First day on the water

Loaded up the kayak and took it for a ride down the Sammamish Slough.









Here's a few pictures of the Slough...

The boat handled great. Much easier paddling downstream.

day 58 - Done.

Finished with the rigging. Was short on some of the mounting screws for the eyes, so had to make a quick trip to Lowes. They didn't have the exact same screws - typical for Lowes. But I got something pretty close. Will replace the zinc coated Lowes screws with stainless steel later on.

Touched up the varnish in a couple of areas - stepped back and figured that's about it.

Now only two things remain.

1. clean the garage of all the fiberglass dust and debris.
2. sea trials.

Day 57 - foot braces, handles, and hardware

Busy night last night. Installed the foot braces for all 3 cockpits. Those were screwed directly through the holes I drilled a couple of weeks ago. I then tied on the hardware to hold the seat backs up. You can see the red and white rope off the seat back.

Also installed the carrying handles at the bow and the stern.

Lastly, drilled all the holes for the installation of the padeyes. The padeyes are the half loop plastic things that hold the deck rigging. I played with the shock cord a little to see how it will look and figure the best way to run the cord. Have 3 other sets of pad eyes to install, do a little touch up on the finish and...done.

Day 56 - third and final coat

Applied the 3rd and final coat - see title. 20 minutes of excitement. Done now. Need to go rest and come down from the euphoria of varnishing. The fumes though, are kickin'.

Day 55 - more varnish

You guessed it. I put on another coat. Looks pretty much the same. Think I need one more coat on the top.

Day 54 - Varnish the top deck

Spent about 2.5 hours sanding the deck this morning. Started off with 80 grit and worked up to 1,000 grit. The 1,000 grit was very smooth, and didn't make much of a difference, but I'll be using it more on subsequent coats of the varnish. I took a series of photos just after sanding and just after varnishing to show the difference in the finish.

The boat is curing now, and should set for about 10 to 12 hours between coats. I may throw another coat of varnish on tonight, but may just let it rest until tomorrow after work.

Day 53 - 2nd coat of varnish

The finish dried somewhat dull. I sanded it down with some 220 grit paper and then wiped it down. Applied a second coat of varnish and let it dry overnight. In the morning, the finish was much better looking. Very shiny. I'm going to let it cure for at least a day or so. When I flip it over, I don't want to scratch the surface.