fill and sand

Fill and sand, then fill and sand again, and fill and sand some more.

Each time it looks better than the time before.

I am in too much of a hurry to get this kayak into the water. I have to force my self to take the time to do it the right way, and not just the fast way.

It is paying off to do a quality job because each day it looks nicer than the day before.

sanding the deck

Today is Fathers day so before having

four generations of Farhoods over for dinner, I was able to start sanding the deck.

This was just a rough first sanding with 80 grit sandpaper.

Next I will fill in some open joints with epoxy thickened with wood flower. When it hardens I will sand it smooth again and repeat this until all the holes and cracks in the joints are full.

The purple heart wood looks very nice but it is very heavy and hard to work with.

glueing the deck

Today I started to glue the deck to the hull. This is a huge milestone.

This is the toughest part of the build. If you follow the instruction book you will end in disaster. After seeing the trouble others have had on the kayak forum, I needed to find a better way to match the sides of the hull to the edge of the deck.

I came up with a procedure that works much better.

By mid week the hull and deck will be one structure.

glassing the deck

Here I am glassing the underside of the deck.

The cedar strip deck was very fragile when I removed it from the forms. Now that I have glassed the underside, it is very ridged.

After glassing the other side, the deck will be strong enough to sit on without damage.