Wacko Ways to Build a Boat

 Epoxying the inside of the CLC Expedition Wherry will take a much longer time than the outside did.  The inside is done in sections instead of the entire hull at one go. It's easier to do it in smaller sections like that, but is more tedious and time consuming.  CLC also wants you to run beads of thickened epoxy along all the hull seams and bulkhead seams. I am not sure why they want you to run seams along the hull panels, especially in the middle of the boat where the panels and much closer to flat to each other. That type of seam will have virtually no appreciable strength. I'm only running beads along both sides of the bulkheads, and along the panels at the bow and stern but only along the keel. Otherwise I'll leave it to the very strong holding power of the fiberglass cloth on both the inside and outside.    For fiberglassing the inside, CLC suggests that you cut a specific sized rectangle for each of the inside bays. There are different measurements for each ba

I'm doing a few things out of order according to how the CLC manual says to do them. The manual has you fiberglass the inside of the hull first, but I glassed the keel tape the other day, and now I've glassed the outside of the hull.  For the first-time builder, epoxying the outside of the hull is MUCH easier than the inside and you'll learn a ton about how epoxy handles and such. That will set you up much better for success epoxying the inside later. I don't know why CLC has you do the hardest bit first... weird.  CLC has gone with 6 oz. cloth for this boat. That is heavier than the 4 oz. cloth that goes on most Pygmy kayaks and should make for a very strong hull. It's heavy though.   The cloth lays nicely and you can easily make it conform to the hull shape around the bow by gently, with both hands, spreading and smoothing the cloth downward. Gently pulling on the excess around the bow helps too. You'll be surprised by how much it will conform.  Once fully con

The hull has now been sanded on the outside and is looking good to go. The thickened epoxy around the bow has been nicely shaped.    The CLC Expedition Wherry manual has you fiberglass the inside of the hull before the outside, and they have you add fiberglass tape to the outside keel after you fiberglass the outside. They have the tape on the outside layer.  I'm switching it all around and doing those things in reverse order. It just makes more sense to me. Here is what I'm doing: 1. I'm adding the keel tape first . The tape is intended to be an extra guard against rocks and dragging on the beach and such. The idea is that if it wears away that you can epoxy on another strip of tape in the future. I agree, but there is no reason that you must SEE the tape. Even the CLC manual has you sand the hull smooth, and so the tape would somewhat disappear anyway. However, putting the tape under the main fiberglass layer helps to hide it more. It also acts as a way to help hold the b

 Just a quick update... I was able to pull the wires from the CLC Expedition Wherry.  The wires that held the panels together came out easily. Just snip the inside bit and pull from the outside and they will come right out.  The wires on the transom, bow, and bulkheads though were harder to pull. The bulkhead wires eventually came out with some persuasion. I found that I had to snip both sides of the bulkhead wires and then pull out the two outside wires separately and then the inside bit that ran through the bulkhead. Wasn't too bad but took time.  I started with the transom though and wish now that I had learned a trick that I would figure on on the bow. I ended up leaving some wires in the transom. They will not be seen, but I now know that I could have easily gotten them out.  NEAT WIRE PULLING TRICK: IF you have a wire that is stuck in hardened epoxy, you can usually get it out by doing this. 1) Snip the wire on the outside close to the hull be leave an 1/8th of an inch or so

Big changes since my last post... the hull of the Expedition Wherry is now wired together and the epoxying has begun.    I'm doing things a bit differently from the manual, or at least I'm adding some things that the manual doesn't mention. So if you're following along and mine looks different than what the manual shows, you'll know why.  Since my last post I have scarfed the sheer clamps together and then epoxied them to the #3 panels at the sheer line. I think I used around 80 clamps!      The manual suggests that you overlap the transom ends and then later cut the sheer clamps short, but if you read further in the manual it mentions that you can do that now. I did it now and found that it worked better. I drew a line and used my pull saw to cut the ends.    Then I set up the frames that the hull would be sitting on while the stitching was going on. I snapped a chalk line down the center of my table. Then I drew lines perpendicularly down from the centers of the f

 The CLC Expedition Wherry is moving right along.  I've finished the three planks for each side (six total). I will have to say that the CLC puzzle joints are pretty great. They snug together well and do not need weighing down like the straight butt-joints that Pygmy used. And they seem to be very strong even without any fiberglass cloth or tape over the joints.  Yesterday I finished epoxying on the "doublers" and cleats on the bulkheads. Today I cleaned them up, and now they're all ready to go.  Here's bulkhead #1:   One last job now before assembling the hull: The sheer stringers. Today I epoxied the scarf joints for them and tomorrow I'll clean those up and then epoxy the stringers to the #3 panels at the sheer line. CLC has you do this before you assemble the boat. My guess is that the stress put on the straight epoxy joint at the sheer is less of an issue than trying to make a fair curve on the sheer after forming the boat. I think this way you'll get

I'm back, and I'm building the Chesapeake Light Craft Expedition Wherry !  I'm still sad that Pygmy Boats has gone away, but this boat from CLC isn't a kayak anyway. It's a beautiful rowing wherry with protected storage and enough stability (they say!) that I can use it in a kayakishy way.  Pictures from the CLC webite (copyright CLC):   The kit was delivered yesterday and today I have epoxied the first panels together.  CLC uses a great "puzzle" joint to align and strengthen the panels. For those of you new to stitch and glue kits, they are generally cut from 4' x 8' plywood panels, so the longest piece they can make is 8'. Therefore, to get panels to the full length of the boat, they make you butt joint pieces together. Pygmy did it with flat butt joints that required you to put fiberglass tape over each side of the joint. CLC does it better with the puzzle joints. They do not require any taping. Nice. Plus, they look sorta cool... at least