Spring Run (part 4 finishing the deck)

2/7/10  It was a busy day today.  I mixed up some cab-o-sil and epoxy to put on a seal coat on the underside of the deck.  You can see the lights I am using for heat in my shop.  It is in the 60s here in FL… we think it is COLD!!!

Although most of this will be sanded off, it still fills all the voids to make a smooth surface for the glass to lay on.

Then I glassed my combing wall, and thigh braces plus epoxied the holders for my shock cord on the hatch hold downs.

2/4/10    Okay, now once again I feel like I am getting somewhere.  The cockpit recess is all glued up, as well the combing wall.

So tomorrow I hope to finish my exterior sanding and maybe even start glassing the yak.

1/31/10  It has been a couple of days since I posted anything, and it may be a while for the next one, looks like I have work this week. LOL  How ever this week I have been continuing my work on the recess which is almost done

And I did what I call a seal/putty coat over the entire yak and started my faring sanding

Plus I continue my work on the cockpit rim, it is all glued up and I will start sanding it now so that I can start glassing the outside.  You will notice the style matches the deck.  Sad thing is no one will see it when I have my skirt on because only the inside of this will be seen. LOL

1/25/10  As my last post said… I have been working on the cockpit recess and the combing.  It is slow going and if anyone out there has a faster easier way, PLEASE let me know

And I continue to work on the combing…

Spring Run (part 2 finishing the hull)

2/7/10  I placed my second reinforcing layer of glass in the cockpit area, and glassed it in.  Now it is time to do the fill coats

2/5/10   I finally sanded the inside putty coat out of the hull, it has only been what? 4 months! LOL  But it is sanded and I laid out the glass

and then applied the epoxy.  Temps here in FL have been a little screwy, so I seem to be fighting a little outgassing, but I think I have that under control now

11/06/09   Well it is time to work on the inside of the Hull while I continue to work on stripping the deck.

After scraping and sanding the inside I mixed up some fillet compound (epoxy, woodflour, and Cab-o-sil) and put fillets in the stems.  This is not necessary, but is a trick I learned from my friends that make S&G yaks.  It makes it much easier to lay the inside cloth with no air pockets or wrinkles.

And then I skimmed the entire inside with an epoxy putty to fill all voids for the same reason

11/01/09  Well it is the beginning of November and the end of Daylight Savings Time.  I found a little energy to work on the yak today, got the shear strip pieces (which I had to staple/nail) secured to the forms and then stripped the deck and forms from the hull.

The hull is already loose from the forms, and the gaps you see are from the spring back.

And now the inside of the hull is ready to be scraped, planed, and sanded

It is also time to start the next chapter of this build, as I will be working on the hull as well as the deck at the same time.

10/30/09   Here it is the end of the month and I haven’t posted anything.  I guess I might not make the Christmas deadline I set for myself.  The reasons I haven’t progressed are basic ones I guess.  The first one is that I am working now and by the time I get home it is dark and I am tired. LOL  2nd is that now is the best time to be kayaking and camping here in FL and I am trying to take advantage of it while I can.  So my free time has been spent playing instead of working on the yak.   3rd is I recently hurt my back and have not been able to do anything much less work on the yak, but thanks to Modern medicine (good drugs) I am getting better.  And the 4th reason is probably the biggest reason.  I am stumped with how to do what I want as far as the deck design goes.  The deck strips I need to start with are many little pieces that are cut at angles.  Trying to cut them to the right length, right angle, glue them together and wrap them around the curves of the forms has proved to be challenging at best when I am trying not to use staples.  I may have to give up on that and staple the first strip till I can get 2 strips mounted on both sides and use the Hot Melt glue gun to secure them to the forms so I can finish it with the “Doodads” 

10/05/09  The following pics are the of the second coat of epoxy while there was enough daylight to still take pics… barely.

This is the graphic I have settled on with changing the name to “Flyin’”.  That too is subject to change at any given moment. LOL

10/04/09  Well, I got the hull all sanded and ready to glass.  I was going to go get my camera, then excitement got a hold of me and the next thing I know I am spreading glass on my yak!!!  Well, I can’t let bare glass just set there, so it was time to mix up some epoxy and start spreading.  As usual, I put an extra layer of 4 oz glass on the stems, and the center of the hull before covering the entire yak.

 

The Padauk does not stand out as red as I hoped against the Mahogany or Dark Red Cedar as I had hoped.  But it is still pretty!  I only have after work for the next 2 weeks to work on the yak, having plans for the next 2 weekends.  Gee, I hope I can finish this yak by Christmas.

9/28/09  Can you tell what I have been doing lately???

Yeppers!!!  I am planeing and Faring the hull.  Not a lot to see different, and I am not getting much done a night do to being busy working, but here are the latest pics.  Notice some of my favorite tools, they are not needed, but fun to use. LOL

Making a Combing (my way)

In this post you will see pictures from several different builds.  That is because I didn’t think anyone else would be interested in how I do it.  So I have gathered the combing pics from different builds and will most likely end with the Spring run build.

Once I found the size that I like, which uses a “Seal Skirt” 1.7, I glued up some 1 X 6s edge to edge.

Then I made a frame to match

And a leg post out of 2 X 4s

Then I traced the first pattern to the frame

Then glued the 2 patterns together and mounted the post

Sanded the forms(patterns) so they matched each other, added some feet to the post and taped the forms

On my first 2 I stapled (nail) the strips to the pattern.  I cut my strips to 4″ in length except for the back and cheek plates which I make longer.  This makes installing the backband easier.

On the Spring Run, I am using rubber bands

Meanwhile as I glue those pieces up, I cut12 - 12″ pieces of strips for my thigh braces.  I glue 6 pieces together and wrap them around a 5 gallon bucket (notice that the center is not glued together).

After the glue dries, I sand these smooth and then glass them

By now I have finished stripping the form which I sand and add 6 oz. glass tape to the outside

Once I have a couple of coats of epoxy on it, I remove it from the forms and lay it on the Kayak recess so I can scribe the lift of the recess.  If you look close at the next picture you can see the scribe line.

Once I have my line scribed, I rip some Ash to 1/4 X 3/8 inches and bend them around the coaming matching my scribe line.  I glue and clamp one piece of Ash at a time using LOTS of clamps.

Once I have a lip that is 3/4″ wide, I use a belt sander to clean the rim down even with the lip.

I coat both the lip and rim in epoxy and let dry.  Once it is dry I remove it from the forms and sand the inside.  Then using the same 6 oz. tape I epoxy the inside.

I mix up a little epoxy, silica, and wood flour placing a small fillet on the underside of the lip

With the recess cut-out to fit the rim tightly, I slide it in using a 1″ spacer between the recess and the underside of the lip.  Then using more fillet mixture I glue the outside of the rim to the recess.

When it is set, I turn the deck over and trim any excess hanging through and shaping the cheek plates and back plate.  Then add another fillet to the inside.

With the combing installed, I cut the thigh braces to shape and locate them to the combing.  Using 5 minute epoxy I glue them in place.  Then using a color match fillet mixture, I add a 1/2″ wide fillet all the way around the braces.  Sand smooth and apply a finish coat of epoxy.  Using contact cement I glue 1/4″ closed cell foam to the underside of the braces and the combing is complete.