Today saw the final step in making the boat water tight. The outer seam. To start with, the “patches” applied yesterday were trimmed down and shaped to blend in with the existing curves of the deck and sides.
This involved mostly planing, hand sanding, some shaping with the rasp and finally a quick hit with the random orbit sander. I then ran down the deck and side scuffing up and smoothing out any bumps or drips in order to make a good surface for the seam fiberglass.
Instead of using the roll fiberglass on the outside I saw a well timed “tip” in the Kayak Building Facebook group suggesting the use of bias cut cloth instead since it doesn’t have the thick edge like the roll does. So I had just enough scrap pieces and about a 6′ length of the original roll left. I trimmed out some bias (diagonal) cut pieces from it and laid along the edge of kayak until I had enough. A few extras were cut for later bow and stern use.
Being bias cut they contour much more easily to bends. I helped them along by easing the sharp edge of the deck with a few passes with a sanding block to round it over slightly. This will help the fiberglass not have to turn so abruptly and also not be a sharp point hitting my shins or any other part of me if I have to do a wet entrance in the future.
The installation process is no different than any other fiberglass application I’ve done before. Place tape, dab on epoxy with a disposable brush to anchor it in place and then go back and saturate it. After a few minutes follow up with the squeegee to remove any excess. When done the seam all but disappears. Later. after it dries, the edge of the tape will be sanded and blended with the rest of the deck. Had I used the roll this edge would be much more pronounced and harder to sand out.
The other accomplishment today was to glass the other side of the bulkheads. Same process as last time.
To do list:
- Keel work (strip (or two) over front and back stems, filler pieces
- End pours
- Order seat & maybe skirt & maybe cover
- Install bulkheads
- Drill/fit carry handle/tie down holes
- Outside final fill coat(s)
- Outside final sanding(s)
- Install line guides
- Line guide fill and sanding
- Varnish, varnish, varnish