Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Preparation for End Pours continued - March 9, 2015

This is the bow dam filleted in place.  When it cures I can pour in epoxy thickened to a syrup like consistency. This will give me a place to drill a hole to install a rope loop caring handle when I finish the boat.

This is the stern dam glued in place.

Next time I'll actually do the end pour.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Preparation for End Pours - March 7, 2015

We have had quite a bit of Snow this year. Those swings that are completely covered by the snow are about 30 inches off the ground. All you can really see are the ropes holding the swings up. 

The end pour is a block of thickened epoxy that reinforces the bow and stern of the boat. The instruction manual says to make a dam of cardboard and then tape it in place and pour in the epoxy. Well I did that once and it made quite a mess in the boat and I wasted epoxy. So I do it like this now.

 I work with a piece of cardboard to get the shape I want for a dam and then cut my dams out of scrap okoume.

Here is the stern dam resting in place.

This is the bow dam resting in place.

Next time I'll glue them in place with epoxy fillets.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Fitting the Deck Beam and Beamlet - March 4, 2015

This is the port side reinforcement tape in the footbrace area with the edges sanded smooth.

This is the starboard side reinforcement tape with the edges sanded smooth.

To fit the deck beam and small deck beam (beamlet) near the bow I used this technique. I held a straight edge against the sheer clamp and made a mark on the deck beam and then cut the beam.

I set the cut edge against the sheer clamp and then marked the deck beam on the other side as in the photo below. Then with a lot of sanding, planing and sawing, not necessarily in that order I got the deck beam to fit without deflecting the sides at all.

The deck beam in place.

I did the same with the  beamlet. You can see both the deck beam and the beamlet just resting in place in this picture from the bow.

The beamlet will be epoxied in place and the deck beam will be epoxied and screwed in place.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Sanding the Interior of the Kayak and adding Fiberglass Tape to Reinforce the Footbrace Area of the Hull - March 1, 2015

As I said in a prior post the fiberglass tape usually cures with a rough edge that I like to sand smooth.

The edge of the cured tape looks white and is very rough and abrasive.

Here you can see the white edge of the cured fiberglass tape. I'll sand it flat and smooth.

Below the stern section with the fiberglass tape edges all sanded smooth.

The area where the footbraces go is supposed to be reinforced with a piece of fiberglass tape. This is a rough approximation of where the tape should go and also of the tape length.

I spread some unthickened epoxy on the desired area and then rolled out the fiberglass tape. The epoxy holds it up while I wet it all out and it turns clear.

The fiberglass tape has turned clear. See the not or blemish through the cloth? Remember I purposely but those marks on the inside so the outside would look the best under the varnish.

I did the same on the other side and when the epoxy and fiberglass cured I sanded the edges of the fiberglass tape smooth.

Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Fiberglass the cockpit section - February 21, 2015

The cockpit section of the kayak is supposed to have a full piece of fiberglass cloth in it all the way up to the under side of the sheer clamps from the forward bulkhead to the aft bulkhead. 

I should have taken a picture of this before I wet it out with the unthickened epoxy but I didn't. Here are two pictures one looking from bow to stern the other looking from the stern towards the bow.

looking from stern to bow.

looking from bow to stern

The instructions say to do this at the same time as the fillets and fiberglass tape but I don't like to do that. The edge of the fiberglass tape never lies flat or smooth so I like to let that cure and then sand it flat. After that I put in the large piece of fiberglass cloth. 

I cut a piece that was the distance between the bulk heads then I laid it in the boat and smoothed it all out. Then with a sharpie marker I marked the cloth and then cut it to size. 

If this is your first time working a large piece of cloth with epoxy I recommend you do from the keel or center up to the sheer clamp on one side and then do the same on the other side. Work with small batches of epoxy so it does not become unworkable. Let it cure for 24 hours.