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.