David’s Boat Building Workshop
Boat building projects
A hybrid-type kayak (two types of construction techniques) still use forms for the deck, they’re just set up a little differently. The Great Auk used a strong back with forms that shaped the complete boat. The Night Heron uses the hull to hold the forms. That’s why it was so critical to set the workspace…
Once the hull forms were fastened firmly to the work surface and the hull was trued up, it was time to re-enforce the plywood joints. Using the recommended technique, I mixed a couple of ounces of marine epoxy then added wood flour to the epoxy. Wood flour is finely ground sawdust that is used to…
The Night Heron is formed a little different than most other kayak builds. Instead of using forms on a strongback, the Heron is started with forms sitting flat. This is kind of hard to explain but here goes. This is an example of the use of a strongback. It’s how the Great Auk is formed….
When I first decided to upgrade my kayak I had no idea it would lead me through some wonderful yet challenging projects. I built the Night Heron in 2014, taking some photos along the way. But certainly no other documenting of the build. When I started the African Queen 18, “blogging” about the process as…
As a reminder, this blog was not supposed to be about our paddling antics; racing, travel and what-not. But…that wasn’t a rule, it was more like a guideline. That said, it was as though nothing bad had happened to the Great Auk. The boat still paddled straight (very important) and fast (not quite as important…
With the repair, I made the boat much stronger. After layering the 4oz cloth (4oz per sq. yrd.), I let the epoxy cure for a few hours then added another layer of 4oz. More cloth holds more epoxy so the trade off is weight. By adding two layers inside the cockpit, I estimate the complete…
I didn’t get many photos of this part of the repair.
To get a clear idea of what needed to be fixed I had to mostly strip the boat of it’s hardware. After removing the seat and back, I took out the foam bulkheads. One of the cracks had extended forward into the hatch area. The only way to repair it properly was to remove the…
So… in this clip the Queen successfully shoots the Amazon rapids. Bogey and Hepburn fall in love. If I had a clip from the Pewaukee River rapids it would view more like the end of this movie. ***Spoiler Alert*** It would have the AQ18 mortally wounded, swamped and floating just above the surface sans the…
I didn’t plan on doing any more posts about the boats. The stories has been told, embellished and generally classified as legends but alas there is apparently one more chapter to be chronicled. Our first paddling race/event of 2021 was in Pewaukee Wisconsin May 8th. An 8 1/2 mile paddle down the narrow and shallow…
After seven months, it’s complete. I think it turned out OK. Sure the design was ambitious and if you get too close you can see little mistakes. But overall it was a success. The boat is not tippy, very stable and slides into turns much easier than the Pungo poly boat. It is much narrower…
Although the boat was complete, there was still a small detail to deal with. It’s called an end pour. When the deck and the hull are epoxied together, fiberglass tape is used to re-enforce the seams. However, you can only get so close to the bow and the stern. There is a few inches that…
The boat needed two hatches fore and aft. This is one of the scariest points in construction. Cutting into a perfectly good boat. By the way, you may have noticed that some of the pictures seem out of sequence. The hatches construction pictures are an example. I built the hatches before the varnishing. It’s almost…
With the boat finish complete, it was time for rigging. It’s adding the final touches.
With the booth built I started varnishing. I started on the deck, taping the edge to keep any drips off the hull. I let the finish dry for 8 hours then flipped the boat to do the hull. I let that dry overnight, then wet-sanded with 320 grit. This took off the few drips, and…
With the all the epoxy done, it was varnish time. Epoxy/fiberglass finish is incredibly strong. However the one weak point of epoxy is sunlight. UV rays can break down the finish in a year or two, causing delamination and failure. Varnish prevents that, or at least slows it down. Varnish itself can be broken down…
Carefully doing the math, a coat of epoxy on the outside of the boat adds 12oz of weight. Knowing that I made sure that the two additional coats would be all I need for a smooth finish. Each coat was rolled on with foam roller then any drips or runs were smoothed out with a…
This next step, for me at least, is the most difficult step of building a kayak-attaching the deck to the hull. It requires working with sticky epoxy and uncooperative fiberglass. It requires patience and a steady hand, not the thing to do if you’re in a hurry and all coffee-ed up. The process is to…
Setting and attaching the cheek plates was a bit tricky. I needed to makes sure that both stayed perpendicular so each were even. It would be no good or fun to have one plate cockeyed and digging into said cheek.
I knew that building the coaming lip was rather involved based on the my previous build of the African Queen 18. I also knew it would be worth it when completed. Spoiler Alert: It turns out pretty nice. I ripped 1/8″ strips of ash and walnut (previously referenced sources of a wedding display and the…
I now have two almost complete sections of the boat. A clam-shell deck and hull if you will. This was the best time to locate some important points on the boat: center of balance and proper weight distribution. With my previous projects, setting the peg and seat locations was more or less guessing with lots…
You will notice at the end of the post, the cockpit will not be completed. Building this type of coaming has multiple steps that didn’t necessarily work out sequentially. So finishing this part of the boat will be in at least one other post.
I’ll use this post to move the project along. Wait, it’s white, or at least translucent. No it’s actually clear, it’s the light that is refracting through the fibers that cause it to turn white. In the photos of the embed coat, you can still see the texture of the weave. That’s because the light…
Sanded and ready, it was time to glass the hull. I used 4oz fiberglass cloth that came with the kit. 4oz means four ounces weight per square yard. I used about 15′ of cloth 50″ wide. That piece, before trimming, weighed how much? Anyone? Anyone? Fiberglass cloth comes in all kinds of weights and weaves….
Years of use leaves scratches, dings and dents. I wanted to at least get rid of some of the dings and deeper scratches so I tried a couple of ideas that I saw on YouTube. I’d already tried re-melting and fixing the the hole with heat, so I used the heat gun to soften the…
This was the patch that was previously done. I thought I’d try to improve it a bit. I looked online and many of the examples had smaller patches and used colored plastic “rod” to match the boat. This patch was originally done with a laundry bottle. I worked the patch a little with a heat…
If you haven’t read it yet, please read the back story about The Tandem. It will explain a lot. This is what it looked like after it thawed out. This one was rough. duct tape to re-enforce the holes of the knee bracing. The ropes had been retied several times. It was clear that these…
With everything ready to go it was time for the final test paddle. I installed the foam seat using velcro to allow for moving around to get the balance correct. This first test will tell me if I’ve got it right. Then I’ll study the video (second test) to make additional tweaks. Be sure to…
After nine months and roughly 475.00 the boat is complete. And I’m kind of proud of it warts and all. Early on it became very obvious that there were no reliable reference lines or points so I had to build it mostly by eye. The cockpit and coaming could have been wider, taller and a…
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
Even though the boat is under 14′, I thought I needed handles to carry it and to tie it down while it’s on the van. Similar to my Heron, I made two handles of 1 1/4″ dowel 4″ long. I drilled/routed out one side to allow room for knots. I sanded the edges and gave…
Once the hidden spacers were epoxied in, the next part of the hatch structure is the lip. This is where the weatherstripping seals the hole Using wider plywood strips, I cut and fit the strips to make a single-piece lip. Using fiberglass cloth for the joints actually worked out pretty well. Even cured,…
If there was ever a time to make sure you’ve got it right, it is now! There’s no do-over when cutting the hatches. It’s slicing a hole in a perfectly good boat. The cut out needs to fit right back where it came from so there’s very little room for fudging. Sanding and filling won’t…
Finally it’s starting to come together. I’ve finished painting the hull and the cockpit (well not quite done in the cockpit yet). It took two coats to cover. The varnish took a little longer. I used the time-tested wet-edge technique to apply the varnish: Pick a small area about 18″ wide in most cases one…
With the hull sanded and prepped, now was a good time to paint the hull (and the coaming). The weather outside called for warm and clear skies with little wind-perfect for painting. This marine polyurethane smells really strong so it had to happen outside with lots of fresh air. I taped off the waterline edge…
OK, not really. I knew this was coming. It’s time to sand the epoxy to get it ready for the varnish on the deck and the polyurethane on the hull and the coaming. The goal here is to smooth out the epoxy so that the finish has a good base for adhesion. The hull will…
Finally, the custom name plate arrived. It’s a perfect size to fit right behind the cockpit framed by the two accent designs on the rear deck I used the tried and true method of holding the plate in place while the epoxy cured. Next, for a touch of detail, I’ll…
Charlie Allnut: A man takes a drop too much once in a while, it’s only human nature. Rose Sayer: Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above. The African Queen
As a heavy user of tools, there are some items you simply can not have enough of like Phillips screwdrivers or 9/16″ wrenches. I’d like to add clamps to that list. But let me back up a bit. I needed to build a coaming to to frame the cockpit so I traced the opening and…
Finally, time to do some actual testing. I had some initial concerns about the shape of the hull and primary stability which proved valid. The broad v-shape hull with no chine makes for a very tippy boat with poor primary stability. I demonstrate that in the video by rocking the boat side to side and…
The glassing went very smooth, almost too smooth, I kept waiting for the other paddle to drop and it never did. It turned out just as it should except at the beginning. I’d purchased 4oz cloth for this deck. Measured the length twice to make sure I was ordering a long enough piece. What I…
Sanding and finishing is rewarding yet it can be so mundane and boring. It’s critical that you get it right because once the finish is on you have to live with your work. This boat took a lot of sanding. Actually it took some planing to get it to a point where I could sand…
With the inside of the separated deck now cured, the next and very critical step was to attach the desk to the hull. This was tricky for several reasons. First, the shear strip was not perpendicular to the first deck strip. The strip kind of twists and turns depending on where the old sheet deck…
With the deck now planked it was time to release and separate the deck, forms and hull. I removed all the copper wire but had to heat the hot glue joints a little with a heat gun but all the forms release. The picture on the right is the deck upside down in the cradle….
At last, the whiskey plank. The last piece in the deck. I managed to get a good fit without cutting myself with the plane. The deck in finished. Now comes the interesting part. I will need to remove the deck from the hull then finish the underside of the deck then epoxy it back in…
I thought adding a decorative inlay design to the desk would be a nice touch. I used some left over yellow and red cedar and built three, two for the stern, one for the bow. I wanted these to be a specific locations on the boat and since I was not sure how the arc…
The deck planking continues to be both fun and a challenge. At times its slow going almost tedious. It really covering the deck 3/4″ at a time. A good comparison might be mowing an acre-sized lawn with a small push mower. You’re making headway each row that you finish but after you complete the row…
The first few strips were quite difficult. Starting from the back, the laid flat and then slowly rotated to vertical along the cockpit but by the time the strips connected to bow, they were flat again twisting 90 degrees in less than 30″. The first strip I used gave out and snapped at about that…
The first form (notice the 1 in black) in place. In a previous post I showed the forms. But all were just setting in place. Now they need to be fastened solidly to the hull-not permanently but strong enough to hold during abuse yet be able to release from the hull when it’s time take…
Glassing the inside of the hull can be tricky. Sometimes nearly impossible without gaps, bubbles and dry areas. This one was especially difficult. I used 6oz cloth which is thicker (it’s what I had on the shelf) plus the surface was very uneven with large spaces where the wood had been removed. I had been…
The hull is sanded smooth inside and out. It’s repaired, patched and epoxied and glued. It’s ready for glassing. The object is to get the cloth smooth. That’s best done with the weave (bias) at an angle. The 4oz piece I used was not quite cut at that angle so getting it smooth was a…