Kayak Construction Project, the kit arrives

The boxes arrived. Even the one that was supposedly stuck in Hodgkins. I suppressed the urge to rip them open and immediately start to glue things together.

The small but heavy box contained the instruction manual, the “Epoxy Book” from System Three, the fibreglass cloth, and some applicators and hardware.

The middle (but lightweight) box contained mostly optional stuff. In the picture, from front to back, you can see the cockpit cover, spray skirt, thigh brace kit, hatch kit, two disconcerting temporary frames (more about that later), and the rigging for the hatches, two half dowels for the hatches, and the hand toggles.

The long heavy box contained the hull pieces (26 of them), plus some other stuff. In the upper right corner in the picture you can see the 5 temporary frames. In the lower right corner, you can see the pieces for the cockpit coaming.

The temporary frames are there to be glued into the hull during construction and removed once you reach a point where the hull can hold its own shape. The reason I mentioned those two as being “disconcerting” is that the big long box contained 5 temporary frames, and the instruction manual’s checklist mentions 5 temporary frames. And I can’t find any other instructions that mention these two other temporary frames. They are a slightly different size and shape than the ones they are evidently designed to replace. Oh well, hopefully the company’s info email address will provide an answer.

Well, I’ve got some reading to get through tonight.

Update: The Pygmy Boats people got back to me pretty quick. The disconcerting temporary frames are actually bulkheads.