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CLC Expedition Wherry Build has Begun!

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 better than the straight line joints that I'm used to. 

This is the first time that I've used MAS Epoxy too, so we'll have to see how it goes. Not sure of cure times yet on it, and my garage isn't that warm. 

Here are some pics from today. 

First, the manual. 

 

The manual, upon first glace, looks great. It's 142 pages with LOADS of pictures... so that's great. But then I started reading it. I read the entire manual in one night... not hard to do as it's mostly pictures. I was left with two impressions: 1) I can build this boat. It'll be pretty straightforward, and 2) IF I were building my first boat though, I'd be pretty lost and the manual neglects to mention some very basic things that if not done will result in a poor epoxy job and finish. 

For example, for wetting out fiberglass cloth, the manual simply says to roll epoxy over the cloth and to make it fairly thin so the cloth doesn't float. That's is one way to do it, but it doesn't mention anything about squeegeeing off the excess or about when epoxy reaches the "green stage" and is easiest to trim, etc...  The manual makes a lot of assumptions about the skill level of the builder.

As I read the entire manual, I often had that same thought repeat in me... I'm glad that I've built several other boats before or else I'd mess it up here, and here, and here, and on and on. I would be afraid to see what a boat would look like if made by a first-time builder with limited experience with epoxy or wood. 

One of my goals therefore with this blog will be to add those extra bits of info for those who only have the manual to go by. The manual is pretty basic and overly simplistic. It does not have enough information for first-time builders. 


The Build Begins!

I make a 16' table from two sawhorses, two 16' 2x6s, and a ripped sheet of 1/2" MDF. 3/4" would be better but I wasn't up for hefting that much weight out of my car.

In the picture below are some of the parts. They look very well cut-out and based on how well the first panels went together I think I can say that they do a nice job with their parts. 

The entire kit came in one box and was very well taped and packed. Took most of an hour just to unpack it, but that's good. Only one part came with damage and I think I can salvage it somehow. Not worth contacting CLC about it.

 

The first panels are epoxied:

I'm starting with the number 3 panels. I'm doing that so that I can store the completed panels in the order that I will need them to avoid having to move them too much. I'll be sewing the number 1 panels first, so will assemble them last so that they are on top of the stack of finish panels. 

The puzzle joints took a small bit of cleaning up with some sandpaper rolled up. It also took some time to assure myself that the pieces were aligned correctly, but the genius of the puzzle joint is that it can really only fit one way. If it looks funny, then it's probably not aligned correctly. TAKE YOUR TIME THOUGH A MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALIGNED THE PIECES PROPERLY. 

CLC did a great job packaging all the number 3 panel pieces in one taped bundle. The other two panels are separately bundled too. Very nice job!


I set up my MAS epoxy pumps and primed them. Then did my first proper mix and glued the number three panels by laying down plastic sheets under the joints. Then I wetted out the edges of the puzzle joints with epoxy using an acid brush. 

The joints took a little pressure to get them to come together but otherwise were easy to assemble. 

Now to let them cure overnight and we'll see how they turn out.

 And here's how it looks after sanding. 



More to come!


Aloha!





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