Welcome to my Shearwater kayak building blog.

Fitting out.

2008-04-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, these will be the last of the 'land-based pics'.

Final fitting out is finished, compass and riser mounted, knee braces and seat glued in place, holes drilled in bow and stern for lifting toggles.

Done deal?

2008-04-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

Well here is the "finished" product, awaiting the rest of the deck rigging.

Upside down.

2008-04-13T10:19:00.001-07:00

Here is the first coat of varnish on the hull. Just more of the same, high shine and seeing every tiny blem. The blems will diminish as depth of the varnish builds up with the wetsanding inbetween.

I was real close to painting the bottom with high build primer and black paint, figuring the hull will take a beating. It is part of the challenge I suppose to try to get a good finish with brightwork, so I will save the paint for when the kayak needs to be refinished later on. Hopefully it will see that much use.

3rd coat of deck varnish, out in the light.

2008-04-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple shots of the boat out in the light after the 3rd coat of Interlux Schooner varnish on the deck.

They do look good in pics, all the little blems are hard to see in pics and probably only the owner sees it all, most people looking from a step back and taking it all in. But these boats are not intended to be a "shiny coffee table" anyway, are they? Thrown on top of the car and tossed into the water are what they are built for.

Anyway, put the varnish on as thin as possible and maintain a wet edge. The sponge brushes work very well. To speed things up a bit, you can use a fine 4" sponge roller but be careful, runs in the varnish are something you do not want. Patience, build up the coats slowly.

Originally, 3 coats was going to be it for the deck of this hull. But the 3rd coat was my worst coat, for little specs of dust settling on the finish and brush marks. This is how people wind up with 6 coats of varnish....just one more may be the last. Or maybe one more, etc.

Mirror!

2008-04-10T16:12:00.001-07:00

We can drive ourselves crazy with the final sanding, going around the boat over and over. There comes a point when we have to say good enough and slap on that first coat of varnish and see how everything turned out. Just the deck got the varnish today. I have to say it looks great, difficult to photograph, the mirror shine is really something after 3 months of work. So are the fumes. Be very careful with this stuff, wear a mask and ventilate.

4 more coats are needed, wet sanding with 400 grit paper inbetween? Maybe just 2, I do not see the need to put 5 to 6 coats of varnish on the hull. 3 is the minimum to offer UV protection for the epoxy.

The last of the epoxy?

2008-04-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I think so! Glue in the hatch rims, fore and aft. These type of hatches are a little more work but in the end I think they look better without all the straps on top holding them down. I will post pictures of them finished with the internal hardware at a later time. Stay tuned.

Break time.

2008-04-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

After all that sanding, someone needs a break and some fresh air.

The not so fun part?

2008-04-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

Epoxy is tough stuff! Around 25 hours work wearing a mask and using 100 sanding disc's, beginning with 80 grit over the entire boat, then 120 grit and finally 220 grit, then a good cleanup will lead to a smooth hull and a clean workshop, leaving only all the hand sanding remaining. A good place to finally be.

Drill, fill, drill....

2008-04-08T17:12:00.001-07:00

Here is another step not mentioned in the manuals that is important.....

Drill every hole needed for rigging, temporary rig, then take it all off, drill every hole 2 sizes larger, then fill with thickened epoxy (wood flour), then later on (much later on) drill out and install rigging to the original size. Why????? Because this way our final holes are drilled through epoxy (not wood), leaving our hull's integrity for keeping out water 100% guaranteed. The shortcut would be to drill and intall rigging with RTV, which eventually will leak somehow and the hull would then wick in water and create an unsightly stain that is not reversable. After all the work of building, one more step to ensure a proper job is no big deal. In the second pic, you can see 3 holes that were filled in darker with wood flour. These will become invisible under the rigging later on. Much later on.

Moving along...

2008-04-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

The last piece of glass, around the cockpit rim. Yep, after all that sanding, we get to build up more glass and epoxy so we can sand it again. The cockpit rim needs to be strong.

Also pictured is a side project, shaping the mohogany compass riser that will be installed later on.

Take the easy way out.

2008-03-20T05:40:00.000-07:00

After a day or so, when all those clamps come out of the cockpit, what is left, no matter how clean you tried to work, is a bunch of jagged edged, rock hard, cured silica/epoxy. The instruction manual will have you sanding, scraping this rock hard material to an eventually smooth finish. After five minutes of the scraping and not getting very far, I decided to look to the help of power tools.

I plugged in my new jigsaw with a new hi-tech type blade that won't easily bend or splinter the edges of the finished woodwork and cut a very thin line all the way around the inside of the cockpit, which left me with new, clean wood, a good place to be. Then some finish sanding and rounding over the cockpit rim. Remember to sand underneath the cockpit edge where there surely will be some rough edges from dripping epoxy/silica.

Got clamps?

2008-03-17T14:38:00.001-07:00

You are gonna need them. If you think you have enough, you probably need some more.

First picture is a quick shot of the recessed 'invisible' rear hatch. The kit comes with toggles to hold the hatches down but I opted to use blocks, hooks and bungie underneath, so no hardware is visible outside. I will post a pic of the set up for this when it is finished.

In the second picture, all those clamps are needed to bend the wood and keep pressure on the contact points between the deck, the two spacers and the cockpit rim. Actually, I could have used a few more clamps myself. The epoxy this time was thickened to a mustard consistency with silica as the thickening media. You do not want it runny at all and we always use silica instead of wood flour when clamping wood together in this fashion. Strong springloaded clamps are best in this application. You can use c-clamps as you see in the photo, just be careful not to overtighten them, which would result in starving the joints of epoxy by forcing it all out.

Cover it up, cap it off.

2008-03-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

By now, being old pro's at this, time to lay out the last large piece of glass, trim it up allowing a two inch overlap below the deck to hull joint, wet it out and glass the top of the two hatches.

Here the wood takes on its color, a great contrast between the Okoume and Sapele. Early in the build I was wondering how I would fit the razor type points of the sheer panels seamlessly between deck and hull but it did work out well.

Stay tuned, I will update the blog as I make more progress!

Topside preparation work.

2008-03-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

After finishing filling the weave of the hull, time to flip the boat over and prepare the deck for glass and reinforcing that hull to deck joint.

First thing is to clean up that deck/hull joint of bumps and drips and round that corner off smooth. A sureform scraper, about 5 dollars, will pay for itself in about 15 seconds on cleaning up that joint. Once the joint is all cleaned up, this is your last chance to go over the deck with 220 sandpaper before the deck gets sealed up.

Filling the weave.

2008-03-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

It took 2 more days to fully fill the weave on the bottom hull, a lot of real estate to cover, up to 3 pieces of cloth in some places.

I used very thin coats using a 4" sponge roller to fill the weave. These go on fast. No big deal, not in a hurry, something that can be done quick on weekdays after work. It is the first coat and wetting out the glass that needs a weekend day free for the job.

Glassing the hull.

2008-03-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Now time to glass the outside of the hull. 1 full wrap all the way up to the deck joint, plus another wrap overlapped the sides, plus an extra protection strip bow and stern. A lot to wet out but by now everyone is getting good at this stuff, making a neat job of it and working faster, accomplishing more.

Taking the time in the beginning to brush out all the wrinkles in preparation for a neat job really pays off here.

I did had to snip and tuck at the stern because it wouldn't brush out wrinkle free in this area, as problem free as it did at the bow. No big deal, one snip and the stern brushed out just as clean with no air pockets.

Just wet it out, do not try to fill the weave on the first shot. Use the plastic squeegy to squeeze out all excess.

Together at last!

2008-03-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

Now, finally?....The deck and hull mate together for the last time! Wire it up!

The part I cannot show you......the deck to hull interior joint. First weld. Then fillet, tape and wet it out. The most difficult part of the job, simply because you are working in tight quarters in the fore and aft compartments, neatness is difficult but fortunately these are areas unseen. I used a lot of epoxy in there. My area of excess. Also, because of the fact that I couldn't get near the ends of the boat, even using a stick, with any kind of accuracy, I tipped the boat upside down and tilted on an angle for a partial end pour to make sure the hull would not separate on me before externally glassing. First the bow, then the next day the stern. Yeah I used a lot of epoxy during this part of the operation.

The cockpit hull to deck joint was cake. Huge area to work in, make it pretty.

Then time to use some sand paper. Careful not to overdo it. When it comes to your sanding equipment, you simply cannot beat a random orbital sander and a wet/dry vacuum plugged into the outlet for minimizing dust. You still need to wear a monogoggle and mask because it is so close to your face but you won't trash your work area every time you power up the sander when you have the vacuum. Down the road when sanding the epoxy, best to do it outside.

Upside down.

2008-03-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

For the deck, upside down, fillets and glass, the whole thing, plus an extra 3 sheets of glass between the cockpit and rear hatch, where extra strength is needed.

Set adrift.

2008-03-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

Time for the bottom hull to be set adrift, put aside for a while to cure and wait for some more deck work to be done.

Cockpit fiberglass.

2008-03-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Needing extra strength in the cockpit, we are not going to just tape the joints. Take the time to brush out the fiberglass, either by hand or with a dry paint brush, so it is flat and smooth without wrinkles. In other words, get it the way you want it, if it has wrinkles dry, it will have wrinkles wet and once wet, sort of too late to do a nice, neat job.

It is a little more difficult to wet out the fiberglass working inside, just takes a little more patience, so by the time you make it to the outside, you will be good at it and it counts a lot more when you are working on the outside of the boat.

The glass will turn transparent when wet out without any air pockets. You won't fill the weave here on the first shot, so do not try. Use a plastic squeegy to spread the epoxy around, minimize pooling at the center of the hull.

The epoxy bonanza begins.

2008-03-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

This is where the job can get messy. This is where a beginner will use more epoxy than an experienced builder and if this is your first build, this is likely (maybe) the beginning to running out of epoxy before you finish the boat. So, be prepared to order some more epoxy resin and hardener should you run a little short. Do not feel you did something wrong if you need more.

Ok, bow and stern we are using fiberglass tape on interior joints. Cut the tape to length ahead of time, lay it in onto the still wet fillets and wet it out, trying to clean up any pooling at the center of the hull. The tape is thick, it will want a lot of epoxy. Make good use of any excess by wetting out the entire inside of the hull in that compartment to seal the wood.

I had to order more epoxy, even trying to work neat and minimize waste. It happens.

Inside out.

2008-03-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Now, from an epoxy standpoint, we will build a boat from the inside out.

We begin with taking the time for neatness, both because neatness looks good and neatness makes less waste and results in less weight. Neatness means we will be taping all of the inside seams in preparation for epoxy fillets. "Fillets" will always mean epoxy thickened with wood flour to the consistency of ketchup.

When filleting joints, I like the pastry bag technique, which is making enough fillet to fill maybe 2/3's a sandwich bag, twist it up, snip off 1/4" of one corner and use that to apply a fillet right down the tape line. It will take a few bags to work the entire hull. People use all kinds of things for spreading the fillets into the joints and scooping up the excess. What worked well for me here was a plastic spoon.

The pictures speak for themselves here. Neatness counts.

More hatch work. The other side.

2008-03-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so now the two halves of this Shearwater are welded, wires cut, the hatches cut out and the deck removed again. Now we will work on assembling the rest of the hatch parts underneath the deck, as these hatches are recessed. Recessed hatches are much more work but make for a nicer end product with less deck clutter, a cleaner, sleeker looking hull.

The hatch spacers require beveling to match the angle of the sheer panel for a snug fit. As you can see in one of the pics, I had a problem here with beveling a piece of wood no larger in size than a shoelace. Broken off, they can be glued back in place but I got a little frustrated here and just cut the rest of the sides off and did away with them, using a fillet later on to take on this shape and fill in, which saved me time and turned out just fine in the end.

Parts glued and clamped in this manner calls for silica as the media for thickening the epoxy, to a thicker mustard type consistency. Topsides of the glued sandwich of parts you will see pieces of wood wrapped in plastic. We use plastic on everything we do not want glued to the kayak. These pieces of wood clamped topsides are important, they take out the curve of the deck right at the hatches. We want the hatches flat, both for aesthetics and for a proper seal to keep water out.

Scary stuff? Cutting out hatches.

2008-03-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Before we disassemble the two boat halves, again, we have to cut out the hatches. Yep, just trace them out, check them a couple times and cut them out. The thought of screwing this up always has a high pucker factor for first time builders but the worry is all for nothing. Just check the pattern a couple times, use a new blade in the jigsaw, take care starting the cut with a small drill bit. There are small jigsaw bits available specifically for making cuts that involve turns, these are great. Also have some tape on hand to use as you go to keep the hatch from flapping around and breaking. Remember, the part we are cutting out is the hatch, so we do not want to damage it.

Another glimpse!

2008-03-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Now before all those welds cure, the boat needs to be reassembled so those joints dry into the place and shape we want. Once dry, we can cut and remove all that wire. You want to take care not to accidentally glue anything together that should not be at this time, so some blue painters tape will come in handy in case there is any dripping from the joints.

Welding?

2008-03-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

Not real welding of course but in principal I suppose that this next step is referred to as welding for the same reason.

Time to get out the epoxy and a 10ml syringe (or similar size). We are going to mix up some epoxy in very small batches for now and thicken it with wood flour to the consistency of ketchup. It may take some practice to get the recipe just right. Too thick and it won't flow into the syringe, too loose and it will flow right out of the joints of the boat.

What you want to do is 'weld' all the interior wood surfaces together without touching the wires that we want to remove later on. For now, the wire is holding everything together. When the epoxy cures, we will remove the wire. The epoxy will hold everything in place, although you have to be careful handling the boat to not break any of the fragile joints. Remember not to weld any of the temporary forms.

A short-lived glimpse.

2008-03-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

The next step will show you, briefly, what your boat may look like at a much later time. Assemble the deck to the hull with wire. Get a pair of 2 X 4's to sit across the top of the hull, around 1/3 from the front and rear and lay the deck on top. This will give you a gap between the two boat halves and enable you to start all the wires ahead of time.

This is an important step. Take your time tightening and loosening wires until to have the entire boat in the shape you want it, taking out all twists and misalignments, even if it means drilling a few more holes here and there to accomplish your mission of having a perfectly shaped hull. Some of the copper wires, from repeated use, will break. In places where I do a lot of adjusting or use a lot of tension, I have some tougher bailing type wire on hand, only slightly larger in diameter than the copper wire provided in the kit.

Got it? Great! Now cut all the wires between the deck and hull and take the deck off and put it aside, upside down, very carefully. Yes, the pieces will move a little but once you have it aligned (you did), it will go back later. You will see how shortly. You will assemble and disassemble the two halves more than once.

Wiring up the deck.

2008-03-14T09:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, put the hull aside for a while, it is time to work on the deck. Assemble with wire the full length deck pieces and the four forms. Again for the forms, these forms are temporary to hold shape and will not be glued in place.

If you look closely approximately 2 feet in front of the cockpit, you can see one of the puzzle joints on the sheerpanel. They sort of blend in to the boat more and more with each phase of completion.

Don't be intimidated about the awesome shape of the deck of this boat. It does look great but will take on shape seemingly on its own as you wire up tighter and tighter. It would be good to have a helper for the largest of the forms, this one will be tight making that bend but you can do it yourself with patience. Do not worry about a little bit of an air gap here and there, this is not a precise operation, each boat being a little different and unique.

Already time for the first fun part!

2008-03-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

Getting out the copper wire and wiring the bottom hull together. Starting with the two bottom pieces and keeping the tape sides to the inside, wire them togther, loosely from the front third of the hull to the aft third. Only tightly wire the bow and stern. When this is done, open the pieces up like a book and insert the two bulkheads and wire them up to hold the hull open. Then the hull sides, one at a time can be wired, also the fore and aft temporary forms can be wired in to hold shape. The two center bulkheads are permanent, the two end forms will NOT be glued, only temporarily wired. In a very short time, your task will look like this....a boat! That was fast!

Before assembly can begin...

2008-03-14T08:58:00.001-07:00

All of the hull panels need to be beveled on the Shearwater model. This will help mate them together much better than hard corners, especially at the hull ends where the bevel is more extreme with its greenland style upswept bow and stern. A small hand plane can and is recommended to do this job, a power sander made shorter work of it for me. The bevel may be a little difficult to see in the picture but look closely and you will see it.

First things first...

2008-03-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

First we will epoxy the hull panels full length to 16 feet.

The panels are puzzle jointed from a CNC machine. These will go together in the correct alignment, much easier than the unforgiving scarf joints of some other boats. Take the time to examine the pieces and choose the better looking grain side for the outside of the hull, this will place the better side down. Epoxy and the fiberglass tape will go on the inside of the joints. If you are short on work space, you can stack the pieces one atop another to save space. Just be sure to use plastic (I use cheap painters tarps) above and below each joint. You don't want to epoxy the boat parts to anything other than each other full length.

The epoxy will not stick to the plastic. If the parts are curling up and you cannot glue the joint flush on the first shot, even with a weight on top of it, better then to clamp the pieces and spot glue them together before using the epoxy and tape. If two pieces do not meet perfectly flush, the plywood is too thin to compensate by sanding very much, your error would likely show on the outside if you have to sand too much, so do take your time and do a nice job the first time around. This is a lesson I learned on one of my joints, as seen in the first picture. This excessive sanding on the exterior side in an attempt to compensate for a non-perfect seam will show in my final product down the road. What you see in the second picture is what you are striving for.

This is where it begins.

2008-03-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

A pile of lumber too short to be a boat. One day it will all float!