Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Next kayak is now in progress. This lot will soon be transformed into an sk16.


I'm thinking of trying to keep this one bright with just a light glass and some clearcoat in an attempt to keep it as light as possible. I'm not sure how successful this will be as the plywood is a bit crap but we'll see. Normally I just use filler powders for my joints and fillets but as these will be visible I've made a special mix. 3 parts homemade wood flour, 2 parts silica and 1 part glass bubbles to lighten the colour a bit.


Splices are curing on the first side. Using fast hardener so should be able to flip them in a couple of hours.

congrats on the start of a new build, I look forward to seeing her in the water.

Build on!

ks8 wrote:Build on!

Well, if you insist...

Looking a bit boat like now.


I managed to get this one to hold together with tape. Just used cable ties to pull the hull onto the bulkheads.


I thought about just going ahead with the inside glass but just in case the tape doesn't hold long enough I've spot welded it fir now.


I've also got the coaming sections laminated up, they now need to be sanded down to the final shape.

Sorry, missed a few pics. The inside was filleted and glassed and then the outside joints were filled, left to cure then rounded over. Now the outside is glassed too.






Important lesson learnt - if you want a nice wood finish, buy nice wood! My ply is cheap crap and I was worried about sanding through the outer veneer. As a result I have some dirty marks from the filler. Also you need to make sure the gaps are perfectly aligned otherwise the line of filler goes a bit wavy.

I'll probably end up painting it but we'll see.

Looks like it will go through the water nicely.

That is a nice looking hull shape

The hull is looking very nice, but I still wonder if its right. I was very careful to label all the panels when I was marking and cutting out, but when I came to stitching everything I had my bow and stern markings the right way but the bottom panels seemed to be miles off with the bulkhead markings about 6 inches out from the side panels. So I turned the bottom round so that the bow was at the stern of the side panels and it seemed to fit perfectly.

I can only assume I marked them wrong, but maybe the plans are wrong? If anyone else builds one let me know.

After spreading a couple of coats of epoxy to fill the weave it doesn't like quite so bad so may still leave it clear.

I have to apologise here. The building I'm fine with, but this updating I'm just useless! I get too into the build and just forget to take pictures.

Since the last post I've cut, test fitted, glassed, flipped and glassed, glued and trimmed the deck. Cut out the cockpit and hatches. Glued on the coaming and hatch support frames. Made some nice carbon fiber paddle blades. Sanded everything and applied what should be the last bit of filler before primer and paint (as you can probably tell the clear finish is long gone now).