Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Epoxy Fillets and Fiberglass Tape - February 16, 2015

Today I started to glue the boat together. It will hold it's shape once these steps are completed. I put clear backing tape along the bottom or keel joint and that wide space by the bow so that the epoxy fillets would not squeeze through.

The idea behind the fillets is to make a smooth radius where the panels meet. You want this smooth radius because the fiberglass tape will not lay easily in or over a sharp angle. To get thin fillet use masking tape about half an inch on either side of the joint where the panels meet. I actually used the edge of the wires as my guide.

The boat is now ready for me to  apply the fillets and the fiberglass tape. First I cut the tape to the lengths I need. I do this by simply rolling it out over the masking tape and cut it to length with my scissors.

Stern with cut strips of fiberglass tape.

Bow section with cut strips of fiberglass tape.

Cockpit section with strips of fiberglass tape.

Whole boat view from bow.

Detail in the bow section where the strips of fiberglass tape meet.

Detail in the stern where the three strips of  fiberglass tape come together.

I then took all the strips out of the boat and draped them over the sides so I would know which one went in which location.

Yes that is snow you can see out of the window on the right.

Time to mix up some epoxy with wood flour to a peanut butter like consistency and apply the fillets. I use a plastic bag with a corner cut off like a pastry bag to extrude the thickened epoxy between the masking tape.

Below the thickened epoxy transferred from the mixing cup to the plastic bag. You can see on of my filleting tools in the picture it looks like a big tongue depressor.

Photos below of the fillets applied.

Bow section looking toward the bulk head

Bow section looking toward the bow

And with the tape remove...

Masking tape removed.

Masking tape removed.

Next the fiberglass tape is applied and the wood is sealed with unthickened epoxy.

Bow section with fiberglass tape applied over the fillets and the other wood sealed with a coat of unthickened epoxy.

Here is a close up of the bow section looking forward where all three pieces of fiberglass tape come together.

I did the stern section the next day and the center section the day after that using the same technique. All surfaces including the sheer clamps should be coated with two coats of epoxy to seal the wood.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Fitting Bulkheads and Faring the Hull - February 15, 2015

To get the kayak into the correct shape you need to spread it at the correct point to the beam that is indicated in your plan. The Chesapeake 17 has a beam of 24 inches and the widest point is 112 inches from the bow along the center line from the bow to the stern. I just ran my tape measure from bow to stern and at 112 inch I ran a stick across the boat perpendicular to the the tape measure and marked the sheer clamps on each side. Then I cut a piece of the stock I used to create the sheer clamps to a length that spread the boat to 24 inches wide. 

You can see the spreader stick behind the second level in the picture above. By the way the sticks and clamps are supporting the boat on the horses at this point.

The bulk heads also are placed at distance from the bow along the center line just like the spreader stick and I mark their location that same way I did the location of the spreader stick and while I was at it I also marked the positions of the deck beams.

I installed the fore and aft bulk heads with four wire stitches for each bulkhead, one on each side and two on the bottom. The side ones were about two inches below the sheer clamps. The bottom ones were both very close to the center line of the boat one on each side of the center line.

To get the hull shape correct you want the levels to all be level. If you don't have three levels you can just place long sticks across the boat and adjust the boat until they are all level. You level them by adjusting the boat position above the horses with the clamps. 

When you look from the bow or stern at the level of the sheer clamps the tops of the levels or sticks should all be parallel. Now eyeball the bow and the stern to be sure they are perpendicular to the levels or the sticks going across the hull. If not use your hands to twist them so they are straight up and down.

The hull should be fair now, without changing the shape twist all the wires tight. At the chine where the side and bottom panels come together they should meet with a "V" shape on the outside.  Later this will be filled with thickened epoxy and then sanded smooth with a nice radius to accommodate the fiberglass cloth.

Do everything you can to avoid gaps like this. I can tell you right now it will hardly be noticeable in the finished kayak but I'm going to have a thin brown line here between my panels. It will show because I going to finish the boat with varnish. If I were to paint the hull it would not be noticeable at all. 

Above, the hull as seen for the bow, is all wired up. On the interior you want to push the wires down right against the panels so they will get buried in the next step in the epoxy fillets.

 
The wires above have not been pushed against the panels yet. In the picture below they have, see the difference in the shadows cast by the wires.

The inside is now ready for epoxy fillets and fiber glass tape.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - The Hull and Deck Beam - February 9, 2015

I once heard the best way to make progress on a project is to do a little each day. Today I did a little. I took the clamps off the deck beam I made.

I still need to sand it but I'll do that before it gets installed in the kayak.

I also turned the hull over and clamped it to a couple of horses with boards about two feet long and about one inch wide, very similar to the stock that was used to create the sheer clamps. This is the first step in fairing the hull.

Those bulk heads are not installed yet, they are just loosely fitted in the boat. That was it for today. Starting to look like a boat now.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Stitching The Hull Together (continued) - February 7, 2015

Today the first thing I tried to do was correct the way the side and bottom panels met at the bow. I untwised the wires and put in a wooden dowel to use to align the panels at the bow.

This looks much better and more acceptable to me then what I started with.

Hull all wired up from the bow.

And from the stern.

There were some tricky spots to add the stitches in the stern because the space is very tight, these photos illustrate this.

Above is an inside view of the boat near the stern. The wire near the fiberglass butt joint was actually inserted in a hook or "U" shape  from the bottom panel and then I tried to coax the end into the hole in the side panel. Below is the view from the outside. I used my pliers to carefully pull the wire through some more.

The hull is all wired but before I move on to the next steps of fitting the bulk heads and fairing the hull I need to fabricate the deck beam.

The plan indicates one way to build the deck beam by laminating some strips together on a jig you make with a 15 inch radius. I might try this next time but I had experience with a kit in the past where I just glued two pieces together that where cut in the shape of the deck beam. I thought I would do it this way.

On some scrap 6 mm okoume I drew and cut out may arcs that had an inside arc with a 15 inch radius and outside arc of 16 inch radius. Here's a picture.

 

I used copper wires to get the 15 and 16 inch radius. Then I cut out all the pieces and dry fitted them together. Next I mixed up some epoxy with cell-o-fill to a mustard like consistency and glued the deck beam together.

There are 18 spring clamps holding that mess together. I could just get them open enough to fit around the "deck beam". The epoxy needs to cure for at least 24 hours so that was all for this day.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Stitching The Hull Together (continued) - February 6, 2015

Today I continued with wiring the hull together. I set the side panels on the table with the sheer claps down by the table. I placed a couple of boards across them to support the bottom panels which I unfolded and set on top like this.

I used my square to make a line on the side panels 3/8 of an inch in from the chine edge, this is the edge that is meeting the bottom panels. I then drilled and wired the bottom to the side panels doing five stitches on one side and then five on the other. I continued alternating like this until both sides were wired all the way to the stern.

Above the first five stitches have been put in place on both sides.

You want to avoid this. The bottom panels should not over hang the side panels like this at the bow. If you can get them to be closer it will save you a lot of sanding later and your boat will look nicer. 

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Stitching The Hull Together - February 5, 2015

Well the Patriots won the Superbowl and I'm anxious for all the panels and other pieces I have fabricated to turn into something that looks like a boat. So I started to stitch the hull together. This is the stitch part of stitch and glue construction.

Cooper wires are the stitches

Cutting the coil of copper wire in thirds yields wires of about the correct length. The coil of wire is about 4 to 4 1/2 inches in diameter.

First stitch the side panels at the bow and the stern. Oops, whats wrong with this picture.

Side panels wired incorrectly, the sheer clamps should be on the inside facing each other.

The sheer clamps need to be on the inside facing each other.  I'm glad I caught this mistake after only four stitches. But let me back up some here, you need to make holes all along the bottom panels about 3/8 inches from the edge and 4 inches apart. 

I used my square set to 3/8 of an inch and then ran it all around the bottom panels. Both panels are stacked one on top of another so when I drill I'll be making a hole in both bottom panels.

I then used the ruler on the square to make marks that were 4 inches apart. Again I went all around the bottom panels. Below is the stern all marked ready to be drilled.



Below is the bow drilled and wired. A 1/16 inch drill bit is all you need to create a hole that the 18-gauge copper wire will pass through.

This is the stern drilled and wired.

Below are the bottom panels wired together. Note the side of the panels you wire together is the almost straight side, also know as the keel edge.

The side panels are also pictured above wired together at the bow and stern. Yes, that is an insulated bait bucket used for ice fishing separating the panels. You want to separate the side panels with something, it makes it easier to get the ends together to wire when the panels are on an angle otherwise the sheer clamp which need to be on the inside get in the way here is a picture of the bow wired correctly.

That is where I wrapped up this day.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Cutting out the Cockpit Coaming and Bulkheads - January 31, 2015

I transferred the drawings from the plans to the 6 mm okoume the prior day. Today I cut out all the drawings with my Bosch jigsaw.

First the inside of the coming ring came off.

Then the coming and the single spacer that I transferred from the plans. I drew the rest of the spaces using the first one I cut out as a pattern.



Then I cut out the rest of the spacers and the bulk heads. Here is everything cut out and in most cases sanded right down to the lines I drew.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Cutting out the Cockpit Coaming and the Coaming spacers - January 30, 2015

If you buy a kayak kit all the pieces come cut out and ready to assemble but since I'm working form plans I need to cut out or in some cases build the pieces myself. Today I laid out the pattern of the cockpit coming rim and the spacers and cut them out.

Above the plan with the full size drawing is taped to a 6 mm sheet of okoume. I used push pins to transfer the drawing to the okoume and then with a very flexible piece of wood I connected the dots to complete the drawing on the okoume.

I did the same thing with the bulkheads, notice that in the plan the forward and aft bulk heads are drawn one on top of the other. In the image above I'm transferring the aft bulk head to the okoume. You can tell this because the green push pin is in the out side right corner of the picture and there are some clear push pins on the left side where the notch for the sheer clamp will be located.

Above is the cockpit coaming rim drawn on the okoume and one of the coaming spacers. The hole is where I will begin to cut out the inside of the cockpit coaming rim.Below are the blukheads drawn on the okoume.

I decided to draw the coaming spacer only once and then use the one I cut out as a pattern to draw the other five. Yes five, because it's 6 mm okoume the plan calls for six coaming spacers, three on a side.

After transferring all the drawings to the okoume it was late. So I took all the clamps off the side panels where I had glued on the sheer clamps two days prior. There were some spots that had epoxy on them.

A couple of stray spots of thickened epoxy above and  below.

I sanded these out even though they are on the inside. I want the boat to look as good as it possibly can when I'm finished and sanding these spots off now is the thing to do. The next time I build a boat I'll be more careful to avoid having to do this.

Above is one more stray spot of thickened epoxy. While sanding it off I also sanded the fiberglass tape I used to make my butt joint. Then I sanded the other put joints smooth too.