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| Laying out the panels and workspace |
During the long winter months of the last few years, I have spent my Tuesday mornings curling with some of the kindest and most amazing people with YEARS of curling knowledge and experience.
When the opportunity to build a kayak out of wood with my friend Dave came up, I was eager to say yes- I have always wanted to work with wood! In April of 2014, Dave and I began building Pygmy's Arctic Tern, a 14 foot long, stitch and glue kayak.
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| pinning down boards to epoxy butt seems with fiberglass tape |
Dave knows his tools and clamps together pieces to drill matching holes to stitch.
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| stitched with wire |
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| forming the hull with clamps |
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| Stern Hull stitched |
Starting to look like a boat!!
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| Hull and Chine panels stitched with wire and dowel rods |
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| Bow Hull and Chine stitched |
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| Stitched and ready for glue |
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| Epoxy and sawdust = wood glue! |
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| Rough wood glue seam... |
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| Sanded down seam! |
After Lots of sanding... and then some more sanding... and more touching up, the bottom of the kayak was ready for her first few coats of epoxy, and then- the sheet of fiberglass! Look at her shine!
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| Deck and sides drilled, wired, ready for gluing the seems |
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| Underside of deck reinforced |
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| More epoxy to add durability |
This little triangular piece which sits behind the cockpit was a curious piece! At this point the kayak was all stitched together, and the deck could be placed on the hull for visual measurements. However, before attaching the deck, the inside of the hull needed to be epoxied and glassed.
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| Extra fiberglass cloth hangs over the side. The inside is glassed and ready to go! |
Dave spent a long time thinking about how to attach the deck to the hull as an inseam needed to be glued in, but there is only the cockpit to see into the inside of the boat! With flashlights on our heads,, a paint brush taped to a long doll rod, and the boat turned upside down, I weaseled may way from end to end, gluing on what might have been the hottest day of the year!
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| creating our own foot brace pegs | | | | |
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| light bulb above Dave's head for his great idea! |
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| To make this kayak a bit more personalized, I cut out a tree (it is not a lightning bolt) from fiddleback veneer and we epoxied that to the deck. The plastic is to ensure the veneer stays nice and flat. It took several sessions of gluing and sanding! |
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