34. Fiberglass Bonus Material

Check out the fiberglass application!

34. Raise a Glass

Quite a productive morning. We laid the fiberglass then smoothed it with dry paint brushes. Once again we were amazed at how the fiberglass follows every curve as you smooth it. I was particularity concerned about how to wrap the bow and stern but all went flawlessly. About 2 hours later all the epoxy has been applied and squeegeed. Results are amazing. In about 8 hours the excess will be trimmed from the edges and the second coat of epoxy will go on.

33. Prep for Glass

The top pic shows the results of a light sanding of the epoxy seal coat prior to fiberglass. After vacuuming, it was wiped down with denatured alcohol to make it spic and span. The bottom photo shows the boat ready for glass. Also shows the logo to give you a better context of how/where it was applied to the bow. After this sanding the epoxy surface is ready to accept more epoxy. Amazing how smooth the finished surface is.

32. Our Logo

Back when we were dating in 2008, my wife drew this on a chalkboard. It has been our own personal love sign ever since. We have drawn it on heart shaped rocks, greeting cards, even sandy beaches of Ireland, twice. It has now been cemented forever in the bow of the wood duck we are building. It went on beautifully without a fuss. It is printed on rice paper. As the paper soaks up epoxy only the ink area remains visible. We are super tickled. My talented son Emory, graphic artist extraordinaire, created the graphic file for me based off of a picture I sent him of a ceramic heart of our logo, which was hand made by Ang. He nailed it! Check out his work at ocularinvasion.com.

31. Graphics & Logos

I have been researching how to put graphics and logos on the kayak and I think I have struck gold. I ordered Japanese rice paper from Amazon. Once I found the image I wanted the experiment was on. I taped the thin rice paper to a regular piece of paper and printed on the laser printer. After cutting out the print, epoxy is applied to the wood and the the graphic laid on. As it wets out, anything that is white disappears as it soaks up epoxy, leaving only the colored image. Once it cures in a few hours we will take a look to see how it goes.

30. Homestretch In Sight

Still a lot of work to do but today is a major milestone. I was very nervous about this step. Final sanding completed it's time to start applying epoxy to the outside. Remember, the inside has been finished for a while. The first coat of epoxy is very thin and serves as a seal coat. I will sand this coat with 220 grit sand paper to make it even smoother. The pics show the difference between raw wood and epoxied wood. WOW! The bottom 2 pics show the port and starboard sides. Look at how the beautiful grain of the woods comes out. There is no way of seeing how fantastic it is the until this step. It's like the kayak has been telling me all along, "Wait for it... wait for it..."  BOOM!

29. More Sanding

This may not look much different from post #28, but it is. I have gone back and perfected individual spots with finer sand paper. The seams and corners are all shaped beautifully and everything is soooo smooth. I think I want to make the keel seam a little rounder at the stern. The angle of the camera makes the lines look wonky but I guarantee you they true and fair. I am not sanding in a hurry at all. Probably spending 3 extra days sanding to get everything just so, rather than blast through it in one shot. Not that it has to be a museum piece, I just really enjoy the transformation it undergoes as sanding progresses and things get just right. I find that taking a day and coming back to it lets me see things I missed before.  Also sanded the cockpit coaming (the hoop that goes around the opening where you sit down).  Little did I know that while I was sanding with my right hand, my left hand, holding the hoop, was bleeding all over the place.  Every time I gripped the hoop in a different spot I was putting new blood stains on my previous work.  Took me a couple laps around the stupid thing till I figured out my thumb was to blame!  I couldn't see the cut cuz it was full of sawdust!

28. Sanded for 1st Time

Since I last checked in the hull to deck seam on the right has been taped and finished. Did some initial clean up around the hatch opening then got to sanding. Used my random orbit palm sander. Did a great job. Practiced a little on some scraps to get used to handling the sander on this somewhat delicate plywood. Would be extremely easy to take too much off. Sanded the deck then the hull. Once the hull was done flipped her over and realized I babied the deck too much so another evening of sanding and vacuuming sawdust is in order. The bottom pics shows how well the stern shaped up. I was worried about this area as the sides extended a good deal past the transom. But about 2 seconds of sanding and it was beautiful! In very bottom pic you can see me smiling! Mo

27. Interior Seam Completed

The build manual says that filleting inside the boat is easier than it appears. Well, they were absolutely correct. I was pleasantly surprised. The tools screwed to a broom stick worked great. In the top pic you can see how smooth the fillet turned out. Mid you, you are working inside a 12' long boat with little room for anything. In pic 2 you can see the seam tape that is pre-saturated with epoxy. I used the tools to unroll it along the seam. Ended up perfect with the bottom pic showing the finished tape job. Now tomorrow I get to repeat on the other side of the kayak.

26. Coaming and Seams

The coaming has cured to the point I could take if off the kayak. Then I turned the kayak on its side to setup for filleting and taping the hull to deck seam. In the lower pic you can see the boat on its side. One of the beauties of having a wooden workbench is that I was able to directly screw the upright supports right to my bench. Worked beautifully. In the lower right you can see how I have adapted the putty knife that was made into a fillet tool to attach to an angled broom stick.

25. I'm Feeling Clampy...

The cockpit coaming is temporarily installed. The coaming is the outer rim around the cockpit which allows you to use a spray skirt and provides strength and sturdiness for the deck. In this picture the coaming is glued and clamped in place so that when the epoxy cures all will be in the correct shape.  The coaming is actually made up of 5 different pieces of wood, so the clamps are crucial.   It is not attached to the kayak at this point. It will be attached after the exterior is fiberglassed. As you can see, if you build a boat you will invest in A LOT of clamps. The great thing is that they are a one time investment, are reusable for all kinds of projects (next kayak anyone?), they hold great, and the $1.49 ones work just as well as the $3.99 ones. Only problem is the store has not restocked the $1.49 version for a month now... C'mon Man! But nonetheless I bought many clamps from Lowes which had a military discount. Two of the clamps you see pictured were free. Thanks Lowes!

24. WEDDING DAY IS HERE

Well this is a momentous day indeed. The hull and deck are married. They were previously engaged to check for a good fit, then they were joined at the hip to make sure the relationship would stick. They have now walked the aisle. I feel like a proud Dad, Deek is the best man and Ang is the maid (maiden?) of honor. For the third and FINAL time they are wired together. I used a few clamps at the stem to make sure all seams aligned to my specs. There is REALLY No turning back. The epoxy join is forever. Long after I am gone this boat will serve as a reminder of blood, sweat, and beers. Oh, I cut my finger tonight and bled all over the place. No worries. I hope this kayak brings joy and adventure for many many years. Tonight it really is a boat!

23. Foot Braces Finished

Well here is my first do-over of the project so far. As do overs go, this is a cake walk. The epoxy tacks I used to set the brace studs in yesterday were way too thin. As soon as I removed the clamps the studs popped right off the hull. Not good. So I reset all four in a thicker epoxy and clamped them down. This time they held. A few hours later a patch of fiberglass was laid in and slathered with epoxy. As the epoxy cures it will turn from the white you see in the picture to nearly crystal clear. Won't be completely clear as I have added a compound to give it even more strength. Tomorrow is a BIG DAY!!!

22. Foot Brace Installation

Lots of progress today. The hull inside received its final fill coat of epoxy. Am not real happy with the final coat. I think I needed fresh epoxy rather than using up the end of the deck batch. It went on thicker than I would like. But no worries, nothing a little sand paper won't fix. Anyway, to the foot braces. You will see that the foot braces have been tacked in and clamped. Rather than use the screws to go through the side of the hull, we opted for a special bolt that gets, wait for it... EPOXIED (how'd ya know?) in place. Right now just tacked. Tomorrow will receive a full epoxy once over and fiberglass tape for ultimate strength.  Installing the foot braces at this point makes for much less work than installing once the deck and hull become one.   Which, by the way... is not far off.

21. Duck Under Glass

Well... At least the underside of the deck. Although not called for by the manufacturer, I chose to fully glass the hull and deck, inside and out. In the top photo the fiberglass has been laid up and ready to go. In the bottom photo this is how it looks after epoxy has been applied. After a couple hours or 3 the excess will be trimmed off of the edges as well as around the cockpit and hatch openings. I just realized that almost every pic I post has the Smokey Joe BBQ on top of the white cooler, on top of the blue bin, on top of my lathe. Gotta love stacks of stuff.

20. Hull finished - Deck Underway

The hull interior has been completely glassed and its final coat of epoxy applied. This fills in the weave of the fiberglass and makes it virtually disappear. In the bottom photo you can see the deck upside down. It has been filleted and seam taped, and the seal coat of epoxy has been applied.

19. Fiberglass Time

Here are views of the stern and stem with the fiberglass laid up. After final smoothing with a dry paint brush the surface will be saturated with clear epoxy. This binds the cloth fibers to the wood forming a matrix of wood, fibers, and epoxy. This composite construction is strong and durable. The plans only call for fiberglass in the cockpit area but we opted to glass the entire length of the boat. Once the epoxy is applied the cloth disappears.
Mo & Ang

18. Hull Inside Seal Coat

The hull tape has cured and been scraped. Touched up the edges with a little sand paper to remove the ridge and make a smooth transition from the deck to the seam. The hull now has received a very thin coat of epoxy as a "seal" coat. This is the first hint of how beautiful the wood is. Tomorrow the hull interior will receive its fiberglass.

17. Fillet the Seams

The seams have been taped to keep the fillets to a uniform size. The fillets permanently join the seams which were previously tacked together. The fillets are kept thin which makes them light and strong. A thick fillet just adds weight with no added strength. In the bottom photo the tape has been removed and you can see how nice the fillets are.  We also completed taping and applying epoxy to all of the interior seams.  It was great to have two boat builders working tonight as things move along much more smoothly.
Ang & Mo

16. Hull Curves

Deck and hull separated and ready for filleting (fill-it-ing). The fillets will solidify the seams, filling the gaps where the stitches were, making the entire kayak super strong. Turned the hull upside down in order to tape the seams. This will prevent any epoxy from leaking through the seams as it is worked. This is also the first time we can the beautiful curves that form the hull. This is also the first time I have thought, "I made that..."  You will also note the very light color of the wood.  The opposite side is darker.  With this being plywood, the ply on one side will not match the ply on the other.  In my case all the panels were uniform in color, I just needed to decide whether the darker or light would be on the outside.  I went for the lighter.  This (I hope) will make for a much more stark contrast with the Sapele  Mahogany deck.

15. Hatch Sill and Rim

The hatch sill and hatch rim have been installed. The piece I cut out will be the hatch cover/lid. The sill was clamped and glued last week and the rim was installed just now. Lots of clamps required. You will see I made a small mess of epoxy here and there, this will all come right off during sanding and anything remaining will disappear when epoxy is applied to the whole surface. All together, the hatch cover, sill, and rim will create a water tight compartment to provide flotation and storage of gear.