Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Proudly gluing the sheer clamps on to the side panels - January 28, 2015

Yesterday I dug out from the blizzard of 2015, and watched "The Interview". Today I was back in Geiger's Boat Shop and glued the sheer clamps on to the side panels.

In preparation for this I put clear packing tape down the top edge of what will be the outside of the side panels and laid the panels one atop the other so the packing tape was on the inside.Then taking the measurement from the full size section of the plans I measured three and three quarters inches from the stern and made a mark that will indicate the end point for the sheer clamps at the stern end of the kayak. Then I measured in five inches from the bow and made another mark. This will be the end point at the bow end of the kayak for the sheer clamp.

I put the end of both sheer clamps at the stern mark and then made a mark on each sheer clamp where they crossed over the mark at the bow. I cut the sheer clamps at this point to get the required length. 

Using one of the pieces I cut from the end of the sheer clamp, it was about 15 inches long, I made a line three quarters of an inch in from the top of the side panel from the bow mark to the stern mark. This is where I want to glue the sheer claps and it will allow the one inch wide sheer clamp to stick up about one quarter of and inch over the top of the side panel.

I mixed up some epoxy with cell-o-fill to a mustard like consistency and spread it in the area between my line and the top of the side panels. My panels are back to back so I did this on one side and then flipped the panels over, still back to back, with the portion that already has epoxy on it hanging over the edge of the table so the panels don't get glued to the table by mistake. Then I applied epoxy on the other side.

The I carefully clamped the sheer clamps to the side panels making sure the sheer clamps lined up with the line I drew.  Using my gloved finger I wiped up and excess epoxy that oozed out from under the sheer clamps on to the side panels.

Note, I put little tabs of wood under each clamp to keep it from dimpling the wood. One spring clamp at each end of the table and the yellow tool box are all that is keeping the side panels from falling off the table. Here are two other pictures, one from the bow and one from the stern. In the picture from the stern you can see the packing tape sticking out. The tape keeps the panels from accidentally getting glued together.





I'll let the epoxy cure for 24 hours.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - tidying up the side and bottom panels - January 26, 2015

As I mentioned in my last post I am a little leery of the butt joints I have created building the side and bottom panels. To give them more strength, until I can assemble the hull and hold it all together with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin, I'm going to add thickened epoxy in the crack that is between the two pieces that form each panel.

I sanded the lettering off that indicated the wood was marine okoume, as it was stamped on. Then I used packing tape to mask both sides of the joint.

I thickened the epoxy with wood flower and cell-o-fill. The wood flour (very fine saw dust) is brown in color and when mixed into the clear epoxy, even with the white cell-o-fill, gives the mixture a nice brown color.

Before mixing (above).

After mixing, brown in color and with a mustard like consistency.

Then I applied the thickened epoxy to the butt joint on the side opposite the fiberglass tape.

On the left are the two bottom panels. The camera angle makes one look wider then the other but they are the same size.

On the right is one of the side panels. 

I attempted to spread the epoxy on thick enough so it would protrude slightly above the joint and once it cures I'll sand it flat.

I'll let it cure for 24 hours.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Sheer clamps and bottom panel sanding - January 25, 2015

Today I used my Rigid random orbital sander to sand smooth the scarf joints I created making the sheer clamps yesterday.  Then I  sanded the edges of the bottom panels down to the lines I drew to delineate their edges. Here are pictures taken from both the bow and stern of the kayak.

This is a close up of the bow, you can compare it with a post of few days ago where I showed it after just being cut out and see how I have sanded it down to the line.

I am rethinking the fiberglass tape on one side of the butt joints of the side and bottom panels I'm trying to do in building this kayak. This picture shows my dilemma.

These are the sides opposite where the fiberglass tape was applied. I'm going to fill the crack you can see with a mixture of wood flower, cell-o-fill and epoxy mixed to a mustard like consistency and use it to strengthen this bond. This side is going to be the outside of the hull and I think this will strengthen the joint enough so I can work with the panels without  the joint failing prior to getting the fiberglass cloth on the outside of the hull to really hold it all together. (This is probably a good argument for learning to create a good scarf joint with the blank okoume panels, time will tell.)

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Making the sheer clamps- January 24, 2015

This evening I used my table saw to rip the 10 foot pine board into four 1 inch strips, 10 feet long of course. Since the kayak is 17 feet long I need sheer clamps about that length. Here is the table saw with the fence measured and set to one inch from the saw blade.

Once the one inch strips were cut they need end to be joined with a scarf joint to get the desired length. It is recommended the scarf be 6 inches for a three quarter inch board. I marked the strips like this for cutting and used my pull saw to make the cut.

Then the pieces need to be epoxied together. To be sure enough epoxy stays in the joint when it is clamped together to form a strong bond you mix in this filler called cell-o-fill until the epoxy has a mustard like constancy. Below is the epoxy without any cell-o-fill (top picture) and with the cell-o-fill mixed in (bottom picture).

 

See how the epoxy is now white in color and in the picture above it is clear. I spread the epoxy on the joint...

and clamp the pieces together.

They should cure for 24 hours and then I'll cut them to the correct length. Then they will be ready to attach to the side panels. A couple of things to note. I have plastic under the scarf joints so they don't become glued to the work table and I scraped off the excess epoxy that squeezed out of the joint so I won't have to deal with it stuck to the outside of the joint after it cures.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Cutting out the bottom panels from the blanks - January 22, 2015

Last night I did not work in Geiger's Boat Shop, instead I caught up on posting the thing I have done so far. This evening I used my Bosch jig saw to cut out the bottom panels. They were clamped together when I cut them out so that they will be nearly identical and mirror images of each other. Here are the panels cut out laying on my work table.

  
View from the bow on the left and from the stern on the right.

This is a close up of the bow and you can see how I cut outside the line. I'll sand down to the line next time and the panels will almost be ready to use. I say almost because this is "stitch and glue" kayak building and I'll be drilling some holes in the edge of the panels for the stitches, which by the way are copper wires. After the bottom panels are sanded down to the line I'm going to start working on making the sheer clamps. I'm going to cut my sheer clams from the 10 foot white pine board I purchased for that purpose.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Drawing the shape for the bottom panels on the blanks - January 20, 2015

I used my long piece of flexible wood to draw the outline of the bottom panels, connecting the bow and stern sections I drew the previous night. On the left side of the picture you can see the "finished" side panels

This is the result. The blue line in the picture is the baseline made with a chalk line and is used to mark the stations and offsets. Next time I'll cut the panels out and sand down to the pencil line. 

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Marking stations and offsets for the bottom panels on the blanks - January 19, 2015

Just like the side panels I used the information on the plans to mark the stations one foot apart then marked the offset points for the bottom panels. Then I used the full size patterns on the plans to draw the bow and stern shapes.

If you look close you can see where I made a mistake on the bow. There is a second set of pin holes further inside the line I drew. I'm not worried about this because it will be on the inside of the boat and is so close to the edge it will be covered by a "fillet" and fiberglass tape. More about that later.

Above is the stern drawn on the blank. Note how I used multiple pin holes so I could easily draw curves that are part of the bottom panel shape. There were no curves like this present in the side panels.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Finishing the side panels - January 18, 2015

I used my random orbital sander with 80 grit sand paper to sand the side panels down to the line I drew. Some folks prefer to do this with a block plane, if you are comfortable with a block plane have at it.  These are the "finished" side panels, together and laid out as mirror images.

Next time I'll lay out the bottom panels.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Drawing the pattern and cutting out the side panels - January 17, 2015

I used a flexible piece of wood to form the curves of the panel edges and drew the shape of the side panel. You can see in the photo that I used some long skinny pins stuck into the panel at the offset points and held the flexible wood piece against the pins with some heavy tools like my portable drill and a couple of hammers while I drew the lines.

Then once it was all drawn (below from both bow and stern) I used my Bosch jig saw to cut out the side panels. I highly recommend the Bosch jig saw once you use one you will wonder why you ever used any other brand of jig saw. I always use hearing, eye and dust protection(particle mask) when sawing or sanding.

This is my BOSCH saw.

I cut the panels together so they will be identical for both sides of the boat and I cut wide of the line and then use my sander to get down to the line.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Laying out the bow and stern for the side panels - January 16, 2015

I have not posted anything in almost a week but I have still been active in Geiger's Boat Shop. When I last posted I had completed the panel blanks. Now I'm going to layout the patterns for the side and then the bottom panels and cut them out.

When you look at the pictures check out the blue chalk line I used to give myself a straight baseline to work from. On the plan there are a series of numbers at one foot intervals starting at the bow and working to the stern. These intervals are referred to as stations, the numbers associated with each station are the off sets. I use a square held on the chalk line and mark the appropriate spots on the blank panel. These points will be used to draw the shape of the panel. Once I had the stations with offsets marked I used the full size patters on the plan to outline and then draw the  shapes of the bow and stern

This is the bow pattern pinned on the plan. I used the pin holes as the points and connected the lines. Here is the pattern drawn on the blank.

Then I did the same thing with the stern. (If you don't know nautical terms, the bow is the front and the stern is the rear of the boat. If you are not talking about kayaks you can just remember the bow is the pointy end.)

Note how the pins are in the side panel and not the bottom panel.

Above the points are all connected in pencil.  You can see this is where the small piece was joined to the panel to give the proper length for this boat. That's all I did this evening.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - finish creating the panel blanks - January 14, 2015

Between last evening and this evening I finished creating the side and bottom panel blanks.

Last evening I separated these two panels with my utility knife because when I created the butt joints I only used one piece of fiberglass tape.

Once I trimmed the fiberglass tape between them I set the panels aside.

Then I marked on the single panel that is wider than the others the section that needs to be cut out and used to extend the panels that will be used to lay out the sides of the kayak.

The blanks that will be used to layout the side panels need to be longer then the bottom panels so they need a second butt joint at one end. The pieces of okoume that will make up this extension come out of the single panel with the larger width. This is indicated in the plans. 

Here I have almost completed the cuts to the panel that will yield the piece that when cut in half will be used to extend the panels for the sides of the kayak.

It's hard to see them in the picture but I marked the approximate location of the "offsets" for "stations" two and three of the bottom panel which will eventually be laid out on this panel blank and then cut out. The blue arrows point to the offsets which are just dots made with a pencil. The white board is just approximating the line that will connect the offsets. I wanted to be sure I was leaving enough room for the bottom panel when I removed the rectangular section for the side panel extensions. 

Here it is without the white board.

And here is the piece cut out. You can also see the line I'll use as a guide to cut this piece in half.

Then I made the last two butt joints needed to extend the side panels.

They are laid out like this because I want them to be mirror imagines of each other and both panels currently have what will be the inside of the boat facing up. These two small extension pieces where both very "clear", that is no knots or other marks. The one exception is the dark spot on the piece in the lower half of the picture. This is position this way because it will be on the inside of the boat. I am going to finish the boat "bright", which means with varnish and no paint. I have to think ahead of time which wood I want on the inside or outside.

This is the joints with the Fiberglass tape laid out on it. In the picture the piece of fiberglass tape at the top looks like it has been wetted out a little but that is just a trick of the light. Here it is truly wetted out with epoxy and all clear indicating it is thoroughly saturated.

And above it is all clamped down and ready for the epoxy to cure. Two hours spent in the shop between both nights.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - still creating the panel blanks - January 12, 2015

I epoxied two more butt joints tonight. This is a photo of the joints clamped under a piece of wood and a sheet of plastic. 

This evening when I mixed the epoxy I only used two pumps each of resin and hardener and that amount saturated the fiber glass tape for both of the joints. I also used a spreader instead of a chip brush to spread the epoxy.  A brush can only be used once but a spreader can be used multiple times so using one saves the cost using a new brush each evening.

As I said in a prior post the four long panels pictured above need another section about a foot or so long added to them to create the complete blank. These sections according to the plan will come out of the panel that is wider than the other three. I'll mark it very clearly before I cut them out and epoxy them to the panels.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - still creating the panel blanks - January 11, 2015

I haven't been in Geiger's Boat Shop for a couple of day. Today I had a chance to create another butt joint to make another long panel blank. 

Here is a picture on the okoume indicating it's quality as marine plywood. If you are going to build a boat from plans don't skimp on the wood. Quality okoume must meet standards that eliminate any void between the layers or plys that make up the sheet of plywood.

This is the butt joint I created today. You can see the butt joint I created prior to this in the back ground. I trimmed off the excess fiberglass tape from each side of the joint with a utility knife. The new joint is all clamped down so it drys flat. Tomorrow I'm going to make two butt joins at the same time.

I'll have the blanks almost created completely then but because this is a 17 foot boat I need to add a piece that is a little longer than a foot to the end of all four blanks to get the length that is needed. Hopefully by this coming Friday I'll be able to lay out the actual panel designs for the bottom and side panels.

Buy the way I have looked carefully at both sides of the panels. I'm creating them so the nicer looking side is opposite the side with the fiberglass tape. The fiberglass tape but joints will be on the inside of the kayak and the fiberglass cloth will cover the outside of the hull giving it all the integrity it needs.