Category: Kayaking

Kayak Construction: Adding the side panels

Today was a long and hot day. It’s a good thing I’m not counting the hours, because I’m sure I’m taking more hours than what they say it should take. Plus it was hot and humid as hell today, and for much of the work I couldn’t use my stool and had to stand. Looking at the Pygmy Boats site, I’m about done 15 of the theoretical 70 hours (not including some of the optional extras I’ve bought). Today I added the side panel (Panel #2) on each side, and it’s looking a lot more boat-like. Because this is a hard-chined boat, the joint between panel 1 and panel 2 is the chine.
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Kayaking Red Creek

Vicki and I and my cow orker Rob and his wife Iris paddled tonight. We put in at the Genesee River Paddling Center, and paddled up the river, down the canal, and up Red Creek. Red Creek is a very narrow creek that goes through some people’s back yards, golf courses, and some surprisingly wild land. We saw a Great Blue Heron, some carp, and some beautiful wetlands flowers.

According to Google Maps Pedometer, we did 3.7 miles. It wasn’t fast, and it was kind of tiring to paddle so slowly, but it was good to paddle with Vicki.

Kayak Construction, beveling the shear line

I had to work this weekend, which means I didn’t get to spend much time working on my kit, nor did I manage to get out kayaking. Although the weather was mostly shit, so I probably wouldn’t have managed more than a quick dash if I could have gone. Worse, I missed an opportunity to meet up with a couple of people who’ve built a Pygmy Boats kit similar to mine.

The next tasks on my list were to bevel the cockpit reinforcements so that they won’t clash with each other when the pieces go together at an angle, and to bevel the shear line so that when the deck and the hull are put together, they join at the outer ply only. The instructions are a little vague but they suggest that you can do this using a wood rasp, sanding block or block plane. I happened to have a palm sander, and I like a bit of power when I’m going to be removing wood. By holding the sander at approximately a 45 degree angle, and sanding until I saw the glue line between the first and second ply move back to just the right amount behind the sheer line, then I knew I was just biting into the third ply.

I got half the sheer lines done (the side on panel 3) before my hands got so numb I couldn’t continue.