Wacko Ways to Build a Boat

My biggest deviation from the official Pygmy Manual is coming up next. I tape the panels together instead of "stitching" them with wire. It's a bit tricky, but so is stitching. In the end it's probably easier and you end up with a boat without hundreds of tiny holes all over it. The boat looks so much cleaner! Many builders over the years have used the taping method instead of stitch and glue. It's a tried and true method that really works well. Pygmy even does a variation of it during their build classes. However, the official manual still has you do the stitch and glue method, and as of yet there isn't really a manual on how to do the taping method. My thought is that I would do this blog and then copy the posts into the new Rogue Manual that I'm tinkering on. ------------------------------------------------------------ THE REST OF THIS ENTIRE POST IS AN ALTERNATIVE STEP FROM THE OFFICIAL PYGMY MANUAL: So here is my approach to how to tape a Pygm...

One of the first steps in the Pygmy Borealis manual is to " align and glue " the panels together. The boat is made up of 6 panels on each side, 12 panels total. Most of the panels are made up of three pieces of plywood cut out by their computer controlled cutting machine. To make the panels you must carefully line up the component pieces of each panel and glue them together using epoxy and fiberglass tape. The manual also suggests the you make one side of the boat and then the other side. Here are my changes to this step: A. ALTERNATIVE STEP FROM THE OFFICIAL PYGMY MANUAL: I only epoxy and fiberglass the INSIDE of each panel. The manual has you do both sides. The problem with that is that you almost never can make that fiberglass tape go completely invisible. When you build the hull you will line up all of the seams. This essentially creates a ring of fiberglass tape that goes around the entire hull at both the main seam and the stern seam. It becomes pretty obvious....

Yesterday I beveled the #5 and #4 panels on the inside edges where they will eventually meet. ALTERNATIVE STEP FROM THE OFFICIAL PYGMY MANUAL: The Pygmy manual suggests using a rasp or such to do this. That is probably good advice, however I used a router table. To do so you have to 1) have someone help you, 2) have a lot of room (roughly 34'), and 3) be damn careful. I got the router set up outside my garage near the end of my long work table. Then carefully adjusted a 45 degree bit with a roller on top to just the right level. To make sure I used some of the scrap 4mm boards that come with the kit. The top of the panels ended up barely meeting the roller. My wife helped me and she carefully held the panels such that there wasn't much stress put on the main middle seam (remember I'm only putting fiberglass on the inside of the panels and not the outside). Then we slowly ran each panel through the router table. It did a fine job in most places but there were a few ...

UPDATE: SOLD!!  My 2009 Pygmy Coho Hi ("High Volume") kayak has been completely refinished and is now FOR SALE ! I'm building a new Pygmy Borealis XL and only have room for one boat. Information at the bottom. Here's the link to the Craigslist ad . $2,695 or reasonable offer! Send an email if interested! (Email address is listed in my "profile"). Click the images for a larger view: This picture shows a Brunton 58 compass. It does not come with the boat. I am keeping it. You can easily find them online. Custom made Pygmy Coho Hi kayak built in 2009 and completely refinished in August 2015. This is one of the finest kayaks you can own! It weighs around 42 pounds, at least 10 pounds lighter than any fiberglass kayak, and it is as stiff as a Kevlar kayak. The reviews for the Coho are consistently glowing. It is amazing to paddle, handles very well, tracks like a laser, and can hold enough cargo for w...

I begun my build of the Pygmy Borealis XL with the construction of a temporary work table. It's plenty strong for my needs and is, most importantly, flat. It does NOT have to be super strong but does need to be as flat as you can make it. Make sure it’s flat (and not warped, cupped, wavy or twisted) along the entire table. It’s not a big deal if it’s not perfectly “level” along the entire run but for ease and for professionalism make it as level as you can. It’s much more important that it’s FLAT. This one is made from one sheet of 4’ x 8’ x ¾” MDF ripped into two sheets of 2’ x 8’ butted together to form a 16' long work surface. The panels are set on two 2” x6” x 16’ framing studs that have been selected for flatness along the edges. The table is 16’ long which is shorter than the kayak but is more than you need. If space is tight you could probably cut the table down to 14’ or even less. Pygmy even says that an 8’ board is enough. You can see in the picture below that I...