Time for the deck

Well the end pieces held great! I spent Labor Day morning sanding like crazy. There is more filling and sanding I can do, but for now, the kayak is smooth and has a great form, so I decided to flip it over and start working on the deck. I'm starting at the centerline this time and working towards the shearline. My strips are hitting perfectly to the shearline of the hull at this time.

Wrapping the ends

I've finally pulled all of the staples and have begun to plane and sand. I planed each end of the kayak smooth and planed down a 1/2 inch piece of oak to 1/16" thick at 2' long to wrap around the ends of the kayak. I cracked my first two attempts of wrapping the oak around the bend. I used a blow dryer on my other pieces at the curve and worked fine. I'm now anxious to see if it all holds. My next steps will be to do my final sanding, filling and more sanding. Once complete I will flip the kayak over and start stripping in the deck. I will re-staple at the shearline to keep the hull tight to the forms.

The Hull Has Been Stripped!

I'm feeling much better now : ) The hull is finally stripped in and the kayak is taking shape. I'll do a little cleanup sanding and planing after I remove most of the staples. Then it will be time to tip it over and start working on the deck.

Placing the Keel

I went up one more strip and then decided to run my keel strip. This was one of my best moves! Once the keel strip was layed, I worked backward towards the curve. At the keel, the strips layed flat on the forms which made it much easier to work with. I was almost able to finish half of the kayak's hull in one night. Things are looking much better : )

Making the Curve

It's taken me some time to figure out how to round the curve and get my strips closer to the forms. My solution was to go up 3 strips and work back down. The fill in strip was put in with 3 sections... not the very cleanest solution but it got me past the curve.

Pulling away from the forms

Currently, my strips are doing good in the middle of the kayak hitting the forms but the ends are not. Although I don't think that it will make the kayak sink, I will loose some of the sleek form and I will have a tough time pulling the strips around to the keel.

If anyone has advise on how I could finish off the hull and pull my strips in closer to the forms I would appreciate it.

slow progress

I've added my first cheater strips, but may have wanted to add some sooner. My bow is now about 2 strips lower than the stern, and I need to get them evened out.