Jim's Kayak Project: MATING HULL TO DECK

I am building a cedar strip wood kayak. I purchased a kit for the "Spring Run S" from Redfish Kayak & Canoe in Port Townsend, Wa. The kit consists of an 18' long shipping crate which contains all of the 5/8" wide western red cedar strips as well as some Alaskan yellow cedar and Peruvian black walnut for accent colors. There is also another crate which contains 16 forms that mount on the strong back as well as fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin and miscellaneous other items. The shipping crate becomes the strong back after unpacking. The 16 forms are mounted and aligned on the strong back and the boat is built around these forms.

The Spring Run S is 16' 9" long with a beam of 23 7/8". I am still deciding on the design I will choose for the layout of the deck. There are endless possibilities for the design, whatever your imagination can envision.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

MATING HULL TO DECK

A few pictures showing the glassing of the hull to the deck.

2" fiberglass strips hot glued to the inside edge of the hull.

Hull and deck taped together and ready for applying epoxy to the inside fiberglass strips. It was quite the process aligning the edges properly and taping. Worked out well however. It's a rather nasty job applying the epoxy. Involves inserting your head in small hatch openings along with arm and a long stick with resin soaked foam on the end, reaching into the ends of the boat to soak up the glass strips.

Hull and deck glassed together, inside only. Next step is sanding and fairing outside seam, the repeating the 2" glass and epoxy on the outside of the seam, then sanding the entire boat. At this point the only thing left other than finish work is fitting and installing the two bulkheads.