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...

Next big step has been accomplished... the Pygmy Pinguino 145 deck has been taped into place and epoxied together. NOTE : The deck has NOT been epoxied to the hull yet... that step will come later on. In this step, the panels #5 and #6 have been epoxied together but panels #4 & #5 have NOT been epoxied together . The entire deck can still be removed from the hull. You will be doing a number of additional steps on the underside of the deck and on the inside of the hull, so the deck must be able to be removed! ______________________________ Start by adding some tape over the edges of the hull at the ends. Put tape over the edges for about the first 8" or so at each end. NOTE : In the picture below you can see that the two stern ends of the #5 panels are neatly lined up. What you can't see is the huge amount of pressure that the strapping tape is exerting on the two panels to twist them into place. You will need to use the tape's holding power to keep the panels ...

I sanded the bare-wood hull today. For the most part I used my random orbital sander with 120 grit paper.... but fair warning.... it can take off a LOT of material VERY quickly. So unless you're fairly practiced with a random orbital sander, I would suggest you hand sand or use no more than 220 paper on the ROS until you get used to how it works! Here's how it looks now. Yes, the stern didn't match up as well as I had hoped. Deal with it. The large gap got filled and will be fine, but doesn't look that great. When I helped my friend build his last year, he had the same issue. Starting to wonder if it's a design thing and if they should add a few millimeters to that panel. Weird, huh?  Notice that you can still see plenty of epoxy smears. They will all disappear under the fiberglass in the near future. Don't try to sand them all off!  The ends were pretty easy to round over and clean up. Be VERY cautious when rounding over the ...

Today I removed all the pins and tape. Then I filled the remaining seams that had been covered by the tape with slightly thickened epoxy from a syringe. I let that sit for a couple hours and then came back again with very thickened epoxy and a Popsicle stick and smeared it into the seams that needed to be filled more. This was mostly on the seam between panels #3 and #4. The epoxy was thickened to about the "peanut butter" stage and could easily be smeared on and the excess scraped off with the stick. Here's a closeup of the #3 and #4 seam. Tomorrow it will be sanded flush. Another step at this stage is to use thickened epoxy to fill and shape the ends. The idea is that fiberglass cloth sits better on curved surfaces than on sharp angles. In addition, the seams at the ends look pretty bad and must be filled to look better. It adds a nice touch to the ends. The manual says to use wood flour, and that's what I've always done, but I wanted to experiment ...

Phew! I spent four days taping together the panels on the Pygmy Pinguino 145 and yesterday was finally able to get the panels epoxied. ( NOTE : By " spent four days " I really mean I tinkered on it for four evenings... probably took about 3-4 hours or so in total to tape the hull together. Compare that to how long it would take to "stitch and glue" with wires. It would take you three hours just to drill the holes, another hour to cut the wires, another 3-4 to get the panels lined up and stitched, and then afterwards another 3-4 to remove the wires! Add to that how much blood you'll lose poking yourself with the wires... the "taping method" is sooooo much better!! And your boat looks sooooo much better!) Whether you're doing the taping method or the stone-age "stitch and glue" wire sewing method, your hull won't look pretty at this point. You'll have epoxy smears, maybe a few drips and runs that you missed, etc... Not every sea...

The #4 panels were taped onto the temporary frames today, and I spent some time starting to get the panels all aligned. Remember... if you are following the Pygmy manual, you will not be doing this. Instead you will be building your kayak right-side-up and sewing it together with dozens of wires through dozens of holes that you drill through your panels. That is the old "stitch and glue" method. Instead, I am using strapping tape and Gorilla Tape to hold the panels onto the frames. Also remember that to build your boat this way that you need to have accurately cut "spacers" that you carefully mount onto your temporary frames. See my earlier posts. This hull will NOT have hundreds of holes! It's a muuuuuch cleaner look. It's also, in my opinion, much easier. I'm truly stumped as to why Pygmy hasn't switched over to this method years ago. ATTENTION : The taping method is NOT in the Pygmy manuals! IF you do the taping method you are on your own. ...

Big steps today... I finished the Pinguino panels by beveling the edges of panels #4 & #5 where the hull/deck joint meets. In the past I've used a router table to bevel the edges, but today I didn't have the energy to set it up so I used a new rasp I bought from Pygmy's East coast competitor Chesapeake Light Craft. It's called a "Shinto" and is made in Japan. It's made up of a number of saw blades and is pretty ingenious. You can find it on Amazon too. After that I put the panels aside and set up the temporary frames using the spacers I cut on the table saw last week. Remember that when you use the "taping method" instead of sewing the hull together with wires, that you build the boat upside down over the temporary frames. The official Pygmy manual that comes with your boat gives exact measurements for lines that you mark on the #1 panels (and #4 panels). You will need to also mark those same #1 lines on the table. Before marking...

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...