Kayak Building

I completed a Guillemot Petrel late last fall so it never saw water, stored indoors all winter. I got it out this spring and something had happened to the finish. I am assuming I made a BIG mistake as I have built several kayaks and this is the first finish problem I have had. I thought I followed the same procedure as on previous boats but apparently not .  .  .  .

I’m getting close to finishing my Guillemot build after several years of work.  I did a final sanding on the boat before varnishing and decided that I would not be satisfied with the coaming lip.  I didn’t put a large enough radius on the fillet between the coaming lip and the riser so the outer layer of fiberglass pulled away from radius.  I sanded through the glass in several areas and dust got underneath leaving large white areas.  So I sanded more until the loose glass was removed.  I then mixed up some epoxy and cedar dust and put a larger fillet.

Well, I must be getting old...the VJ, my Waters Dancing S&G Lightning 17, has a delamination issue at the underside of the cockpit deck. The brass strip on the keel is loose. Seat supports are broken. A couple of chines are ground down by a couple of millimeters...Shyte...this sounds like my body feels.

I am in the process of building a cedar-strip canoe. I am using Raka Epoxy. I have a little experience using epoxy. I built 2 strip kayaks 18 years ago (Mas epoxy) and a SUP last year (raka). The kayaks wet out very nice, did a sealer coat, everything went well, very clear, no glass seen under two fill coats, lots of varnish, still very nice after all these years. The Sup (raka) last year seemed to show a little of the cloth under certain light and angles. I chalked it up to maybe using glass I purchased from a internet company, thought maybe wasn't compatible.

I don’t know how much interest there is in adopting others’ unfinished projects, but I have a half-finished strip-built  Njord kayak that has been hanging around (literally - at my in-laws’ house) for more than five years, and I need to do something with it.  Life and living circumstances don’t allow me to finish it, so if anyone else is interested in doing so - it’s yours!  

Hi. I'm about to start my first kayak. I'm in the Chicago area and I've yet to find any clear (or at least reasonably so) WRC and no place has NWC... at least no store that I've been able to get to. At my local wood shop (Owl for those in the area) I checked out their WRC and it was very knotty. Looked at a bunch of other options and all seemed quite heavy by comparison. The backup choice of basswood wasn't too bad appearance and weight wise but then I found their Spanish Cedar. It is not a wood I had heard of before.

Hi,

I modified Tom Yost's lacing by looping the hull lacing over about 3/16" dia. trimmer line.  When the deck skin is complete, to remove the lacing, all you need to do is pull out the trimmer line and the lacing just falls away.

Trimmer line shown in green. 

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been addressed already, but if so I could not find the answer. I'm thinking of building a Petrel Play and have a couple of initial questions.  First, what thickness plywood? I would expect to use Okoume.  Seems like 4mm might be a good combination of weight, strength and bendability, but I saw one post that suggests 3mm.  What is recommended or generally used?  Second, how many sheets are needed?

Thanks,

Lewis

I'm considering building Vaclav's Storm SLT. I'm 5'7, 165 lbs, size 9 feet.  In his technical specs, the "ideal weight" for this design is 140 lbs, max 165.  I'm pretty sure that I can physically get into this boat, as far as foot room, cockpit height, etc, but I wonder what its like to use a kayak at max load? 165 is overweight for me (caused by medical treatments), and I plan to lose 5-10 pounds this summer. I plan to use the boat for short, recreational paddles, without much gear.