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.

The Cockpit

Well I finally got the nerve to cut out the cockpit! I can't believe how much more it looks like a kayak. I need to fill a lot of holes at the shearline, because I should have run the shearline as one strip, but we'll make it work. The photo should show how much of a gap I need to fill... this is in 4 areas of the kayak. After those are filled, I will start working on finishing the cockpit, at least to a point in which I can separate the two halves and begin to think about fiberglassing.

I have stripped the kayak

Well all of the strips have been layed. I have a lot of clean up to do and a lot of filling, planing and sanding, but it is a major step that I've just made. All-in-all, I think I'll be okay. Need to do some more research on fiberglassing and the proper steps needed to make this all work out.

Sealing one side

I worked through and finished one side of the kayak. I ran into problems with cutting too close to the kayak. It's easier to trim away from the kayak and then plane in closer the the edges. It looks pretty good, but I have to plane out the mid section to see how it fairs. I will have issues with the deck meeting the hull in a few areas, but I think I will be able go work around it.

The deck

Getting to the shearline has been very tough. I worked down until the strips were not able to lay flat to the hull, and then I layed the shearline strip. I had to lay it in three sections because of the tight curve.

Building the Deck

The deck seems to be coming along fine. As far as I'm concerned it's a straight path. All the the strips are laying perfectly flat on to the hull. I will be more curious as I reach the the final curve of the kayak to see how I will handle it then... but for now it's all good.