False Start

A couple of weeks after beginning the second kayak build, I undid all of the work and started again. We had a couple of fair weather days at the weekends so I took some time out to make walkways around the vegetable beds before Bridgit started planting up all of the seedlings. In the meantime, I tried to scarf all the kayak pieces up during the evenings.

I was not happy with the results, though. I was getting air locks in the hardener pump and once batch of epoxy just didn't go off, even after 72 hours. I'd used it to scarf the sheer clamps and also to repair a patch of the glass butt joint on the bottom panels that had air bubbles in it.

I decided to take drastic action. I cut out a section of the bottom panels 9" (225mm) either side of the 'bad' join and put a new 18" (450mm) section of ply in the gap. I also decided that supposed speed methods (applying glass to both sides of the join at one time) was actually sloppy, messy and would use more time in cleaning up and making good later.

Lots of projects, but still got time for a paddle

I've so many little projects on at the moment, and none of them complete.

I'm doing a little landscaping along the back fence, but that's bogged down with digging up a stump that's in the way.  I've been playing around with a few proa models, trying to figure out a way of making a replica of the 'WHITE HERON' using no more than 3 sheets of 6mm exterior ply, some softwood and a poly tarp.  While I was studying my photos of the original at the National Maritime Museum, I noticed that the length given on the information plaque of 24'4" seemed way to long.  I paced it at around 14', and 8 foot overall beam, which is as the plaque stated.  I e-mailed the museum, and sure enough, it was a typographical error, the real length is 14'4".  Anyway, the model is coming along but I think I may need to change a couple of features.  I've also been reading up about scows to determine the origin of a vessel I saw moored up in the harbour while I was out or a paddle.

The Mark IV trolley was never tested.  One project I did complete was adding a wider axle and rubber tyred wheels, while reducing the overall height in a quest for stability.  I'm pleased to report that the trip to and from the ramp with the Mark V trolley was event free, everything working as it should.  I went for a 6.5km paddle, nosing around the various boats and ships moored between Island Bay and the entrance to Hellyers Creek.  The water was flat and win d was negligible, so it was nice to paddle in relatively straight lines, although a very strong outgoing tidal flow gave m some challenges.

From this last trip out, I think I'll make a rudder the very lowest priority of things to fix.  The two main things I want to fix is the paddle (its too short and the blades a little too flexible) and the making of a spray skirt.  The first attempt at the latter failed due to my hopeless skills with a sewing machine, so I have a new plan that will be less stitch and more glue.

Meanwhile, in the Garden...

Here's a little mini-project that I did on Sunday while a load of epoxy was curing on the boat.

We had a few sunflower seedlings that needed to be planted up, but really had nowhere in the garden prepared for them, so they had to go in pots.

We also have a good number of strange, octagonal, terracotta pipes in the basement, 400mm long with a 100mm diameter circular bore.

I closed of the bottom end with a disk of tanalised timber, nailed through 4 holes drilled around the bottom end of each pipe.  I added 10 metres of thick sisal rope and 10 metres of thinner sisal cord and this is what I came up with.  

Sorry for the fuzzy image, it was pitch black on the viewfinder and a bit too dark for the autofocus it would seem.

Sanding

I sanded on Friday night for about half an hour, and things looked encouraging. On Saturday afternoon I sanded for about 1 and a half hours, and I was less enthused. It looks like another hour or so will be required before a little more filler is added to the cockpit area, maybe another hour of sanding after that and then I can paint the cockpit.

I think this is the stage where it will be very easy to get demoralised.

On Saturday morning I went to by some timber for a garden project, as well as some kayak bits. I bought some nice straight pine for the cockpit stringers and 3 lengths of pine dowel, 2 at 30mm diameter and one at 28mm diameter. These will be the paddle looms, the smaller one will have slightly undersized blades and should prove a little easier for Sam to use at a similar stroke rate to an adult using a full size paddle. I'll work on the paddles while I'm waiting for resin to cure or paint to dry.

On Sunday I turned the other bits of timber into raised vegetable planters to make our garden a little more productive. I worked with Bridgit, which was mostly fun, and by the end of the day we had the planters correctly spaced and levelled ready to be filled with topsoil and brick pavers to be laid around and between. I don't know when it will all get finished, but it had better be soon because we need to get some vegetables planted now, really.

Photos from the Weekend

This is a giant weta. Its a fairly common group of insects in New Zealand, and this one, the biggest live one I have seen, had a body about 60mm long with antennae about 3 times that. It was hiding in one of the joints of the old pergola I took down. I'll have to make a pile of old wood nearby to re-home it.


Here's the trampoline that has taken over the garden...


...And this small pile of clay is covering the last part of the old concrete patio that the trampoline will be moved to. On the left you can just see...


...The monster pile of clay retained by the old pergola timber. There's just enough room left to fit the small pile in with this lot. The frame on the upturned table has rusted out and it will be going to the tip shortly.

A Weekend in the Garden

We decided that it was time to do a bit of work on the garden. The new border that we created for the olive trees still wasn't finished, and we wanted to tidy the place up a bit before summer really gets going.

So on Saturday we went and loaded up the Land Rover with 180 litres of bark chippings and some more plants to finish thing off. I let Bridgit (a qualified seamstress) lay out the weed matting while I followed behind tucking it in to the edging strip. Once the last few plants were in and the bark was on, the whole lot looked much improved. So that's the view in one direction from the living room sorted.

In the other direction, we look out on to a huge trampoline that was gifted t me by a colleague. Sam loves it, and I have a quick bounce every now and again too. But its killing the grass and taking up too much space. We discussed the possibilities and decided that it would be great to move it over to a corner where an old rough concrete patio exits. Fine, apart from a spoil heap from a deck I built over a year ago currently fills the space.

I spent Sunday dismantling the very wonky pergola over the patio and recycling the wood into some temporary retaining. I then shovelled about 3 tonnes of soil and heavy clay from one side of the L-shaped concrete area to the other. I finished at about 7PM, totally exhausted but still with another tonne to move before the trampoline can be moved. And the weather doesn't look too clever for the next week, so it'll have to wait while I hide in the garage and get on with the kayak.

Photos to follow.

A Busy Weekend

Bridgit went away with work friends on a fishing weekend to the Bay of Islands, so I was on full-time child minding duties. Work on the kayak was restricted to a few minutes here and there tidying up the runs and lumps in the resin from when I taped the forward end of the boat. At least its ready for the aft end to be taped, and I'll try had to make a neater job of it. Advice I've read, and now have experience to trust and emphatically repeat is 'epoxy is a nightmare to sand, keep it neat and tidy in the first place, its way easier than cleaning up afterwards.'

The previous weekend we bought half-a-dozen strawberry plants for Sam to look after. On Saturday we went out to buy some timber to make a planter, some compost to plant them up into, and some straw to mulch them with. We got everything but the straw. I bought 150x19mm fence palings 1.2m long and some 40x60mm wooden pegs, 600mm long. I kept the design simple and got Sam involved marking and drilling the clearance holes for the nails, a bit of nailing (but he's a lousy aim) an generally letting him know what was being done at each stage and why. He got busy with friends in the afternoon so we didn't get the strawberries planted until Sunday evening when the sun was off them.

On Sunday morning we went over to Takapuna so Sam could pick up a library book he'd reserved. We took a mooch around the market while we were there, and I found a gem on a second-hand tool store. I got a curved sole spoke shave for $20, in good rust free condition. They are $87 new, and I was reluctant to spend that much on a tool that won't see huge amounts of use. I cleaned and sharpened it and gave it a try. All seems well and it should be good for shaping the cockpit hole one I get the deck on in about a week's time.