Skip to main content

Back to Work on the Pygmy Borealis XL Kayak

Took a week off of building due to out of town guests. Had fun but now I get to have another kind of fun getting back to my Pygmy Borealis build.

I'm doing a few steps out of order from what is given in the manual.

After I glass the deck I then sand the entire boat. Then I do the coaming. This makes it easier to flatten out the deck under the upper coaming.




Tonight I trimmed the two lower coaming pieces and coated the inside and outside edges with epoxy. The edges are edge-grain wood and soak up a lot of epoxy. The manual suggests two coats but I am going to do one. Then I will mount the lower coamings onto the boat. At that point I can then run a nice fillet around the lower coaming and the deck. When that small fillet is dry I will sand it and then run a second coat of epoxy around the outside edges and onto the fillet. This will make a very nice feeling and looking edge when completed.

I won't add another coat of epoxy on the inside edge as I am going to be rounding over the inside edge with my router after the upper coaming is epoxied down.






Aloha!




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
11 comments
Read more

Pinguino End Pours and Other Jobs

I've spent the past day and today doing a number of jobs that just need to be done but aren't that noticeable. First, I added a saturation coat to the bare wood on the #4 panels above where I cut the fiberglass the other day. I also added a layer of epoxy over the area where heels may rest. Today I scraped the sides and heel area and added another coat of epoxy.Here's how it looks now. It's technically a third coat, but really only two as much of the first two have been either scraped or sanded. I may add a third layer once this is cured. I also worked on the end pours. The Pygmy manual says to do the end pours later on after the boat is complete. It says to take the boat outside and prop it up on a wall with the end in a bucket of ice water. Then you contort yourself and pour thickened epoxy down into the end and let it cure. Then you do the other end. THEN... you have to guess where you can drill holes through the ends for your painters (the lines that you t...
4 comments
Read more

Next Build: A Pinguino 145

Well here we go on another Pygmy solo kayak build. This time a Pinguino 145 . It's one of Pygmy's most popular boats. It's stable, light, capable of sea touring, and only 14.5'. Here's another nice article about the Pinguino . The picture below is from the Pygmy website   ( Pygmy Boats owns the copyright to this image and I make no claim to the image. It's here under fair use policy but will be happily removed if Pygmy requests it to be removed) . A friend of ours has wanted me to build one for her for some time and I finally think I can start to work on it. It should be a great boat for her. She's an active woman in her early 70's. The massive stability of the Pinguino, the larger cockpit, the relatively low weight, and being only 14.5' should work well for her. I'll blog about it here, but I'll also be adding some better pictures to the " Rogue Manual " on how to build one without wires. This boat will NOT have any w...
3 comments
Read more