Deck seams taped on Pygmy Borealis XL

Today I removed the deck and added the fiberglass tape along all of the inside seams. Also built up the seams between the reinforcement panels as per the Pygmy manual.

This is the deck before any tape was added.

The deck is always a bit awkward to prop up and keep reasonably stable, but then today it occurred to me to simply use two foam car rack kayak carriers. I had a couple sitting around. They worked perfectly! This is the deck upside down on the two foam carriers. Why has it taken me four kayaks to think of this?!?!

Again, I'm a bit slow at times and completely forgot to take pics of the deck while it was still upside down. I'll add some later when I remove the deck again. However this is the deck taped back on the hull to dry. I waited about 2-3 hours for the epoxy to get pretty tacky and then taped the deck back on the hull to dry.

Tomorrow I'll remove the deck and sand smooth the seam tapes.

The aft cockpit deck recess plate went in super easy. I wrestled with it a bit on my last kayak but this time it pretty much just snapped into position. I think that the trick this time was that I beveled the hell out of aft underside. Much more than I did last time. This time I used my stationary sander and reeeeally beveled it. Probably way too much past 45 degrees but it fit beautifully and with all of the fiberglass backing that I'll be adding tomorrow it really doesn't matter if it's a little thin on the underside. I'm just so happy that it looks really great!

More tomorrow when I complete the underside of the deck and start to think about fiberglassing the inside of the hull.

I've only been working on this for a month now so I'm making really fast progress. Hope to have the build done by Halloween. Might not varnish it though until spring when it warms back up. Unless I can get it into my basement and varnish it there! Hmmm...

Aloha!

Comments

The Rogue Manual

I've posted about this earlier, but thought it might be good to post it again for anyone who may be interested. I've started to write a manual of tips and tricks for Pygmy solo kayak builders. It covers the taping method, so that your boat doesn't have hundreds of holes all over it. I'm on version 2 now. Version 2 covers several other tips and tricks from myself and from others as collected over time. ATTENTION : Use the manual at your own risk! The only person responsible for any mistakes or problems with the building of your boat is you. Always use the official Pygmy manual that came with your kit. Only do those tips and tricks that make sense to you. If something in the manual doesn't sound right to you, then don't do it! Neither I, nor Pygmy Boats, nor anyone else except YOU is responsible for the safety of your boat and the quality of your build. It's in very rough draft form right now, but if you'd like to read it, please send a $10 donat...

Annapolis Wherry Hull Painted

If you haven't yet, please read my previous post regarding amine blush and primers. After thoroughly washing the hull with water, and then priming, I was now ready for top coating. I used Interlux Toplac Plus in Matterhorn White. What a great paint! OMG... this stuff seems to have magical properties! I've never used a paint that does not sag or run, even on vertical hull sides. Of course, you have to roll on a light coat with a foam roller, but even with a thin coat like that, most paints would still have runs. This one doesn't! And you don't need to tip it either! Just roll it on and walk away. It gets better too... you don't have to sand after each coat! As long as you roll on a second coat after 16 hours but before 3 days, you don't have to sand. Nice! I did three coats in three days with no sanding between coats. There's a slight bit of orange peel, but most of the surface issues are due to my poor surface prep instead of orange peel. To be honest, ...

Waterlog Surfboard Build, Part 2

Since my last post I've made a lot of progress. I've completed the rails and the landing strips. Here is the chine log being epoxied in. By the way, I'm using epoxy for much of this. I ended up using Titebond III for most of the rails because they didn't have a lot of force on them and I could get them clamped down quickly (Titebond III sets quickly). But for anything that has any stress on it, I'm using WEST System epoxy that I have left over. The nose strips had to be steamed. Read the manual for how to do this. It works well enough. For the landing strips (the 'lands'), I'm doing the "alternative" method that is shown in one of Grain's tutorial videos . I'm running the outside one out the ends. It worked out well and I'd definitely recommend you do it instead of the convoluted approach they say in their manual. I would expect that at some point in the future that they make this the primary way to do it and change their m...

Search This Blog