Expedition Sport Kayak in Progress

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Jeff in Farmington, MI
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:19 pm
Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Expedition Sport Kayak in Progress

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

Hello everyone!
I really enjoy reading about other builders projects. So, now that the last strips are on my kayak hull, I am finally at a stage where I am ready to share my progress. This is an Expedition Sport design from One Ocean, about 16 foot 9 inches in length. The hull stern is pinched to form a very sharp skeg type keel. Stripping this area was quite a challenge! To the builder who first suggested using a heat gun to dry-bend strips: thank you, thank you, thank you!

In selecting the wood and designing the patterns for the hull and deck, my objective was sleek lines and highly contrasting colors. I was especially captured by the idea of building a white hull. I considered using northern white cedar, and even found a local supplier of northern white. But then I stumbled onto occasional boards at the big box stores which were extremely white in color. These were actually western red cedar boards, but cut from the white sapwood.

Unfortunately, usable red cedar sapwood boards are extremely rare ... and rarely just white. The boards are most often a mix of light and dark wood, and since the sapwood is near the outside of the log, these boards often include bark and other serious defects. Although highly prized during my search, the white sapwood boards are less than desireable for most other purposes, and it seems that the mills seldom let them out. However, after scouring nearly every Home Depot and Lowes store within 40 miles, I eventually collected enough to mill my strips. I am happy with the end result, but I would NOT recommend this route for anyone else wanting white strips!

At a more legitimate source of fine lumber, I found two very nice red cedar boards with tight straight grain and a VERY dark chocolate brown color. These will look great under varnish! The dark cedar will be used in a four inch wide band enveloping the shear line and wrapping around the ends of the decks, as well as for 1/4 inch dark pin stripes used throughout. The deck will use a mix of the white and dark cedar as well as some redwood.

For the outer stems, I wanted a hardwood that would blend in with the hull. For this I used aspen because it is bright white and clear grained. Aspen is relatively soft for a "hardwood"; it tends to fuzz when cut, and is rated poor for steam bending. In spite of all this, the 3/16 inch stem laminations steamed all right ... on the second try ... and the color matches the white cedar perfectly. I also layed aspen along the keel line between the dark pinstripes, so the aspen is continuous from bow to stern.

At this point, I've faired the hull with my block plane and sanding longboard. Fine sanding is still required, and when the weather warms a bit more here in Michigan, I'll glass the hull, flip it over, and strip the deck. I sure hope to have the kayak in the water by summer's end!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19215801@N ... 3239153820

Jeff
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Glen Smith
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Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Post by Glen Smith »

Jeff, you've got one beautiful kayak in the works. I am looking forward to seeing the colors pop out after the epoxy has been applied. You did a great job on the pinched keel.
Karl Huebner
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Location: Delaware Ohio

Post by Karl Huebner »

Nice boat Jeff.
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doe4rae
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Inspirational!

Post by doe4rae »

Just watched the slide show! What a gorgeous boat! I can't imagine being able to pull together that much sapwood from red cedar! Your shop is really set up nice. Everything is top notch. Really inspiring!
Dawne Olson

"The human soul needs actual beauty more than bread" ~DH Lawrence
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Jeff in Farmington, MI
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Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

Progress Update:
Three months later, I finally have the hull finish-sanded, fiberglassed, and turned right side up on the mold. I used West System 105/207 epoxy with one layer of 6 ounce cloth plus an added layer of 4 ounce cloth as a wear patch on the bottom. I really like the new 207 "Special Clear" hardener compared to the previous 207 "Special Coating" hardener which gave the resin an amber color.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping the cut cloth edge from unravelling when laying it up as a wear patch? This was the only unpleasant part of the glassing process, and it cost me quite a lot of time sanding out the irregularities afterward. Looking ahead to a third boat someday, I'd like to handle the glassing better next time.
I considered laying up the wear patch between a boundary of blue painters tape, then trimming away the glass from the tape after it had hardened. However, I was concerned about the adhesive possibly reacting with the uncured epoxy, and I also wanted to lay up the wear patch while I could get a chemical bond between the two. Next time, I believe I'll try this, but wait until the first layer is hard before applying the wear patch.

I have uploaded some recent photos to http://www.flickr.com/photos/19215801@N ... 3239153820
Time to start stripping the deck!

Jeff
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Glen Smith
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Post by Glen Smith »

Jeff, the colors pop out, just gorgeous!

Vaclav has a tip on using tape the way you propose. I tried it and it worked great: http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Wshophtm/Shop23a.htm
Tom in MN
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Location: Eagan, MN

Post by Tom in MN »

Jeff,

You are not along in the "football patch edges unravelling" category. The only time I did a football piece this happened to me and I see the results everytime I look at the canoe. I tried to go along and lift them out of the wet epoxy and trim them but there were too many to get all of them done. The next time, I am just going with two full layers and save the weight elsewhere on the canoe. The cost of the extra glass is minimal and the weight probably only an extra lb or two.

I like your idea of storing things over the car, full utilization of your half of the garage. I used to have lumber racks like the ones you have and parked my jonboat underneath. My car stayed outside, then again I did not have what appears to be a classic Mustang to store!
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Patricks Dad
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Post by Patricks Dad »

I've seen a trick somewhere involving taping the edge and then trimming after the epoxy sets but before it's really solid. It seemed like a pretty good idea. But couldn't you just lay the football on first (dry) and overlay the full layer of glass over that and then wet them both out at the same time?
Randy Pfeifer
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Jeff in Farmington, MI
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:19 pm
Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

When I built my canoe, I layed a 4 ounce patch over the bottom and bilge, and then layed a full 6 ounce layer of fiberglass over that. I wet out both at the same time. This did work, although it was a real struggle to keep up with the epoxy because the two cloth layers and the bare wood soaked up so much. I would consider this method again, but probably with a pre-coat of epoxy.

During my kayak build, I found that many sources warned not to cover a partial layer of glass with a full layer because there is a danger of sanding through the full layer of glass at the patch boundary because of the slight step in thickness. This would compromise the structural integrity of the boat. While I am certain that I did not sand through the full glass layer on my canoe, I decided to "do it the right way" on the kayak and put the wear patch layer on top.

On smaller glassing jobs, I have used painter's tape along a patch boundary, and it does work very well. I would use the tape method without hesitation next time.

Jeff
Cyril Gosse
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Post by Cyril Gosse »

For what it is worth, I have built three 16ft canoes following the David Hasen method of construction. This calls for a football shaped piece of cloth covered with a complete piece.I have been using 6oz. cloth and have not experienced any problems. Maybe because I had no idea what I was doing at the start, I followed the directions and all three canoes turned out great. There is no visual indication of the football edge and no ridge that you could pick out by feel .At the time I was not aware of any other method.
On the Rice Lake skiff I was forced to overlap two pieces of 60in cloth giving a double layer covering the bottom . The outside edge of the top piece can be seen , at least by me .
Cyril
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pawistik
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Post by pawistik »

Wow. That's a helluva job you have done so far.
Bryan
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pawistik
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Post by pawistik »

And to top it off, you matched the dark cedar stripes in the stems. Brilliant.
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John Brice
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Location: Oxford, Michian

Jeff's Kayak

Post by John Brice »

Great job! It looks like you have to work in rather confined space also. How did you continue the dark strips onto the stem - it looks really nice. Thanks also for the tip on a canoe cover - I recently received my "bag", from the Bag Lady, for my Bob's Special. She really does a nice job.

John
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Jeff in Farmington, MI
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:19 pm
Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

Thanks for the kind words, Bryan and John.

Garage Space
Yes, my buildspace is rather confined. I've been lucky that a kid's bicycle hasn't rammed into the hull yet, although I actually smacked her pretty good with a ladder once myself ... luckily just bruised the cedar a bit. I am still dreaming of a small barn to house both my boat-building and old Mustang interests. Someday!

Stem Construction
I like contrasting stem colors on canoes very much. However, a sea kayak has such a sleek look that I did not want to interrupt the lines at all. So, although I am building the kayak with inner and outer stems, the white Aspen stems match the color of the white WRC sapwood of the hull. Aspen is easy to work with, but does not steam bend well, so thin strips were required for the lamination. I had to cut out each stem in two places in order to splice in some of the dark cedar and continue the dark strips all the way out to the edge.

Stapleless Deck Construction
I have uploaded a few new photos as I've made a little progress now on the deck. I've started using a stapleless construction using straps. I will post a separate discussion on this.

John, Glad to hear you like your canoe cover.

Jeff
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Jeff in Farmington, MI
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:19 pm
Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

After a busy Fall season, I was finally able to finish stripping and fiberglassing my kayak deck and cockpit recess. It is amazing how much darker and richer the colors become! This design calls for the deck and hull to be joined without a shear clamp. I used a bead and cove along this joint, hoping this will aid in aligning the two. Blue painters tape was used to cover the shear joint and prevent the epoxy from prematurely gluing them together.
Image
IMG_0359 by jdely2007, on Flickr

Image
IMG_0350 by jdely2007, on Flickr

Image
IMG_0355 by jdely2007, on Flickr

Full photo set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/19215801@N ... 3239153820

Next step is to scrape, sand, and glass the inside of the deck and hull. Then, build the cockpit combing and deck hatches.
The makeshift insulation of the garage door was reasonably successful, and I really like having a warmer garage. I guess the family is going to have to get used to having the garage door sealed up for a while!

Happy New Year everyone!
Jeff
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