First Attempt at Kayak building

First Attempt at Kayak building

Welcome graphic

I have had a collapsible 2 man Kayak for the last 8 years but at 65 the assembly and disassembly is getting too much. So last summer I decided to build a Cape Ann Double, from One Ocean Kayaks resized down to 19ft.

Click hear for One Ocean Kayaks

The following pictures are my progress to date, some comments of problems, and ideas

I started with 8 pieces of rough cut white cedar 16 ft long 8 in wide and 3/4 in thick. I did not surface plain the rough cut wood before cutting my strips. While this had little effect on the finished strips it did present a few problems with feeding pressure against the finger boards while sawing since the rough cut was just that "rough", running in width from 3/4 to 1 in. thick

In order to cut and route the 16 foot boards I set up an extension that worked on both my saw and home made router table.

I did not steam or heat any of the strips while assembling the hull, but did cut a few strips down in width to make them bend a bit easier. I have since read that just forcing the bend may cause problems down the road, but so far the hull has held it's shape

By placing the cockpit patterns on the strongback I was able to layout a deck design without it interfering with the cockpits

After finishing the hull I realized that an all white cedar kayak just wouldn't look right, even for a first build so I used red cedar for the deck design.

As noted above stapling provided a fast assembly system on the hull side, the deck pattern provided 8 different work areas and rotating between these areas kept me busy while glue dried in another area, and produced a much better result. While sanding the deck we had a Beluga whale come up the Delaware River and I had to add an inlay. Orcas look better on the deck than Belugas.

White pine coaming rim glued, trimed, and filletted ready to build mold for the coaming.

Sometimes you just have to make do. That last piece of coaming rim just did not want to bend without some steam so steam is what it got. 10 mins. on the grill flipping about every 2 mins. in a wet towel did it.

The coaming rim trimmed and set in place as a trial fit. Once the rim is epoxied in place and the bottom trimmed to match the underside of the deck I will lay another layer of fiberglass from the inside of the kayak and up the riser and then a layer across the top of the rim and down the riser then final sanding.

I was told that glassing the inside of the hull was tough because the glass just doesn't want to stay down in the hull. Again I used clips to help tame the glass and hold it in place till I could cut off the overhang. The clips also come in handy while appling the epoxy by reducing the tendancy of the glass to creep as you work it.

Attempting to position the hatches with tape proved to be fruitless. If I got them centered they would sit high or low in the cutout. If I got them level with the cutout they were off center. After several attempts I decided on toothpicks as an alignment method and then several spots of hot glue from the underside once the hatch was correctly positioned. You will need a third hand to set the first 3 toothpicks but once set adjustment is a give and take system. I used round toothpicks as they allowed me to turn the toothpick while making fine adjustments. I removed the toothpicks once the hot glue is set and shaved the hot glue level with the underside of the deck before laying up my hatch rims.

With the kayak taped togeather and placed on one side the inside seam taping was completed with only one small hitch. I had removed several of the bow tapings to open things up enough to put some thickened epoxy between the hull and deck right at the bow. This filled the last gap between the wooden pieces I had placed in the bow as support. When reclamping, and working alone I split off about 4 ins. of one of the coves on the outside. Well, a repair job already.

After several days of thought and trials I made wooden standoffs to mount the Seal Line Toe Pedals. Each standoff had 4 Tee Nuts installed to allow some vertical adjustments if my feet get bigger or smaller. I just did not want to drill holes through the wood.

In order to mount the Toe Pedals to the standoffs I had to machine through to the face of the control's rails and use 1 1/2 stainless screws with homemade collars to secure the rails to the standoff while leaving the screw heads flush and accessable for future adjustments.

Note cable sleeves have not been installed as of the picture

With an outside temperature of 50 degrees and a need to reepoxy the stern I made a small oven powered by a 75 watt bulb. This held an inside the oven temperature of 85 degrees.

Even with what looks like over a foot of clearance when I made the first righthand turn I had less than an inch of clearance to the trailer so I had to readjust the Hullavator and set the kayak forward a bit.

Clear coat is ready for buffing.

For your comments on the work to date or suggestions for the balance of the project just click here.

I modified my saw table by installing a fixed guide bar made from a 4ft. level and mounting a vertical finger board to that guide. I then mounted a board to the tables adjustable guide bars, spacing the board above the table top, to allow the attaching of the horizontal finger board to the underside of this board. This allowed this finger board to float just above the table top and be moved easily. Both modifications required drilling, tapping, and bolting the modes in place. This system provided an easy way to adjust the finger board after each cut, just move the guide 3/8in. to the right, and cut.

I stapled the hull but soon realized that stapling, while allowing fast assembly, caused additional work of filling on the outside of the hull and did signifant damage to the inside of the strips. That will require work once I get the hull off the strongback. The staples explode through the soft white cedar on the inside.

Decking strips were fitted and glued without staples. Brads were used in positioning the pattern strips and those holes eventually filled with very small wooden plugs made from the respective woods.

A clear mistake was to have used bead and cove strips for the 2 pieces used to define the deck pattern. While these strips were the same width originally after fairing and sanding the red cedar strip, the coved strip, became noticeably thinner and spoiling the original intent. But there always the next build.

Because of weather and not wanting to wait I was forced to build both the hull and deck before glassing anything. This meant I had to be able to remove one or the other from the strongback when time to glass. Rather than hot glueing stringers to hold the shape I made removable ones, 1/4 ply with 1/4 by 3/8 deep slots and numbered to a given station, and taped them in place at selected frame stations. Now when I have to work on the insides I can remove one at a time and open up about a 5 foot work area while still holding the original shape.

I decided to make carbon/glass coaming rims. I used a vertical piece of 1/8in. white pine glued in place, and trimed to 5/8 in. high above the deck, as a coaming riser. This pine rim was left long on the underside of the deck to provide an area to tape the mold skin in place. After trying to make my mold skin using plastic wrap, cellophane tape and shrink wrap and having no satisfaction with any of them, I used an opened garbage bag taped taught across the cuckpit. Cut a hole, with a razor 1 in. inside the rim. That inner flap was taped to the inside of the rim. Then a second bag is taped into place and another hole cut 1 in inside the rim. By just catching the last 1/4 in of the flap with masking tape that flap was pulled taught and taped down. The garbage bag had much more elasticity and layed much flatter that anything I had tried. Now give the area you will be glassing a very light spray of adhisive and lay your first glass into the adhesive. This system holds the glass very well and the 2 bags will allow the coaming to be removed without fuss. Picture shows the first layer of glass attached by adhesive and waiting for epoxy.

This picture shows a second layer of fiberglass on the hull. I am not sure what caused the pattern that showed up after a touch sanding after the first fill coat. I hope this pattern disappears after future fill coats.

The hull has just had a seal coating and the deck has just been glassed. Note the clips were necessary to hold the deck glass to the side of the coaming rim while things cured. The clips keep the glass from leaving the rim. I cut small pieces of a plastic bag and used them between the clips and the fiberglass and between the spreaders as a release agent

Once the hatches were positioned and hot glued in place laying up the hatch rims was a straightforward operation. I will be using a D shaped gasket made by

Trim-Loc that was in stock at McMaster Carr.

When it came time to clamp the hull and deck I was pleasently suprised at how easily they mated. Having read some horror stories and considering the time they had each been off the forms.

I started at the stern and work my way forward with 2 straps. Once the straps were tight I would filament tape between the straps and move one strap forward.

I installed a Feathercraft rudder. Keeping with my original theme of a plain uncluttered deck I routed the rudder lift/lower lines along with the rudder cables through the deck and to the cockpit. Lift line are routed around a pivot point forward in the cockpit and sprung with a short length of bungee cord. This maintains the lines at a very accessible postion just below the coaming rim

The trolly is ready to go.

First attempt at loading the the Thule Hullavator. I had some question as to clearance of the mirror and rear overhang and my trailer while making a righthand turn.

Even with a kayak that weighs 60 pounds loading was no problem. All tiedowns are set while the kayak is in the lowered position and the gas assisted Hullavator made lifting a breeze.

Well I have done all I can do, now it's just wait for this stuff to melt and float down river.

I would like to thank One Ocean Kayaks for there excelent plans and willingness to respond to questions during construction and Redfish Kayak& Canoe for thier unshelfish help and great custom made seats.

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