Wetdown! After sanding with 80 grit by hand, with the fairing board and with the orbital sander I wet down the wood. This raises the grain for next sanding but also highlights any spots of glue that need attention. Although I thought I had them all there were still a bunch. More importantly this gives you a vision of what the final finish will look like. Vision is often defined as "a prefered future". I'm excited about what the future looks like. Next steps are sanding with 100 and 120 grit, a final wetdown, final sanding and I'm ready for fiberglass.
I used Elmers latex "Red Oak" wood filler. The color matched perfectly with the cedar and after final sanding you can barely see the staple holes. I found that rather than letting it dry and having to sand it off I would wipe it clean with a wet rag over the holes. This eliminates alot of sanding of dry filler. I'm very please how it worked. On the right you see the filled holes and on the left the wiped down holes. Once dry you can barely see them.
Here are the tools of the trade for this part of the work. Spokeshave, planes, 80, 100 & 120 grit sandpaper, sanding mask, random orbital sander & pads, and a Fairing board that I made. It is a pleasing although dusty personal experience shaping the final hull.
In the words of Ted Moores in KayakCraft. " When I sand a rough hull, I feel like a sculptor, liberating the boat I want out of a bunch of flat boards." This is about the closest I'll get to Michelangelo liberating David out of a piece of marble. I must say it has been a very satisifying experience as I see the kayak hull nearing its completed shape and imagine it slipping through the water under my steady strokes. Its my goal to race this kayak in the 2011 Mayor's Cup around Manhattan Island. This is a picture of the unsanded hull.
Yesterday my friend David Lyle and I kayaked the Hudson River from Liberty State Park in Jersey City just about to the George Washington Bridge. With the help of my friend Pastor (& Captain) Trevor Rubingh -a sailor - I learned about the Eldridge Tide & Pilot Book which helps you plot your course based on the tides of the Hudson. I learned that even after High Tide the tide keeps moving before it receeds. So we put in at Liberty State Park at 8:30 with High tide at 9:15. However the tide continued moving north up the Hudson until 12:00 noon, even though High Tide was 10:10 at the GW. Bridge. Interesting and very relevant. We made it to Edgewater for lunch, about 1 mile below the Bridge
Beautiful Park in Edgewater to stop for lunch. They even have a yearround green parrot population.
The Hudson has challenges of wind, tide and waves from boats but its an amazing place to paddle and we had a wonderful day. Overall we paddled 23 miles. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3726596. My goal is to train and prepare for and race the Redfish Spring Run in the 2011 NY Mayor's Cup which races around Manhatten Island. http://www.nymayorscup.com/.
