Cockpit Coaming on the Pygmy Borealis XL Kayak

Started off today by installing the hatch "lips" on both the bow and stern hatches. First I measured and cut the lips so that they would fit and then I epoxied them in place.

Then I worked on the cockpit coaming. The upper strips were epoxied on yesterday and looked great this morning. So my first task was to round-over the inside edge with my router. It went really well. Just go slow and take your time!

Here is what it looks like as you go...

I followed the router with some 100 grit sandpaper to even it all out and to remove a few burn marks.

Then I measured and cut the hip braces. I had already fiberglassed them last week so all I needed to do was cut them to size on the band saw and then fine tune the fit using my stationary sander. I'm installing my hip braces about 3/4" aft of where they say to install them because I'm so freakishly tall. Hopefully I'll fit okay. Remember that I also moved the foot peddles forward about an inch.

I tacked the hip braces in place with some epoxy and then later added some thickened epoxy with the leftovers from the next step.

Then I added a sealer coat of epoxy to the coaming. First it will fill the weave on the upper strips, and secondly it will seal the inside edge wood. I let it soak in while I added thickened epoxy to the hip braces, but then wiped off most of the epoxy that was on the bare wood. It was starting to sag and I would have had to have sanded it all off anyway. This way I can only lightly sand and will still have essentially the same amount of epoxy. I'm also going to add epoxy filler later and eventually paint it, so it will all be okay!

I will add more thickened epoxy as well as tape strips to the hip braces later. They are only tacked in for now.

The Pygmy Borealis XL kayak is getting really close to being finished!!

Aloha!

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