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.

Day 52 - Sanding & varnish the hull

Using my orbital sander, I finished sanding the bottom of the hull with 80 grit. Getting the drips off and making sure I didn't sand off too much took some care. I came close in a couple areas where the weave was just starting to show. The sanding then proceeded with 100, 150, and 220 grit.

I then blew out the garage with my compressor to get the dust off the boat and the walls and the floor and every where else. The fiberglass dust winds up on everything. Waited while the dust settled. Next it was time to wipe down the hull to remove any residual dust. I took a rag and got a small bit of acetone on it and used it to wipe down the hull then followed with a clean rag to get any residual acetone off. Let that sit for a bit and it was time to begin the varnish. I used a 3" wide foam brush to apply the varnish. It went down in a very thin coat. The first picture shows me half done.

Here's the side of the boat with the varnish complete. The grain is very visible.

After about 20 minutes, the varnish is already starting to dry. The finish is not as wet looking as in this picture, but has a nice dull lustre. I'll be putting a second coat of varnish on the bottom, letting that cure and then I'll flip the boat over. That could be in a couple of days.

Day 51 - Fill coat on the deck - part deux

Following a long pause while the new resin was shipped to the house, taking down holiday (Christmas) decorations, and waiting for temperatures to get back to normal from the cold snap - it was time once again to venture to the confines of the garage and get back to work on the kayak. This first picture is taken just after I got done wiping the deck down to remove any residual dust. The 4' wide bench has been removed and I'm supporting the boat with 2 sawhorses and some brackets. I can get a bit closer and reach inside easier.

I have been keeping the resin inside for the past few days - at a constant temperature of 66 degrees. I then sat the resin in front of the heater for 20 minutes to give it a short burst of heat. In this picture, I've put down resin on the stern section. You can see the dull finish forward of the rear cockpit.





The resin has been applied with the 7" wide roller, brushed under the cockpit combing, and smoothed out with a 4" foam brush. It's now very glossy looking and curing. I'll check in the morning to see how it looks. The garage is currently at 63 degrees and 60 percent humidity.

Day 50 - Oh #@%&!

The resin I picked up from Tap Plastics did not work. It did not setup. There was only a minor reaction that turned the resin into a goopy mess. I did a few experiments with the resin at different rations 4:1 (as recommended), 3:1 and 2:1. None of them produced a resin that setup in 8 hours. Besides now having to go back to Tap Plastics and return their failed resin, I now have to clean the sticky, gloppy mess of the top of my kayak.

I first tried a scraper. That just pushed the stuff around. Also tried to use a wide chisel, figuring it could get under the goopy mess. That worked a little, but still left a lot of residue. I had about half a pint of acetone left and some old rags. That seemed to work pretty well. But I was burning through acetone pretty quickly. Off to Lowe's. Picked up a gallon of acetone and box of painters rags, along with a new box of rubber gloves. After a couple of hours of wiping down the boat with about 25 rags, I finally got most of the crappy resin off without damaging the cured resin underneath. I hit it with some sand paper just to make sure I got all of it off.

Now, the boat is cleaned and prepped for a redo of the fill coat. I ordered some additional System 3 resin (same as I used on the rest of the boat). Should be here in a few days. With a projected 4 days of down time, I hung the boat up, cleaned up the garage and pulled the truck in the garage for the first time in months. The truck was happy.