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 | Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the coaming tower construction, but it was fairly
straight forward so you didn't miss much.
I started by printing the cockpit form from Kayak Foundry, taped it on and cut it out. Left over scraps from the deck strips were then used to build a tower around the cockpit. Nothing but TiteBond II wood glue held it on at this point. The strips were allowed to run wild on the top and bottom and would be trimmed later. |
 | I glassed the outside of the tower with bias cut glass. The strips were about 3" x 4" so that the glass strips could
run down onto the deck. I followed the same steps as used on the deck and hull to fill in the glass weave.
After the glass was cured completely, I used a Japanese pull saw to trim the underside of the tower flush with the underside of the deck. The wood was then sanded smooth and the glassed the same way I did the outside of the tower. |
 | Next, I cut a whole bunch of 1/8" thick strips of the same darker poplar that I used to fill in the
football on the hull. These strips were steamed with an iron and a wet rag then bent into shape along the deckline
of the coaming tower which was protected with some masking tape. This would become the coaming lip. I wrapped the
strips around the tower a little more than 180 degrees so that I could trim a very precise fit when the time came.
The laminated strips were all glued into place one at a time using more TiteBond II. After about 6 strips, I let the glue dry
for a day and then sanded the bottom as though I were going to glass it. There's no way to get under the lip after
it's mounted.
After both sides were sanded, I trimmed them to fit and attached them with epoxy. Mental note: buy more clamps. |
 | With the coaming done, I moved onto the hatches. I used Ross Leidy's flush mount hatch and hatch lip construction method. First, you figure out the shape and location of your hatches. Next, draw a template on paper and attach it to the deck with some masking tape. Then cut it out...VERY accurately with a pull saw. Sand the edges of the deck and the hatches very lightly. Epoxy the edges to seal them. Build a set of hatch lips with layers of glass and epoxy. Trim the hatch lips and sand them. Finally, glue the lips in place with thickened epoxy. Check Ross' site for more details, but it really is a simple procedure. |
 | A different view of the hatches. No bulkheads have been built yet either. They're coming... |
 | I did a few things between this picture and the next that I don't have pics of. First, I glassed
the deck and the hull together with bias cut glass, both inside and out. Second, I cut a set of bulkheads out of 1/4"
plywood, trimmed them to fit, and glassed them into place. Then I mounted a set of adjustable foot rests to the
inside of the hull using a mounting kit that doesn't require you to drill holes in the hull.
After all of that was done, the boat was ready for its final finish. |
 | 5 coats of Zspar's Captain Varnish was applied with foam brushes with a 400 grit wet sanding between each one. No need to go finer that 400 because the varnish is really thick and fills in the sand paper scratches quite nicely. |
 | More varnish. Ooooooooh. Shiney! |
 | Time for some sea trials. IT FLOATS! YES! I didn't spend 4 months making a kayak shaped coffee table! |
 | The varnish is done and cured. I decided to a some deck bungees which have turned out to be very useful. |
 | More of the same from a different angle. |
 | Here you can see the seat and back band that I've added. The seat was a "second" because it was slightly discolored. It cost $24. Discolored? Who knows what the color was supposed to be anyway? Anyway, it was epoxied into place and the back band was attached to some blocks of poplar that were epoxied to the rear bulkhead and the sides of the hull. |
 | Apporximately 400 man hours after I printed out the forms, she's done. The wife is happy - she get's the garage back. I'm happy - I get to go paddle. |
