Sanding …

Posted by: denmanrandonneur | March 26, 2009

Sanding …

I really thought that I would be updating this a lot more than I currently am … it seems like when I get some free time I just want to get lost in playing guitar. Well, enough people have told me to update the site so here it is.

Last Thursday (March 19th), I took out the staples and the next day took the deck off the forms. It really felt like a milestone when I took the deck off, but that feeling of satisfaction soon faded when I realized how much sanding I had ahead of me. Basically I’ve been sanding ever since! The outside hull and deck went pretty good, but after each time I filled and sanded, I noticed more pin holes and had to refill those and sand again. Repeat etc. Since I haven’t done any fiberglassing before and have heard that even pinholes can cause air bubbles in the fiberglass, I’ve been pretty anal. The inside deck and hull have taken a lot of time to clean up. There was a lot of glue runout and drops that I had to chisel off before I could even begin to sand ~ a couple of full days. Since you can’t see the inside, I’m not as worried as I am with the outside, but there is still more work to be done before glassing.

Yesterday I went into town and order the fiberglassing materials and will pick them up next Thursday. Hopefully that means that I’ll start fiberglassing next weekend. In that time I have to finish the sanding and TOTALLY clean the shop. I’m actually looking forward to it as it’s become quite a mess and things need to be reorganized. There is a lot of sawdust everywhere so I have to get the airhose out, then vacuum everything before starting the fiberglassing. I’ll start tomorrow with the tools that I have been using regularly and give them a good cleaning and put them where they are supposed to go.

Today I was working on the stem bands at the bow and stern of the boat, but still have a bit more sanding and shaping to do tomorrow. I used the spokeshave to shave down the ends of the hull so that I had about 3/8″ flat surface. Last week I bought some Ash and Cherry wood and used 1/8″ strips of Ash laminated together for the stem bands ( I laminated 4 strips together then used the spokeshave, sander and sanding block to get them to where they are now. I think that the Ash contrasts nicely with the western red cedar and makes the kayak a little neater looking at the ends. On the next boat I think I’ll put down the stem bands first then work my way around them. You can do some amazing things with wood.

I also bought some mahogany and maple veneer last week and have been playing around with different ideas for “inlays/overlays”. I am thinking of putting a Canadian Maple Leaf near the front and a celtic know near the rear. I’ve read somewhere that I can just overlay them on the deck and secure them with contact cement, but I want to make sure that it won’t cause any issues (air bubbles) with the fiberglass.

To be totally honest, I’m a little worried about working with fiberglass. It’s probably because I have never worked with it before and I’ve seen a couple of boats that didn’t look too hot because of the fiberglass job. I’ve been doing a lot of research and the guys over at West Coast Paddler have been great at answering my questions. If you are even remotely interested in kayaking or kayak building, take a stroll over there and check it out. A great wealth of information from people who know what they are talking about.

Yesterday I stopped in Comox Valley Kayaks and each time I go in there I like it more. They have a lot of different kayak and canoe brands on hand for you to check out and drool over, but going inside is a real treat. It’s an old building that just oozes character. They carry a lot of nice equipment and found myself eyeing a Kokatat MsFit PFD and Werner Cyprus paddle that they had. If you are not careful, you could spend a lot of money in there and be set for a long time in regards to kayaking.

It’s getting late and I have another day of sanding and shop cleaning ahead of me, so it’s time to wrap this up. Below are some shots from the past couple of weeks. Wish I had more to offer, but sanding and scraping isn’t the best photography material…