in this pic, you'll see a clear almost chaulk like material under the top of the combing. This is thickened epoxy, thickened with cell-o-fill, a silica powder, and it is filleted in that area to add strength to the cockpit combing;

 

And here's another area to point out. In sanding I got very close to the glassing and started to expose the weave in one area. It should be fine and will disappear with the next coat of epoxy, but you need to watch out for these areas as you are sanding;

So here's the deck sanded and ready for another layer of epoxy;

Epoxy added and also coated the bare wood in the hatch area and the cockpit;

So the deck should be ready for varnish after another thorough sanding. Before I varnish the deck though I need to flip the kayak over and prepare the hull for varnish. The hull has been glassed and has 1 epoxy fill coat already added, and the area where the glass overlapped from the deck has had a second coat. So the hull will be sanded and one more coat of epoxy added before final sanding. I'm so close I can just feel the kayak slicing through the water. Whenever I get to this point in a project I tend to get obsessive and can't wait to wrap it up, but I need to be patient as the varnishing will be long and tedious.

Thanks for looking.

 

 

[wtnhighlander]

@Bmac, regarding the bubble, could you not drill a tiny hole into it, and inject an epoxy fill? I don't know if that would help the structure in any way, but it would at least make it disappear, right?

[Bmac]

@wtnhighlander, I have no idea if that would work or not, interesting thought. If it really bothered me I think the thing to do would have been to sand out before adding extra epoxy. 

If you look at it with a fresh coat of epoxy you can see it's less obvious, in fact I think some of the filler I used at the deck to combing juncture looks worse.  

[Bmac]

Alright, I have not been hiding, I've been varnishing my a*% off. Four coats top and four coats bottom after a lot of fairing and sanding of the epoxy base. After varnishing, on went the additions that make the boat complete. Here are the pics;

Ready for the water, fully rigged and set up, just need to add the float bag for the front compartment;

Handmade walnut handles drilled thru hull;

Front bungee cords, left them a little long to see how it goes;

Bungee cords again and hatch behind the cockpit;

Hatch in place and off, you can see the foam seal, takes quite a bit of force to latch down, expect that to improve as the foam compresses;

Cockpit set up and ready for the water;

And some pics off the sawhorses;

I will have to say this was a really fun build, a complete pleasure. Fortunately my past experiences with glassing were a big help. I think I'll be building more of these, but for now I have to run this one through it's paces. This is a wider beamed boat more for recreation, will see how I enjoy this before making another. May go longer and skinnier for speed, may go with a sit on top version for a great fishing platform, or I may go with one just like this if my wife wants one. Or maybe I should just make them all.

Thanks for looking.

 

 

[pkinneb]

Awesome job as always Bmac!! Thanks for sharing

[RichardA]

That was a great finish to a great ride.  Thanks.

[Mark J]

Finish?!  Wait, the build journal's not finished till there's in-the-water pics.  I mean we don't know this will float.  

[wtnhighlander]

This one is so sweet, I vote you go with option D. - all of the above!

[treeslayer]

Stunning work @Bmac, pictures of it in the water would be great, this was a great ride, thanks and build more! I certainly can’t 

[Tpt life]

Give me a call If you need someone to test it for you. 

[Bmac]

I agree that on the water pics are a requirement for this one. They will be coming. 

@wtnhighlander I also agree , option D sounds best.

[Bmac]

Well @Mark J, you asked for on the water pics, so here goes;

"Yours truly" on the maiden voyage;

Some appropriate pics waterside;

The kayak handled well, was a complete joy to use. It was well worth the effort to make and I can't wait to make another.

Thanks for looking

 

[Mark J]

If you zoom in you can just make out the well deserved smile on your face.

[RichardA]

The finishing touch, well done.  Thank you for the ride and float.

[Tom King]

As quick as you turned that one out, you could probably make a living building them.

I'd have to try that paddle though.  I know it's traditional, but I like the new designs.

[Coop]

Absolutely beautiful! Great job bud! 

[Chestnut]

That is a beautiful boat. It's amazing how quickly you got that done.

[wtnhighlander]

Beautiful craft, and looks like a lot of fun! What body of water is that?

[Bmac]

16 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Beautiful craft, and looks like a lot of fun! What body of water is that?

I'm in the bayside waters behind Long Beach Island NJ. The official name of the body of water is Little Egg Harbor.

[Chip Sawdust]

That's an awesome ride you took us on Bmac, thanks. Your projects always amaze me.