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...

Tow Point Reinforcement

Here's the tow point reinforcing with the bracing still on while the epoxy cures. The brace is a strip of wood running along from the centre of the deck beam to the centre of the aft bulkhead to ensure the top of the reinforcement stays at the level of the underside of the deck. The main piece is screwed to the brace and the 'knee' is taped to both to stop it sliding during the cure.


And this is it without the tape and bracing. The top needs a little cleaning where some epoxy that squeezed out of the joint ended up along the sides of the brace. I covered the brace with brown, plastic parcel tape to prevent any bonding between the temporary brace and the permanent reinforcement. This part isn't in the design, but I'm keen that the kayaks should be able to two one-another, and background reading suggests that a tow point is best mounted immediately behind the cockpit.

Finally, all the sanding of the cockpit is taking its toll on the rest of the garage contents. I'll try to do the exterior sanding outside I think, otherwise the camping gear may get wrecked.

Last Cockpit Details

Today's a public holiday, Labour Day. I've been spreading myself pretty thin between family, household chores and making progress on the kayak. However, I got the second fill sanded back and added the final details to the cockpit before painting.

The first fill used nine pump's worth of epoxy, the second fill used three, and the last fill applied today used only one and there was heaps left over. I know the finish still won't be perfect, but its as good as I'm prepared to do for the inside of a closed cockpit kayak. It should take less than half-an-hour to sand out tomorrow, so I can wash down and get some primer on.

I also primed the seat panel on one side with plain epoxy. I popped the washers out and sanded them with some 240 grit and then forced them back into the recessed holes with the resin in the hope that they bond in place.

I also cut and bonded in the cockpit stringers, as well as priming them on three faces, leaving the top bare ready to bond to the deck. Behind the aft deck beam I added a couple of blocks, one cut to a curve to fit snugly under the deck, the other a small knee style brace between it and the deck beam. The purpose of these pieces is to reinforce the area immediately behind the cockpit so I can bolt an eye through there to mount a tow line.

Pictures of progress

Here's the 6 paddle blade blanks waiting to have their edges rounded and be joined onto the looms.

This is the forward bulkhead, as viewed from the cockpit. A fair bit of sanding still to do.

This is a closeup of the seat, showing how I recessed a washer into the ply using a 16mm spade bit. This gets the head of the screw close to being flush while reinforcing the hole, necessary since the screw head doesn't have much of a shoulder.


A bit shaky since it was taken on a pretty dull day, but even so I think you can see the sleek lines of the kayak in this shot.

Paddles

I made a start on the paddle blades last night. I made a template out of a rough piece and got it as symmetrical as possible before using it to mark out the others. To check the symmetry,I measured a centre line and marked it in both sides of the template, drew a corresponding line on a board, then drew round the template with the centres aligned. Then I flipped it over and re-aligned the centres and checked the curves had a similar profile as those drawn on the board.

I cut the paddle blanks oversize from 4mm ply off-cuts. I then planed them close to the line before putting 4 pieces (2 paddles worth) together and finishing the planing and profiling as a stack to get them all alike. The other two blanks were marked to match the slightly narrower loom and the profiles adjusted accordingly. I then trimmed about 15mm from the ends to just make them that bit smaller and more manageable for Sam.

Th next challenge is to make a jug to get the correct profile in the ends of the looms, and to get the profile faces at exactly 90 degrees to each other on either end of the loom. I'm still thinking about that one. Meanwhile I'll get a bit of sanding done tonight, and take some photos too.

I'm favouring making a really neat job of the paddles. Partly because I want to prove I can, and partly because I think it might be less work to finish them bright (i.e. wood grain showing through layers of sealer and varnish).

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.

Nearly ready for paint...

I got loads done today, nearly five hours on the boat, which is pretty incredible for a week night.

I started by sanding round all runners to smooth of the fillets I'd run and get rid of a couple of minor dribbles. Then I made some seat risers. The plans say to glue the seat in, but I'll leave mine mounted by screws to the bonded-in risers. That way I can take it out to recover it should the closed cell foam I plan to use for a cushion start to break up. It will also allow access to the area underneath, which if starts to deteriorate would otherwise go undetected. I screwed these risers into place and sanded down the interior to provide a key.

After dinner I went back out and had a monster session with the epoxy. First up I bonded in the seat risers and screwed them down until the resin sets. Then I primed out the entire interior to seal the wood. Some areas under glass tape was already done, but the centre area of each panel and the lower and inner edges of the inwales all needed to be done. Finally, I mixed up several big batches of low density filler to fair in all the tape edges.

All that will need a couple of days to go off before sanding, so if I do any building at all tomorrow (Friday) it'll be starting to make the paddles. They're $80 each in the shops, and I reckon I can make all 3 (one for this kayak and two for the tandem that is to follow) for less than that. On the other hand I might just kick back and have a beer or two, we'll see.