# back to boats



## frankp

Many years ago I built a stitch and glue kayak. Then I built a bunch of skin on frame kayaks and decided to rip the deck off my stitch and glue and make a strip deck for it and make some other mods as well. That kayak has been in pieces the better part of ten years now and I decided to get back to it. I also finished up another skin on frame for taking the kids out in until I get them their own boats made. Here's a couple of crappy pics from the cell phone...
First is the SOF pre-skin after waterproofing the frame next to the Hybrid.




The second is the hybrid on the bench after I finished stripping the cockpit area and sanding the rest of the deck.


 

Glassing the inside of the deck today, and will upload some more pics tonight if I can get to it.

FrankP

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## woodtickgreg

Frank that's so cool! That is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Keep the pics coming!

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## Nature Man

Congrats on getting back to a great project! Can't wait to see the progress! Chuck

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## frankp

Glassed the underside of the deck today. A couple of pics... Tomorrow will be a second "fill coat" of epoxy and then I'll start working on the deck rigging itself. Need to make a skeg to add to the underside of the hull, add in some bulkheads and then put the deck back on the hull. Hopefully I'll have it all finished in a couple of weeks in time for a kayak day trip with some coworkers.

Underdeck, from the stern.


 

Close up of the honu inlay.


 

For those interested, the light colored strips are white cedar. The "waves" are walnut. The honu are walnut on quilted maple.

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## ripjack13




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## Sprung

Very nice! I'll be watching with interest. I love boat building and have been wanting to build another for some time now.

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## Don Ratcliff

Did someone say "Honu"?

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## FLQuacker

Too cool...I've always wanted to do a skiff style wood boat for beatn around in the swamps.

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## frankp

Today's update: second coat of epoxy to fill the fiberglass weave. Had some "leakage" through a few of my less than ideal strip joints but I'll accept it and deal with it when I turn the deck over to glass the top.

Pardon the quality of this shot... apparently I wasn't still enough for my phone to focus properly in the low light.



 

And another close up of the honu, really starting to pop. Digging the look of the quilted maple, just hope it doesn't become too much of an issue when I try to flex this thing back onto the hull.

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## frankp

Updates from the last few days:

1) Added some through deck fittings to rig the deck lines once the kayak is complete. 
2) Installed the bulkheads and the rear deck brace to strengthen the area right behind the coaming, which gets a lot of pressure when entering and exiting the boat. 
3) Also cut the deck to shape. 

Pics to prove it...

Through deck fittings


 



 

Bulkheads



Deck cut flush to hull

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## frankp

Next step will be to glue the deck to the hull, followed by glassing the deck and I'll add a fixed skeg to the bottom, to replace my retractable skeg, which got removed in the retrofit. Put on the coaming and then she's water-worthy for a day trip on Friday. After that I'll cut hatches for storage and probably do some adjustment of the skeg size until I dial in to where I want it then I'll glass the skeg in place and then varnish the whole thing for an added layer of protection from UV. Still a bunch of steps left but very happy with the progress n0w that I've finally gotten back to it.

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## woodtickgreg

Digging this build!

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## frankp

Today's updates: 

1) Deck glued on using thickened epoxy. I use ropes and painter's tape to keep the deck on the hull (upside down) while the epoxy cures. 




 

After that I touch up the deck to remove any thickened epoxy that is in the wrong place and I round out the rails (joint where the deck meets the hull) to smooth out the transition. I sanded the honu inlay to 600 to try and bring out the grain of the quilted maple as much as possible. The rest is sanded to 220.



 

Then drape the glass and cut off most of the excess. The newspaper you can see hanging from the side is taped to the hull to create a clean line where the deck glass overlaps the hull and catch any drips from the epoxy so there's less to clean off the hull later.


 

2) Deck glass wet out and first fill coat.

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## frankp

Latest update: Fitting the cockpit coaming wasn't going the way I liked so I drafted up some new plans and cut entirely new pieces instead. 3 layers of 4mm ply for the riser and a single layer for the coaming lip. All glued up with thickened epoxy and using the deck to get the right shape for a perfect fit. I'm going to put a layer of carbon fiber over the whole thing at the same time I glue it to the boat. This picture shows the glue up process with a layer of plastic to prevent anything accidentally gluing to the deck during this process.

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## woodtickgreg

I'm enjoying watching this, thanks again for posting pics as you go.

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## frankp

Glad you folks are enjoying it. Posting keeps me motivated too...

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## DKMD

Such a cool process! Thanks for sharing.

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## gman2431

Very cool!

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## frankp

A couple of pics of the coaming. First couple are prior to sanding the riser smooth(ish). Once sanded, I scribed the line on the deck to mate with the coaming and started cutting away excess. At some point, the coaming fell off my bench and snapped the lip at the back center point. No big deal since I'm going to put a layer of carbon fiber over it anyway. Then glue the riser onto the deck. and the final cleanup and coaming fully installed. Next step is to finish sealing the bulkheads to the deck, second fill coat of epoxy on the deck (and probably a refresh coat on the hull as well), and carbon fiber the coaming. After that, I have to cut the hatches and build lips and tie down points for the hatches. Then install the skeg and she's finished. 

The cedar didn't turn out as "clean" as I wanted on the deck. Not sure why there's so much color variation, probably oils from my hands and glue/epoxy that didn't evenly fill or get cleaned off. Overall I'm happy with the fact that she's almost seaworthy again. 

I got out with my newest skin on frame today and was very happy with the performance. If I remember I'll get some pics up here of that one too.

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## frankp

Second fill coat of epoxy on the deck and the coaming with carbon fiber. These will cure for the next 12-24 hours and I'll flip her over and do the bulkheads and skeg.

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## woodtickgreg

Does the hull and top side get sanded and varnished after the final coat of resin?


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## barry richardson

Great thread Frank, looks like a very daunting project, great to see the process explained

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## frankp

A couple of post cure pictures... the carbon fiber on the coaming didn't come out quite as clean as I had hoped. The scraps you can see on the inside of the coaming are actually cut-offs resting inside the cockpit. As you can see, though, the edge is a little ragged in places where the carbon meets the deck. I'll need to clean that up or it will cut the hell out of me and my spray skirt. 

After that, I'll sand the whole deck and coaming to smooth it out then I'll put another layer of epoxy on the coaming. Then I flip it and do the skeg. That probably won't happen today but over the next couple of days. I'll do the deck hatches last. For those, I'm thinking of using rare earth magnets as the retention mechanism so I'll have to source some from the internet. It makes for a very clean look though, and a solid retention even in rough seas.

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## frankp

@woodtickgreg, yes. The normal process is to smooth out the epoxy after the fill coats are finished then varnish with spar varnish. Again, generally a couple of layers thinned slightly for smooth application.

@barry richardson it's actually not a particularly difficult process. For the strip built, the hardest part is getting tight joints at each seam, but the process is very tolerant of mistakes there. I'll try to take a picture from the inside of my boat and you can see quite a bit of light from seams that have small gaps. With the glass and epoxy, though, they don't present a problem. Overall, it's only as difficult as you want it to be. A stitch and glue like the hull and like the deck used to be (I'll see if I can find some old pics to show the before and after) it's probably only about 20-30 hours of work. It's very easy to do. If you like kayaks (they even make sit-on-top fishing kayaks) I highly recommend this. In the end you get a much lighter, stronger boat than if you buy a "tupperware" boat and the cost is pretty close to the same if you buy a kit and don't count your labor. If you buy plans it comes out significantly cheaper for a S&G, and probably close to the same if you do a strip built. And you have a beautiful custom boat that no one else will ever have. And it creates great opportunities to spread knowledge about woodworking and boats etc wherever you take it.

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## frankp

Okay, as promised. I found a picture of the original stitch and glue deck. I also found a bunch of pics of the stripping process for the new deck. First pic of the old kayak, and a shot from inside, showing the light coming through my through-deck rigging points and the "spaces" where my deck strips aren't quite so tight. Then the second coat of epoxy on the coaming and a couple pics of the skeg. I was originally going to leave the skeg as just bare mahogany but I had a bunch of cutoffs of the carbon fiber left and it will help with durability so I decided to put a layer of CF on the skeg. 

I'll upload the pics of stripping the deck later tonight. Lots happening today so I don't have a lot of extra time.

Original boat with S&G deck.


 

Any hack can do this... see all the gaps where my strip seams weren't tight? No problem at all when we hit the water.


 

Second coat of epoxy on coaming


 

Bare skeg balancing in final mount location. (See where the old skeg box was cut out and filled in leaving a small gap. The gap will be filled in when I mount the new skeg.)


 

Putting CF on the skeg

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## frankp

Skeg being fiber glassed into place on the hull. The skeg is epoxied on with thickened epoxy under the skeg and then a strip of 3" fiberglass tape along the length on each side of the skeg. The tape should help keep it well set while the epoxy cures. The plastic at the ends of the skeg is to try and keep the overlapping sections of fiberglass tight while everything cures.

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## frankp

And now some pics of the stripping process, for anyone who might be interested... The forms are just spacers added to the boat to provide the right deck radii. Typically a strip built boat is formed over a "strong back" with forms similar to those in the first picture. I chose to use the existing hull instead of trying to build a strong back. 

The strips are 3/8 inch thick, white cedar or walnut. The cedar are 3/4 or 1 inch wide and the walnut are about 3/8 or 1/2 inch. They're all cove and bead, which should make the joints tighter, in theory. 

The bow stripped up to the first walnut "wave".


 

The stern, laying out the "waves" to determine the shape I wanted


 

Making progress





 

Cockpit location...




Halfway there


 

Test fitting the honu inlay


 

Nearly complete deck


 

Initial cockpit cut-out


 

First few strips of recessed cockpit...


 

And that's back to where we started this thread, basically... any questions I'm happy to try and answer them.

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## frankp

I just had a short time to work on things today... sanded all the "drips" from the hull and feathered in the fiberglass around the skeg. For some reason the epoxy on the coaming got tacky again overnight so I'm letting that sit another 24 hours to see if it improves or stays tacky. If it stays tacky, I'll have to sand it all off and reapply the second coat of epoxy on the coaming.

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## justallan

What a great post Frank.
Awesome job of explaining things and some great pics.
Thank you.

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## frankp

No actual work done yesterday or today. The coaming was still tacky so I put the boat out in the sun to help cure. That reduced some of the tackiness but not entirely. I tried some incandescent lights "cooking" it but that didn't work, either, so it looks like I'm going to have to sand it down and re-apply. No clue what went wrong there. In the meantime, a picture of the latest SOF next to the stripped deck.

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## frankp

I was on travel for a week so didn't get much done. I did receive my neodymium magnets, which will be my hatch cover latching mechanism. 36 each of 1/8 inch by 5/8 inch (diameter) and 1/16 inch by 5/8 inch. That will allow about 12 each for the hatch covers with some extras in case I decide to do anything else like an inspection port or add a "knee box" storage area under the deck in the cockpit. I probably won't do that since I did a "lawn paddle" yesterday and it's a tight fit. Very comfortable once I'm in the boat but harder than I remember to get in and out. More updates soon... lots going on this week but I'm hoping to cut out my hatch rims and start recessing the magnets into them. Then I'll cut the actual hatches, epoxy the into the rims into the boat (and onto the hatches). After that it's gasketing to add a water-tight seal around the hatch rim and then spar varnish and rigging and she's complete. 

Another day paddle with coworkers in 2 weeks so I plan on that being her second christening...

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## frankp

Another quick update... the "tacky" epoxy on the coaming was just what we call amine blush. After a solid week and a couple days in the sunshine and 90+F temps, it has mostly gone away. I'll wash off the last of it, sand a couple of rough spots on the coaming and it's ready to finish with varnish once the hatches are ready. I forgot I still need to do some finishing up on the bulkheads as well. I'm also thinking I'm going to add in some neoprene pads at my feet, just for a little extra comfort. No work today but I'll hopefully get back to it tomorrow.

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## frankp

Latest episode: Only about 40 minutes or so to work on things today.

Cut the hatch rims (the part under the deck that the hatch lids rest on when they are installed. I haven't decided whether I'm going to put carbon fiber on them or not. 

A couple pics showing the hatch rims and one of the boat showing where the hatches will go.

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## woodtickgreg

Fwiw do them in carbon fiber so they match the cockpit ooening. I think it would look cool.

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## frankp

I agree @woodtickgreg and that's what I'm leaning towards. I didn't like the final results of the coaming, though, with some rough edges, so I need to consider how I will do these before I make it permanent.

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## frankp

I haven't died, I swear. I have been incredibly busy and haven't made as much progress as I'd like. Interviewing for a new job, fixing up a new house, summer plans, and life always seem to get in the way. In any case, I finally cut the hatches. The saw got away from me a bit on the aft hatch but I'm thinking I'll use that to my advantage and make that the "finger slot" for helping to lift the hatch. The magnets are pretty damn strong when all in place.

Hoping to get some work on these Friday to put the hatch rims in and do a couple of other tasks. With the hatches cut it will be easier to finish sealing up the bulkheads now too.

Foreward hatch


 

Aft hatch

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## woodtickgreg

Still diggin it!

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## Wildthings

woodtickgreg said:


> Still diggin it!


Same here. Putting a saw to that thing like you did would have me sweating bad!!


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## frankp

@Wildthings it's not that bad cutting into the deck, especially having built it twice now. Lots of folks are nervous about it but I always figure if I screw it up, I can rebuild it or turn the screwup into a "feature", which is generally what happens. Kind of like the "finger groove" mentioned in my last post. 

Didn't get much done on Friday but should have a little time this afternoon/evening to make up for it I hope. Pics to follow.

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## frankp

Another delay but I made a little more progress yesterday. Here are some pics of the roughed shapes of the hatch lid rims, the hatch lips, and drilling holes for the magnets. I made a change on the foreword hatch lip and made it a single piece due to the way I spaced the magnets. I also changed the number of magnets after doing some more research on how many I really need. 

First pic is hatch lip risers being clamped to the deck to try and set the shape of the risers a little bit.


 

Doing a dry fit check on the forward hatch cover and rim 


 

Drilling slots/holes for magnets on the forward hatch lip.


 

Direct transfer from the rim to the lip and still messed one up somehow (the one with the pencil lines is a screw up). Measure twice, cut once never works for me... I'll just fill this one with a plug since it will all be covered by carbon fiber anyway.


 

Hatch lid with rim laid over the hatch lip to verify I'll have enough surface area of the lip in contact with the risers and the deck.

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## CWS

Looking good!

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## frankp

A few more updates.

Glueing rim and magnets forward hatch cover


 

Dry fitting the carbon fiber on the hatch lip and riser.


 

Fiberglassing over the aft hatch rim and sealing the magnets for waterproofing.


 

Excess fiberglass trimmed from forward hatch cover.


 

Carbon Fiber on the aft hatch lip.


 

Dry fitting to the deck and riser while hatch lip epoxy cures... hopefully this will make install easier when it's time to glue everything to the deck.

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## frankp

Almost finished. Hatch lip is installed in the front hatch, half of the rear hatch lip is installed. I'm a little concerned the hatches will still need some mechanical feature to keep them on, the magnets aren't quite as strong as I'd hoped. If I had stayed with my 2.5 inch spacing I would be fine but I pushed it to 4 inch which really reduced the strength. I also ended up having a larger layer of wood/CF and fiberglass between the actual magnet mating surfaces, which is further reducing the strength. Trial run this Friday on the Potomac with some coworkers. After that it's putting some spar varnish on her and then deck fittings. 

I also removed the clear PVC skin from my SOF boat because it leaked a lot the last time I took it out and I couldn't modify it to properly seal the seams and prevent leaks. As such, I'm in the process of re-skinning with a nylon skin sewn on. Bonus, it removes probably 8-10 pounds of weight from the boat and it looks really nice too.

Pics up later today.

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## frankp

Okay. Pics as promised.

First is the front hatch lip before trimming the carbon fiber.



And trimming it down on the scroll saw




Rear hatch lip, in two parts. One already with carbon fiber layed up, the other dry fit



Glueing in the front hatch lip



Rear hatch (starboard side) lip being glued in



Front hatch fitted into place. Unfortunately, my magnets don't keep it as secure as I want so I added some of the under deck fittings (not visible in this picture) to add some bungies over the top to help secure it. Bonus, the underdeck fittings will also give me a solid tie point to add a lanyard to the hatch cover.




One more fill coat of epoxy, just to make sure she's 100% ready. The first build she got wet in a couple places and I'd like to prevent that this time around... plus I did some sanding in spots and wanted to clean those spots up a bit. I probably added about 6 ounces total of epoxy for the full boat so it's not affecting too much other than making her waterproofing better.




Tomorrow I'll fit the rear hatch and see if I need to add some bungies there as well. Should be less of an issue since the aft deck is significantly flatter than the foreward deck.

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## frankp

And since I mentioned it before, a couple pics of the process of re-skinning the Skin On Frame. 

Draping the new skin. Boat is upside down in this pic and the skin will be sewn on the top.


 
Foredeck partially sewn


 
A quick test of the waterproofing already in the material. I'm satisfied enough for a test run before adding some varnish.

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## woodtickgreg

Interesting stuff for sure! I dig the look of the carbon fiber!

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## frankp

Rear hatch fit but was also a little looser than I wanted so more under deck fillings to add some mechanical hold downs as well. Other than that, very happy with the boat. Test run tomorrow and then final varnish and deck fittings. Pics from the water tomorrow...

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## frankp

Ladies and gentlemen, tragedy has struck! Well, not tragedy so much as frustrating set back...

Got both boats set to go out for a paddle with some folks from work. All looked good. About 2/3 of the way to the water, my bowline snapped in half. Boats ripped the roof rack off the car at ~60 mph. Nothing I can't fix but we didn't even get them into the water. Rough morning. So, public service message: Make sure you use a bowline on any boat you carry on the roof of a car. And make sure the bowline is in good repair. I had left mine attached to the car and tied up in the grill all summer and that was a big mistake. Not taking the time to double check condition of the bowline this morning was my second big mistake. 

And pics as a warning...

Both boats still attached to the roof rack after pulling them out of the road. Looking from bow to stern. The white nylon line in the center of the boats at the bow is what snapped.




A little scrape on the keel at stern, about 18 inches behind the skeg.


 

The brand new skeg... the yellowish section is where the fiberglass delaminated from the wood. Looks like the hull is actually intact underneath, though. I may be able to just repair the skeg, but I'll probably just replace it entirely.




And here's the one that is going to be more difficult. The hull at the bow took the first hit when these came off. I'll have to cut this section out and put a patch in place. The actual patch will probably be about 14 inches by 6 inches in a roughly rectangular shape. That said, at 60 mph the damage isn't really that bad. I figure, all told, I have about 10 hours of repairs to do on this boat.


 

The Skin on Frame took a bit more of a beating. Only two frame pieces actually broke though, so repairing it shouldn't be too bad either. I'll have to put a bunch of patches on the skin though. If I can figure out how to upload the video, it's easier to tell the damage than looking at pics.

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## Sprung

Frank, you need an emergency bag. Some duct tape would've gotten you in the water for the day! (My dad was fishing with some of his buddies in a cedar strip boat one of his buddies paid him to build. They hit a deadhead that was right at water level and put a long gash in the bottom of the boat - about 5' or so. They had just launched into the river not long before, so they had most of their trip down the river to go. Boat flooding, they got it to the nearest shore. One of the guys pulls out a roll of duct tape from his mysterious "goes everywhere with him, but nobody knows what's actually in it" bag. Dad patches the bottom with duct tape and they make it down the river without any issues. It followed dad home for major repairs... Was one of their first runs out with that boat too.)

Kidding aside, that's awful. Thankfully they are fixable instead of having to start all over again.


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## woodtickgreg

Such a bummer after all that work, I would be heart broken!

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## gman2431

Dang dude that's a serious bummer!!!


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## frankp

Sprung said:


> Frank, you need an emergency bag. Some duct tape would've gotten you in the water for the day! (My dad was fishing with some of his buddies in a cedar strip boat one of his buddies paid him to build. They hit a deadhead that was right at water level and put a long gash in the bottom of the boat - about 5' or so. They had just launched into the river not long before, so they had most of their trip down the river to go. Boat flooding, they got it to the nearest shore. One of the guys pulls out a roll of duct tape from his mysterious "goes everywhere with him, but nobody knows what's actually in it" bag. Dad patches the bottom with duct tape and they make it down the river without any issues. It followed dad home for major repairs... Was one of their first runs out with that boat too.)
> 
> Kidding aside, that's awful. Thankfully they are fixable instead of having to start all over again.



I keep duct tape in my first aid kit, which was in the car. Probably not enough to handle that much damage to the boats, though. More importantly, if I had been nearer to the water I might have figured something out but I still had a 10 mile drive and the roof rack was bent all to hell. No way to secure the boats back to the car.


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## frankp

woodtickgreg said:


> Such a bummer after all that work, I would be heart broken!


Just another small hiccup, really. More frustrated that I didn't get to go paddle today. The boats are both relatively easy to repair but I probably won't be able to get back out this season. Too much else going on and hunting season has started.

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## rocky1

You put all that work into those boats and tied it down with that rope?

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## frankp

And, we're back at it again. I picked up a skin on frame from a friend's house last Halloween. I built it for my oldest daughter about 17 years ago and when she grew out of it, we passed it on to friend's kids. When they outgrew it, I decided to bring it home. I pulled the old skin off and did a few repairs. The SOF had a broken keel, one broken chine, and a few broken ribs. I replaced the keel and the ribs and repaired the chine. Now we're back to skinning. The original skin was pvc in yellow and purple. The new skin is a much lighter nylon in orange. The boat is probably going to weigh at least 10 pounds less than original. A few pics...

A blurry pic of my 10 year old lashing in one of the new ribs. 



Chine repair. Glued, then reinforced with a piece of the old keel lashed across the break. Should be plenty solid for my kids. New keel visible as top-most piece in the picture.

 

New skin being measured.

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## frankp

And a post about the wooden boat...

I took her down and started repairing her as well. Cleaned off what was left of the skeg, and started patching the hull.

Remnants of former skeg. New skeg will be half as tall and about 8 inches longer.


 

Skeg cleaned off, hull sanded smooth and ready to add the new skeg. The dark rectangle is where the original skeg-box was to hold a retractable skeg. I never paddled without it so I added the fixed skeg when I retrofit the boat with the strip deck.




Holes drilled to remove the damaged hull section.




Cut smoothed slightly and ready for the patch. This is before drilling the "stitch" holes.




Patch stitched in place. Epoxy "tacks" done today but I didn't get any pictures of it. Once those are cured, I'll cut out all the stitches and finish up the patch, filling in all the stitch holes and reinforcing the seams with fiberglass tape. Then a layer of fiberglass over the whole thing, inside and out and she'll be stronger than ever.

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## frankp

And the second boat that was damaged when they came off the car... This is a skin on frame "family" kayak designed with an open cockpit. There were really only a couple pieces that got damaged. One of the coaming sections broke in half so I decided to replace both and I beefed them up a little bit as well. The previous coaming wasn't sturdy enough to really put any weight on when getting in and out of the cockpit. One of the gunwales also broke right where it meets the bow. I made a little patch for it and glued and lashed it into place. Now I can reskin this one as well...

Full frame, stern to bow. The lighter colored curved pieces around the cockpit are the new coaming pieces.


 

A close up of the gunwale repair.

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## frankp

Hull patch tacked in place and everything flushed up and smoothed somewhat. A few of the stitches got glued in place so I'll have to accept the possibility that aluminum corrosion will happen at a couple of points on the boat sometime in the future. Happy with the progress so far. Going out for a bike ride with the family so I'll fill in the holes (and the rest of the actual "fillets" for the seams) tomorrow and then start the fiberglass patching.

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## justallan

These posts about your boats are always interesting and informative Frank.
Thanks for all of the pictures and explanations.

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## frankp

I thought I had posted these follow-up pics but obviously I forgot to...

3" fiberglass tape to reinforce the seams.








And then a layer of 3 oz fiberglass over the whole area.








Still to finish: Filling the inside fillets with epoxy and a layer of fiberglass on the inside. I've built the new skeg but still need to install it as well. Then some gaskets on my hatches and she's water-worthy again. After a couple of paddles, I'll varnish her and call it good.

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## frankp

A bit more progress... new skeg attached on the hybrid. The new skeg (like the old one) is CF over plywood then epoxied and glassed to the boat. Painter's tape just keeping the skeg vertical while the epoxy cures.





Feathered the fiberglass after attaching, then added another fill coat of epoxy. (not pictured.) Also added hatch gaskets and did some other clean up work. Heading out for a paddle on Friday so trying to meet a deadline. A couple things won't get finished but she'll be water-worthy enough to test her out.





On the SOFs, I finished skinning the "family" kayak. Put two layers of spar urethane thinned down with mineral spirits to make sure she's totally water-tight. The material was tested against water but only a small sample and it "seeped" over time. I wanted to minimize that since odds are I won't be in the boat and I don't want anyone freaking out by finding water "leaking" into the boat.





My daughter's SOF is, as indicated, a retrofit of her big sister's old boat. I yanked the coaming from the boat and this is what it looked like. It's steam-bent maple and was looking pretty gross.




Hit it with a sander, removed all the old sinew, and she's back ready for her new skin.




Reskinned, 1 layer of spar urethane, and the coaming lined up. Finished sewing the coaming in place after this picture was taken then put the second layer of urethane. Only thing left to do is add the coaming "lip" and the deck lines and she'll be ready to paddle on Friday.





And, finally, we also needed a couple of new paddles so here's the line-up. The second and third from the right are new cedar paddles. In this picture they are just rough shaped. Far right is cedar, basswood, and walnut. Far left is a cedar "emergency paddle" so it's shorter than the others. Striped paddle 2nd from left is maple and purple-heart and used to be a "euro" paddle but it was way too heavy and I switched the style of paddles we use so I cut it down to a traditional greenland style paddle.

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## frankp

Daughter's boat and the family yak tested out well on Friday. I've decided to add a rub strip along the keel of the orange boat and I somehow broke a rib in the family yak so I need to patch that but both boats garnered a lot of attention and paddled well. And the kids had a great time so we're planning to do a lot more paddling. Here's a pic of the orange one all outfitted with deck lines.




For the wood boat, I need to make some adjustments to the hatches. With gaskets in place the lids don't seal well enough for my liking. I also need to do some clean-up on the inside of the cockpit... too many "spikes" from fiberglass and carbon fiber that will slice me open in an emergency evac. I'm going to sand them down and line the cockpit with neoprene as an added precaution. I've also got to make a few additions for my seat which I had forgotten about before. So, more to come...

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## Gdurfey

Frank, do you stuff air bags in the front and back? I know that is more of a white water thing (or back in my day with larger, plastic boats it was) but not sure on something like this. I also read you "spikes" and guess that would not be good on an airbag.


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## frankp

Gdurfey, I had a float bag I built a long time ago for the skin on frames but never really used it. They're pretty well sealed against water but do get some amount inside throughout a couple hour paddle. The "spikes" are in the wooden boat and that has bulkheads to seal against flooding so no real need for float bags. We have spray skirts on to help prevent too much water entry at the cockpit but only use them if we're going out in surf or going to be in the water a long time.

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