Kayak building.

This is a blog about my experiences with building kayaks. I am a first time kayak builder, though I have built a few boats before so I am familiar with some of the construction requirements. I am certainly no expert, just a long time learner. The intention is to build several kayaks as I think repetition is often a good teacher. So perhaps if you are engaged in a similar exercise then the posts here might be of some use to you, and if you are then good luck with your endeavour.

For the purpose of ease of reading I have changed the individual dates of the posts so that the run sequentially.

The Stitch and Glue Method of boat building

I now have the finished panels routed out. and they need assembly. To do this I must stitch them together.

I will try to describe here in detail the stitch and glue method for building small boats.  

The kayaks I am building are assembled from a series of laminated mahogony plankings and these must be tied together before gluing. This is done by drilling tiny holes along the rim of the planking that will be adjacent to its adjoining planking. 

When the planks are laid side by side a copper wire is pushed through and the ends are twisted together. The holes are drilled about 30 to 40 millimeters apart. Here's a few photos of this part of the process, which also shows a very messy workroom.

Here are the twin bottom plantings with the holes drilled out.

Here is what I am using, the copper core of recycled electrical cable.

This is about 2 millimetre diameter.

Each of the holes then has the copper inserted.

Then each of them gets tied. Its important at this stage not to make them two tight.

The planking will be opened like an envelope and if they are too tight the wires will snap.

Once the entire kayak is stitched, and the form is satisfactory the entire structure can be glued. 

So here's the kayak stitched together, the copper wire can. be removed later. I am also running a line from fore to aft to make sure the form of the boat is symetrical.

Removing the stitches

 At this stage I need to remove the stitches from the filleted seams. To do this I use a heat gun and a pliers. 

Clipping the copper just below the twist I apply the heat gun to the wire. This heats up the wire allowing it to become loose within the fillet. I then apply light pressure with the pliers and gently tug. In most cases the copper wire slides out without any problems.

Once the wire is removed I can then proceed with laying 10oz fiberglass tape on both sides of the fillet.

With the outside of the hull and the inside of the hull taped at the seams the hull is more structurally sound.

The Deck.

I think the deck of any boatbuilding project is a bit of a milestone.  Effectively once the deck is on this is the boat structurally complete. The deck panels were cut in segments, all four which must joined together. The forward deck assembly is made of three panels and once assembled rest on the forward bulkhead. This should allow the deck to rise as it approaches the coaming that surrounds the pilot. 

I am pleased enough with the result, there was a fair bit of repeated inserting and removing to get it right but eventually it came right. Now this boat actually looks like a kayak. Once the glue had settled and the deck is firm, I will then add a further epoxy fillet beneath it at the inner sheer, coated with more 10oz fiberglass tape. 

Careful use of a plane lets me create a nice radial at the sheerline. Its not just for cosmetic reasons though as fiberglass cloth is more suited to curves than angles and later I will have to coat this surface.

I sanded the hull smooth and made sure all chines were sanded to a radial finish. I needed to do this by hand as I needed to feel the surface. It took several days to prep the hull.