Well, who knew of all the changes that would happen since last fall when I put the project away for the winter. I’ve been lucky in one sense in that my day job is for an essential supplier so almost the whole time I’ve been working but we also had a close family member catch the virus and eventually succumb to it so we are (and have been) taking it very seriously too. I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy.
After taking care of some spring garden projects and almost done with a bedroom remodel I’m about ready to get back to the kayak. As it was left last fall, the hull was pretty much ready to have the fiberglass and epoxy applied. The deck was almost ready too, however when moving it on and off the forms it split down the middle on one of the seams. I glued it back up and will need to scrape, sand and check that joint before the outside of the deck can also be fiberglassed.
Given the virus situation, respirators are hard to come by. Originally I was going to do this in the garage with a respirator, however now I may be limited to just a mask in which case I will work on it in the driveway to promote better air flow and avoid inhaling the epoxy fumes.
If you’ve been a regular reader you know that I’ve setup the form on a set of saw horses and did all the work from there. Great when you don’t have to move it around, but no so good for going in and out of the garage each day. As a result I did a bit of research on mobile strongback type bases.
The two that I liked are at https://forums.woodnet.net/showthread.php?tid=5370722 and http://blackwaterriverguitars.com/Canoe%20001.html scroll down on both pages to find the images. After some thought I decided the latter was better suited for me. So, with some 2x4s, a few boards pulled off a pallet (from a garden project delivery) and a few more scrap 2×6 pieces I think I have something that will do the trick. Hopefully later this week I can lower the kayak onto here and see how it fits and moves.
