Fiberglassing the Deck

I first layed wax paper down so that I would not get any epoxy on the hull. The way I stripped the deck in, with no shear strip at the bow and stern of the kayak may cause a problem because the curve is very tight. I worked with the epoxy and fiberglass a lot as it cured to try and get the glass to lay as tight as possible on the strong curves. All-in-all it looks pretty good, and after I join the deck and hull together, I will be running a 4" strip of glass over the joint on the outside and inside of the kayak. Tomorrow I will start to work on the combing.

Fiberglass Prep

I've been very nervous to do the fiberglassing, so I did a test piece on the cut-out of the cockpit. Turned out not to be as bad as expected. After the test worked, I rolled out my fiberglass onto the kayak and then used a paintbrush to work the cloth smooth to the kayak. The actual fiberglassing of the boat took about an hour of none stop moving. I used a slow cure hardener and had plenty of time to work. I used MAS for both my Resin and Hardener. The bow and stern are the toughest areas because you need to trim the fiberglass to overlap them. I will be putting a second coat of fiberglass there anyway so it will be fine. My fear of fiberglassing is much less now... can't wait to do the deck!

Back from a Winter Rest

During the winter season I wrapped the kayak to keep the shape together. I don't know if really made a difference, but it didn't hurt. The long sanding board was very helpful in the sanding the kayak. I'm currently doing a lot of sanding and think I'm close to fiberglassing. I just purchased my 4 oz. cloth from SystemThree.com Today I split the deck from the hull. It was really nerve racking, but with a little steps I got it removed. I will start with fiberglassing the hull.... hopefully next week.