Hatches Cut on Pygmy Borealis XL Kayak

I've mentioned many times that I'm doing some steps out of order. It just makes it easier and makes more sense if you can keep them all straight.

The Pygmy manual has you wait to cut the hatches until the entire boat is done. It also suggests that you wait to run tape along the inside hull/deck joint until you cut the hatches. However, if you do that then it's a real pain to get the tape cleanly behind the cockpit hip braces. The seat is in the way too.

So, here's a better order to do things:

1. While you are installing the coaming, you will have some time while the fiberglass cures on the upper coaming strips. This is a great time to go ahead and cut your hatches

2. Before you install the hip braces, run the hull/deck joint taping step. It's pretty easy to reach most of the joint if you have the hatches cut.

3. Now you can tinker away at installing both the upper coaming strips and the hatch spacers.

Easy!

Here's side two of the upper coaming strips and the hatch lips.

The next three pictures show the layout for the hatches, taking into account where I will also want the bungee cords to run. Look at the blue tape pieces starting right in front of the cockpit. That first piece is the furthest aft that the bungee cord will go, then will crisscross in an "X" 12" in front they will cross again, and then another 12". I spaced the hatch so that the middle strap will be yet another 12" in front. This will give a nice, coordinated look to the shock cording and the straps.

I did the same thing with the aft hatch. There will be one crisscross "X" of shock cord in front of the aft hatch. The "X" will be 12" fore and aft. Then 12" behind that will be the middle strap for the hatch.

Here you can see the hatch spacer strips being used to mark out the forward hatch. Run a pencil around the INSIDE of the spacer strips and mark the deck. Then carefully cut them out. I used a power jig saw.

Occasionally putting tape over the cut as you cut out the hatches can prevent them from falling through or tearing out too much wood as you get close to the end.

Later I put the boat on its side and did the hull/deck joint fillet and fiberglass taping step.

Tomorrow I'll scrape the tape and sand it down. Then will put a thin coat of epoxy over it to seal it. Then roll the boat over and do the other side.

It's getting there!

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 Spacered Inwales Installed

For the past week (yes, WEEK!) I have been working on the outwales and spacered inwales. The inwales and outwales are such an obvious part of the boat that you really want them to look as good as you can possibly make them. And doing that takes a lot of time and patience. The spacered inwale kit is an addition to the basic wherry kit. The kit includes the OUTwales, but does not come with INwales. We like the look of the spacered inwales and find that they have some function too for securing things to the hull. They look nautical. The spacered inwale kit comes with inwale rails, sticks you cut to make the spacers, a replacement breasthook for the bow, and replacement quarter knees for the transom. They leave it up to you for how long to cut the spacers and how far apart to space them. The manual that comes with the kit is extensive. I like the look of rounded spaces. No, it's not the normal look of spacers which are supposed to simulate the ribs on a wooden...

Pinguino Keel Fiberglassed

Here is another step that I do out-of-order from the official Pygmy manual. I lay the heavy fiberglass tape on the keel now, before I fiberglass the entire hull. The manual says to do it afterwards. However it looks much cleaner if you do it beforehand. Structurally there shouldn't be too much difference either way. In the future, if the keel ever needs to be re-taped, you just do what you would do otherwise... sand it a bit to rough it up and then lay down some more tape. No big deal. On the ends you will have better luck if you cut a few tucks in the edges of the tape. See below. Try to make the tape as straight as you can. By putting it underneath the main fiberglassing it will be much less noticeable, but you'll still probably see it. The excess was simply squeegeed onto the bare wood which is fine and pre-saturates those areas. There is a huge debate on whether you should pre-saturate the panels or if you should just wet out the fiberglass cloth and hav...

Wacko Ways to Build a Boat

Search This Blog