Varnishing

Here are my supplies ready to varnish. The Pettit Flagship ZSpar 2015 is very well rated and recommended. A good badger hair brush, tack cloth and a painting suit to elimate dust. (nice thought). Here is my varnish chamber in my very clean basement. Although my wife has been after me for years to clean the basement well it took needing to varnish the kayak to do it. After vacuming, dusting, vacuming the ceiling, mopping the floor, vacuming every area air flow will come from I still created plastic chamber over the kayak and along some of the walls to elimate dust. I sponged, wiped, tacked clothed and read up all I could on varnishing. Its clear to me now that its a challenging process. The varnishing itself only took about 15 minutes for the deck and 24 hours later another 15 for the hull but getting it on without drips or runs is the challenge.
Below is a paddle park that I decided I really wanted although I was reluctant to drill two holes in the side to hold the paddle-park bungie. I copied this design from John Caldeira who has a very helpful kayak building blog among other things. John has also been very helping in resonding to my many questions. Thanks John. I've sealed them on the inside and will make them very waterproof. I know I will want it once on the water. After all, I still have to drill holes anyway for the soft-padeyes that will hold the deck bungies.

The first coat of the varnish went very well overall. I thought I had gotten all the runs, drips, "holidays" (missed spots) but learned after it dried that I didn't . This leads to alot of 220 wet sanding that I hope to avoid in future coats. The key is to get the varnish on thin..... I've reread some techniques on Chesepeck Light Craft, They have many helpful boatbuilding techniques.

After the first coat I wet sanded the entire hull and deck with 220 grit wrapped over an x-fine sanding sponge which I also used sometimes. After wiping everything again and using the tack cloth I did the second coat. I did much better with only one medium run/drip spot but got much more dust this time. Go figue....This will sand out in the next sanding where I will wet sand with 320 grit. Here is the 2nd coat of the deck and cockpit. Tonight I will turn it over, prepare the hull and varnish it in the morning.

Ventalation: I have been venting the basement with two exhaust fans drawing from an open window and the 1st floor living space. This has kept virtually all funes out of the house very well. I do keep the one fan running for about 8 hours as the varnish sets, although I think most fumes are released in the first hour.

Preparing to Varnish

Here is the sanded kayak just about ready for varnish. I'm still installing the footpegs inside and making a small paddle park that I need to epoxy on one side. Now I have to finish cleaning the basement to get it as dust free as possible. Excited about getting it in the water next month.

Getting ready to varnish is not much fun. The entire kayak must be sanded with 80, 100 and then 120 grit paper to remove all the shine from the epoxy. I also wet sanded with 220 along the sheer seam to make sure its smooth and will not be seen. Its just a dusty, time consuming job but will yeild a great reward.... I hope. I used the orbital sander as well as hand sanding. Here you can see how dusty things are. This is then wiped down with a wet sponge over and over until its clean. I also sanded inside the cockpit where I will varnish as well.

Preparing the Bulkheads

A few months ago I prepared a 28" x 28" piece of cedar strip with glass on both sides and 2 coats of epoxy. This is what my plans called for but is actually bigger than needed as you can see.
I began with the station that was closest to where the bulkheads will be placed. The rear bulkhead will be right behind the cockpit recess. The forward bulkhead is about 56" from the rear of the cockpit. I actually put the kayak on the floor and sat it it to make sure there will be enough legroom. That was fun and motivated me to finish so I can paddle it. I began with the station that was closest to where the bulkheads will be placed. then I cut a first and later a second cardboard cutout. Once I was very close I tranced the cardboard on the cedar strip square and cut them out with a saber saw.

As you can see the rear bulkhead fits well but I still have some sanding to do. My goal is to have 1/8" to 1/16" cleareance around the entire bulkhead. Then I will tack it in place with hot glue and use 3M 5200 tan adhesive sealant to seal it in place. I'm using this rather than epoxy and fiberglass for 2 reasons. I'm running out of epoxy. But also this is a highly rated and recommended adhesive sealant and I think it will be easier to install from a caulking tube. The seal on the forwad bulkhead inside the cockpit is going to be especially hard to reach. I've order two tubes from West Marine and discovered that they will match any internet price that you can find. This will save $3.00 per tube based on the low price of Boat Bandit but come without shipping charges. Good deal. I just have to wait a week to get it.

Joining the deck & hull

These pictures ended up in reverse order. Before joining the hull and deck I used a 30" sanding board with 50 course paper to level the sheerline on the hull and deck. This was recommended by Joe in the plans and works really well. Then I sealed the edges of the hull & deck with 2 coats of epoxy just in case anything is ever exposed. They fit together much easier than I expected when my son Ben and I taped them together. It was great to step back and finally see what looked like a kayak nearing completion.Here are the tools of the trade for joining them together. Small brush, brush on the end of a 4 fts stick and flashlight. I soaked the roll of 2" glass tape in epoxy and started it in the middle of the coaming and rolled them to each end. It really worked well expect on the first one where I didn't measure exactly how much I had on each end and ended up with to much on one side and to little on the other. I was able to simply bury the extra in the ends and add an extra roll on the other side. Live and learn.

Here are the rolls of tape ready to put into a yogert cup of epoxy. Laying the kayak on it's side works very well and I didn't have a problem sticking my head into each hatch. Here is the kayak taped with the inside completed. Next steps are to strip off the tape, clean off any glue, sand or plane the edge, add filler to any cracks and repeat the process on the outside. Now I'm getting anxious to go paddling.

Hatches

As many before me have reflected, cutting two holes in a beautifully finished deck is somewhat of a daunting experience. The template from Redfish provided the exact dimensions of the cutout. I used masking tape to then go over the line and reline the masking tape. This prevents any splintering of the wood and keeps the cut clean. I used a 1/16" (or smaller) drill bit to make a few holes in order to get a cut started. If I could do this over again I would do it differently either with a Japanese bonsai saw or a Dremel - neither of which I have right now. However, once thru I used a fine tooth saber saw blade to widen the cut and then used saber saw with a fine tooth metal blade to make the cut.

I decided to follow the Redfish directions on the hatch stops and used cedar strips. This is a view from the bottom. It took about 90 1 1/2" strips on the rear hatch put down with thickened epoxy. It was a challenge to figure out how to clamp this down without it moving and I didn't do all that well. Ben advised me to used a sandbag, but, since I didn't have one I stuck with clamps and small strips. I found that once the epoxy was setting up was the best time to clamp it. These strips got cut from the other side to provide a 1/4" lip for the hatch to rest on. Then another set will be placed under these that will provide a resting strip for the neoprene weather stripping.

This is another view of the bottom of the hull with the hatch. The hatch has two sets of hooks that will connect to an under the deck bungie to provide tension from the bottom. These are made of mahogany and will be epoxyed. The little piece in the middle has a hole through it for the bungie and will provide a permanent hold to keep the hatch from falling overboard or in the sand on the beach. This type of hatch hold down keeps extra webbing and latches off of the deck.

Here is a view of the hatch in place from the top. It should be held down tight enough with the bungies from below and the neoprene weatherstripping to provide a good watertight seal. At least thats the plan. I will need to provide something to grab in order to open the hatch. Some use a little wooden ball on top, others a small piece of webbing. Not sure yet what I will do about that.

Completing the Coaming

The coaming has been a challenging and slow process. Here is a shot of the coaming lip epoxied on to the riser with the finished fillet underneath. The fillet is thicken epoxy mixed with sanding dust from the black walnut. This is actually the underside of the lip. Once this was hardened I needed to cut off what remained of the top of the riser and then sand the whole lip down to the correct width and shape.

Here is the lip sanded and ready for installation. Its installed by putting thickened epoxy on the edge of the cockpit recess and the riser and then using 3/4" block spacers to create the space between the deck and the bottom of the lip as seen below.

The finished lip installed with another fillet on the bottom. Now it gets well sanded again and glassed from the top of the lip, around the riser and down under. A double layer of glass on the rear 1/2 of the coaming will give it extra strength. The coaming has required me to practice extra patience but I am pleased how it is coming out. Will post the finished glassed coat soon. Can't wait to put on a spray skirt and try a roll....or at least a paddle

Creating the Coaming

The coaming is made of a piece of 3" black walnut that comes with the Redfish kit. The black walnut coaming will match the stems. Here it has already been cut to the taper of the cockpit recess. A line is scribed along the recess to prepare for the cutout.

I used a fine tootch metal saber saw blade to do the cutout. You cut it just on the inside of the line and then sand it to the point that the cockpit riser fits snugly into it.

Here is the riser in the cockpit recess read for the lip. The lip is made from about 12 wafer thin pieces of 1/2" black walnut. They are laminated together with thickened epoxy and clamped in place around the riser. The riser has been taped since this is just to give the lip its shape. It will get expoxed to the riser in a next step.

To quote my son Ben " you can never have enough clamps when building a boat".

Below is the front of the cockpit. The lip overlaps and will later by cut to a perfect miter

While working on this I have also been doing some other steps. Below is a cedar block thats installed in the bow and the stern to provide a place to later drill a hole for the rope handles

This piece of 28" x 28" piece of strips will be glassed on both sides and used to cut out the two bulkheads later.