New Year, Same Kayak

Well, that's Christmas and New Year out of the way.

I was really busy getting ready for Christmas, then we went camping for a few nights and got back on New Year's day. I went back to work the following Monday, so tried to spend the weekend doing fun, family stuff rather than sanding.

I finally got around to sanding the first coat of primer and adding a little knifing putty to some of the less well prepared areas (the ones that only show up once its all the same colour). I did a big session of sanding last night and got it close enough. I'm brush painting the top coats so once the minor scratches and edges in the filler are smaller than a brush mark, I don't see the point in spending any more effort getting it better. I will, however, be asking for a random orbital sander for my birthday.





So this evening I put on a second coat of primer. I'll flat it off with a quick rub of 220 grit paper, with a little more attention being payed to a few inevitable runs and drips. It was around 25 degrees Celsius when I was painting in the early evening, and the water based paint was drying as fast as I could brush it out, keeping a wet edge was nigh on impossible.

In the background, between coats, I've also prepped the seat for top-coating, rubbed the paddle down ready for a final coat of varnish, and spray painted some deck hardware in satin black enamel after etch-priming (its all galvanised steel).

A Momentus Occasion

No not the launch, not quite.

I finally got some paint on the hull.  The sanding of the first load of exterior bog was completed last week, and the second fill on the underside was hard enough to sand at the weekend.  I made a start, but was otherwise engaged and so am now a little more behind.

Sunday was spent fixing a couple of things on the Land Rover to get it through the 6-monthly Warrant of Fitness certification that is required in New Zealand.  The relatively straight forward job of changing the power steering belt became an epic due to seized bolts.  The other job I knew had pitfalls associated with it.  I learnt so much in the process of completing the drop arm ball joint fix that I posted my findings here in the hope of my experience being useful to others tackling the same task. 

Anyway, last night I finished sanding the second fill and then I started preparing to paint.  I washed the bottom down with a warm solution of liquid sugar soap to degrease, remove the dust and any amine blush (a waxy emission from cured epoxy), then rinsed with plenty of water and allowed the boat to dry.

I then applied a coat of Taubmans UnderProof Acrylic Primer Undercoat.  This is a water-based acrylic with what smells like an amount of latex added to prevent bleeding through to the top coat.  I'm going to be using Taubmans Living Proof Indoor/Outdoor Acrylic Enamel Gloss as the top coat.  The reasons to use house paint rather than marine enamel like I tried for the cockpit interior are twofold.  Firstly, the marine enamel requires 24 hours between coats, whereas the acrylic enamel requires only an hour or two.  Secondly, the smell of the marine enamel was awful, even with the garage door closed it could be detected on walking passed while the boat dried inside.

Obviously there is a Christmas break coming, and we are off on a family camping trip until after New Year's, so the launch will definitely be in 2009.  I'm also pretty certain it will be in January of that year.

Cockpit Coaming

So after the deck went on the last real job of building was to cut out the cockpit hole and line it with a coaming strip.  I wasn't looking forward to this part too much because while it is woodwork, its not the orthogonal, easy-to-measure joinery that I'm more accustomed to.

I made a template for the hole by turning one of the plan sheets over and on the plain back marking the centre line, deck beam positions and the run of the cockpit stringers.  I joined the tapering lines of the stringers with the curve of the dustbin lid at the aft end, and to an upturned bucket at the forward end.  I transferred the curves to the kayak by punching through the paper with an awl.  A little adjustment by eye was required to get a more pleasing line on the forward end before the line was followed by the jigsaw.

On the same day I prepared some pieces of ply, 120mm wide and 700mm long, cut across the outer grains of the ply (the way it bends easiest).  I laid these pieces on the driveway with an old towel over the top and soaked them with boiling water.  A few minutes later I filled the bucket that had acted as a template with sand and the wrapped the pieces (all stacked together) round the bucket and held them in place with a ratchet strap.

Two days later the ply was mostly dry and so I started to lay the curved pieces up on the kayak.  I was originally going to make the coaming out of two thicknesses of the 4mm ply on end, wrapped aroung the inside edge of the cockpit cutout.  This looked a little clunky though, so after mulling it over for a couple of days, I abandoned the inner layer.

So tonight I trimmed up the pieces with a jigsaw.  I marked line parallel to the deck with an offset block then partially flattened out the curved end pieces to trim them.  The straight side pieces were then trimmed to fit between the ends from ply with the outer grain running length ways.  For the bottom edge, I marked the back of the coaming where it was level with the bottm edge of the cockpit stringers down the sides, and with the bottom of the deck beams on the fore and aft centre line.  I faired a curve between the straight sides and the mid point and then cut it out hoping it would look OK when curved back on the boat.  This shape has meant the a very deep section to the coaming at the aft edge, which was the intention since there is no real provision for a separate back rest in this kayak.

After a dry fit test I mixed up the epoxy, pre-wet each joint surface and primed out any parts that would be no longer accessible.  I then added plenty of microfibres and used this to bong in the coaming.  I held everything in place with temporary screws, and on the end joints between the side and end pieces I used broad packers (covered in plastic parcel tape) under the screw to cover the edge and keep the faces flush.  The leftover epoxy and any squeeze out was then stuffed back into the gap between the deck and coaming to form a small fillet and improve the bond.  Its definitely warming up here now and for the first time I noticed the pot of epoxy getting really hot in my hand as the curing reaction started to happen.

To finish the coaming of I will trim the edges into a fair curve and fit a lip the the upper, outer edge to take a spray skirt.  I was going to use some steamed pine for this, but I think the curves are too severe to even bother trying.  Instead I'll soak some 10mm rope in epoxy and pin it in place, then fair it in with filler while fairing the rest of the outer hull.  And that's really all that is left to do.  Tape the deck seam, fair it in along with the other external tapes and then sand and sand and sand, and then paint.

Oh, and there's also the small matter of making a paddle...

Improvisation

For me, part of the fun in making my own stuff is in finding alternative uses for everyday items, or alternatively, finding an everyday item to use out of context as a cheaper alternative for the 'proper' part.

The toggle eye I mounted into the bow of the kayak serves two purposes. Firstly, it must reinforce the hull and prevent the pull on the toggle rope from deforming the hull or pulling loose. Secondly, it must separate the hole through the hull from the airtight chamber formed ahead of the forward bulkhead. For this purpose, I employed a short length of 15mm copper pipe. I carefully marked the angles after boring a hole with a 16mm spade bit and cut the ends with a regular hacksaw. I scuffed the surface with 60 grit paper to allow the epoxy to key into the copper. The pipe is encased in a large block of epoxy/microfibre blend, which once cured, I filed back the ends about 1mm each side to be flush with the hull.

Kayak hatch covers are available from lots of outdoor, marine and specialist kayak shops, but the cost in the region of $100 upwards each. I don't need to use the airtight compartments ans storage, I just want to make sure they are dry, and if not (epoxy isn't totally waterproof, although it does take lengthy immersion to get any noticeable absorption) I need to be able to sponge out and air the compartments. To this end, I purchased a couple of 90mm storm water pipe covers. The consist of a short length of 90mm PVC pipe (about 70mm long) with one end open and the other covered by a removable, threaded cap. Again, epoxy wont bond to PVC and I didn't want to rely on simply scuffing the surface of such a large join. I think I read of the vague details of this process, but I made up the details myself.

Firstly I cut a length of glass tape just long enough to wrap round the pipe. I then cut it length ways down the centre. I laid 2 long strips of masking tape, sticky side up, on the workbench and stuck a half-width of glass tape to each, keeping the edges as straight as possible. I then piped a generous line of PVC solvent down the centre of each piece of glass tape. This was then wrapped around a piece of pipe, keeping the 'good' edge of the glass tape parallel with and just below the bottom of the threaded section. The masking tape keeps the glass in contact wit the PVC and allows pressure to be applied so that the solvent is partly absorbed in the glass weave. When I come to mount the pipes in the deck, I'll then add epoxy to the glass tape which will get a good bond with the part of the glass that is not already embedded in the PVC cement. The pipe and caps are grey, but I'll spray the caps with black enamel and any pipe showing above deck will be faired in with an epoxy fillet, primed and painted the same colour as the rest of the boat.

Paint!

Today I decided I was done with the filling/sanding cycle on the interior. I washed down the cockpit with warm soapy water and tidied the garage while the kayak dried in the sun. After dinner I went back to the garage and applied the first coat of one-part marine primer. I was expecting all sorts of blemishes to appear once the colour was evened out, but I'm actually pleasantly surprised how smooth it all looks.

There won't be much progress now until the 2 coats of primer/undercoat and 2 coats of top coat are on, unless I do a bit to the paddles. I've shut up shop for tonight, but at some point over the weekend I'll post details of the paints I'm using and where exactly I got them from. It looks like the primer will be enough to do the outside as well, but I need to get hold of some different top coat; bright orange me thinks...