cockpit cutout

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Glen Smith
Posts: 3719
Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

cockpit cutout

Post by Glen Smith »

Thanks Denis, I think. :rolling eyes

The cockpit cutout is 31" X 16.5", deduct vertical strip thickness for final size.

When I have finished stripping the deck, I make a larger cutout than what I want for the cockpit if I want a recess all around. If you don't want the recess, skip this step. If you do make the recess you can also integrate knee braces and make a keyhole shaped cockpit opening.

Once the recess is stripped I cut out the hole for the cockpit and sand the edges smooth and vertical then I glue a thin pinstripe around the hole. This way the vertical strips will be glued with face grain against face grain, otherwise the hole edge will be end grain with less gluing power. I use bead & cove strips about 2" long for the riser. I also make two pieces that are bead & bead and about 3/8" to 1/2" wide. These are the first two pices installed, one at the front of the hole and one at the rear. After these pieces are in place, you will be able to strip in 4 places at once instead of just one or two places and wait for the glue to dry. This size required 120 strips.

So, I glue the first pieces (double bead, 1 at hole front other at hole rear) against the inner face of the hole with just a tad (about 1/16" to 1/8") protruding beneath the hole in the deck. I just use my wood glue for this and I use a small square or a block of wood taped to the deck to hold these two pieces while the glue dries. You can use a hot-air gun to speed up the process. Oh yes, I use lots of masking tape to hold the strips in place.

Once the glue has dreid on the first 2 pieces I glue more pieces by applying wood glue in the cove and a bit of glue on the face of the strip that will be against the edge of the hole. Then I apply masking tape to hold the strips together and a piece down the inner face of the strip and under the deck. I can do 2 strips at the front and 2 strips at the rear in one shot. I usually just continue adding strips until I have about 8 or 10 strips at each location so that means about 30 to 40 strips installed. Then I take a short break while the glue sets on those pieces. After the short break I just go on adding strips evenly all around. Anywhere along the way you can correct the vertical angle of the strips by planing down the bead of the next strip to go in. Plane it to the new angle required then plane a new bead on the strip. When you are almost finished gluing the strips in place you can prepare a few strips by planing off the bead. Adjust the width of these last strips so they fit together to plug the final openings on each side.

Allow the glue to harden overnight then sand the outer face of the riser and apply a fillet around the base then apply some bias-cut strips of fiberglass that extend at leat 1" down onto the deck. Warning! Do not attempt to sand the inner face until the outer face has been glassed. Now you can flip the deck over, cut down the protruding strip ends and round over the edge. Sand the inner face of the riser and apply bias-cut strips again with at least 1" going under the deck.

Now you are ready for the lip. I make the lip out of thin laminations of a hardwood of choice. You can throw in one thin pinstripe if you wish. The lip height is usually around 1/4" to 3/8" and the total width of the lip is usually 3/4". The bottom of the lip is located 3/4" above the deck. Steam the laminations if necessary and wrap them around the coaming riser using some 3/4" wood blocks on the deck as spacers. When dry, remove the laminations, apply epoxy and thickened epoxy between the pieces only. Reinstall the lip pieces around the riser and clamp overnight. There are a few different ways to join the ends together, your choice. Allow the epoxy to set overnight then remove the lip and clean it up. Also round over the outer edge. Rough up the glass around the riser, apply epoxy and thickened epoxy to inside face of lip and slip it back over the riser with plastic tape cover wood blocks as spacers. Clean up squeeze-out and allow to set overnight.

Cut excess strip protruding above the lip, round over the edge and apply 3 coats of epoxy, some builders glass this part but I have never done it and no regrets so far. This type of cockpit can be built before or after the deck has been glassed and can also be retrofitted into an existing kayak deck.

I hope this is clear enough.

So, you have found an "alternate source". Good for you!

Here is a drawing I found somewhere, not exactly to scale as you can see by the lip width.
Image
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Denis
Posts: 313
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 8:11 am
Location: Lakefield, Ontario

Post by Denis »

Thank you Glen, just the right amount of detail that I needed to plan it out.

Denis
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