Ta-Da!

Still a few things to do, but I was able to kayak the whole lake on Saturday, July 9th. I will put a spar varnish on it yet and also pour epoxy in the bow and stern ends of the kayak for more strength.

Finishing the Coaming

I created the coaming lip in two halves with 3 strips each of 1/16" thick oak and black walnut at about 3/8" width. I would glue on a strip and let it dry and then repeat. I was able to finish in a day. When it came to fiberglassing the coaming lip.... that's another story. I worked like very hard on getting the glass to lay around the lip on the outside, but I had bubbling problems like crazy. I ended up removing the fiberglass cloth and just coating with the epoxy resin. I will coat it a few times and test the strength and waterproof ability and then decide on what to do.

Joining the Hull and the Deck

Merging the top and bottom of the kayak was interesting. I started from the bow and worked back to the stern. I used a good packing tape with fibers to hold it together. I was not able to get the stern end out far enough to match, but was able to plane down the deck to meet after I glassed the inside seam. Rolling the fiberglass cloth that was pre-rolled with the epoxy mix was not too bad until the very end of the kayak, then the fibers kept attaching to the brush-on-a-stick.