Gluing the deck to the hull.

Posted on January 11, 2020 by K. D. Cline

Major milestone. Gluing the deck to the hull! The kayak will be one piece by the end of the day.

Deck taped and wired (where necessary) to the hull and ready for epoxy.

Inside of the kayak looking forward. Shear seam on the hull and deck, and the bow and stern ends are sanded so that when the seams are epoxied and taped with fiberglass, and the end pours are done the epoxy will bond well.

Shear seam glued. I will come back with epoxy thickened with wood flour and fill the low spots and places where tape is in the way.

Hull finished!

Posted on January 4, 2020 by K. D. Cline

For some reason it pleases me to think that the beautiful patterns in the grain on the inside of the kayak will never be seen in person again, once the deck is glued to the hull. A reminder of the hidden beauty in many things!

Installation of internal foot brace studs, day two.

Posted on January 3, 2020 by K. D. Cline

Installation of internal foot brace studs, day one.

Posted on January 2, 2020 by K. D. Cline

Rather than eventually drilling holes through the hull to mount the foot brace rails, Pygmy offers optional foot brace studs that are epoxied and fiberglassed to the inside of the hull during hull construction (as seen here). Not only is this aesthetically pleasing, it saves work in the future when the hull needs to be re-varnished because if the foot brace rails were held on by screws that went through the hull, the screws would have to be removed prior to sanding/re-varnishing, etc.

The foot brace rail is covered in packing tape so that epoxy won’t stick to it, and then after carefully measuring the placement location of the studs, the rail is used to ensure that they fit the rail exactly.

Hull completely glassed.

Posted on January 1, 2020 by K. D. Cline

Fiberglass cloth on the inside of the hull ready for epoxy.

Posted on December 31, 2019 by K. D. Cline

Though the curtain again.

Posted on December 30, 2019 by K. D. Cline

Finishing the inside of the hull.

Posted on December 29, 2019 by K. D. Cline

Time to finish gluing the seams inside the hull and create the fillets in the bow and stern stems so that the fiberglass cloth will lay smoothly in the hull and not trap air. I will also reinforce the butt seams in the middle of the hull, and then do the saturation coat before fiberglassing the inside of the hull.

Three strips of fiberglass cloth, one 2″ wide, one 3″ wide, and one 4″ wide, laminated atop each other to reinforce the butt seam where the panels were glued to their full lengths. This will add great strength as it will be trapped between the fiberglass on the outside of the hull, then the wooden hull itself, and then the fiberglass on the inside of the hull. The wooden hull will be completely encapsulated in fiberglass.

Epoxy and wood flour fillet in the stern.

Reinforcement fiberglass completely wetted out. Edges will be feathered in before inside of hull is fiberglassed.

Slots for the thigh braces finished. Inside of the deck complete.

Posted on December 23, 2019 by K. D. Cline

Inside of the hull finished. You can also see one of the pieces for the cockpit coaming getting glass.

Building fiberglass slots for adjustable thigh braces.

Posted on December 22, 2019 by K. D. Cline

The last process on the inside of the deck is to build permanent fiberglass slots for the adjustable thigh braces. This is accomplished by using wooden forms covered in packing tape (so that the epoxy won’t stick to them) to create fillets and shape fiberglass tape into the necessary shape.