Cedar Kayak - Day 20 & 21

I've been distracted with other things for the last few days and have not been able to make much progress. However, I did get the nerve to cut out the cockpit opening.

PHOTOS COMING SOON

I will be building a horizontal rim around the opening. Then after marking out the final cockpit opening, I will cut out the hole and build the short vertical rim called the cockpit coaming.

I have also been planing and sanding the deck. I can already tell I will need to be patient with this. It will some time to get the surface to near-perfect condition.

Project Elapsed Time: 100 Hrs

Cedar Kayak - Day 18 & 19

I just keep adding strips until the hole slowly closes.


Finally the hole is closed with the last strip. It's been almost 100 hours since starting from a 2 dimensional drawing to a 3 dimensional object. There is still a lot of work to do before moving on to the next step of finishing out the cockpit.

Project Elapsed Time: 96 Hrs

Cedar Kayak - Day 17

I'm still filling in the gaps. You can see how the curve shows up next to the straight strips. Also notice that the strips continue across the cockpit opening. The cockpit will be cut out later, but for now the strips just hang over the stern strips at the middle of the kayak.

Here is a view from the stern.

Project Elapsed Time: 82 Hrs

Cedar Kayak - Day 16

All I'm doing now is filling the gaps around the curves. All the strips come to a point at the bow and stern which means I have to make a lot of angle cuts.

While I am filling in the center with strips, I am also setting strips along the curve that I put in along the side. I think I will stop at 4 curved strips and then go back up and fill in the rest from the bottom up.

This last photo shows how the deck curve continues from the center and runs to a point at the stern. I also placed a center strip made from Redwood for a highlight.

Project Elapsed Time: 76 Hrs

Cedar Kayak - Day 15

I'm working on making some curved lines on the deck. This is the time to plan out any designs that will give the kayak its distinctive look. In this photo you can see the first two strips on the deck from the bow. The curve continues along towards the stern.

Project Elapsed Time: 68.5 Hrs

Cedar Kayak - Day 14

I had a little help today from Caleb. He was pretty impressed with the progress since last weekend. I worked on planning the bow and the stem again. I found a low spot at the bow where a strip did not bridge its neighbors very well. It's an easy fix by gluing a second strip right over the top of the strip that is recessed. By Monday I will be able to sand it down to the correct height.

I turned the boat over to revel the open deck. I modified the stands to support the delicate hull. I turned the stands 90 degrees and cut a couple 2x4's to length that the hull will rest on. I also cut an arc out of the boards and covered them with carpet padding for a soft fit. I'll be ready to strip the deck next!






Project Elapsed Time: 62 Hrs

Cedar Kayak - Day 13

I spent most of the time today cleaning up the hull surface after filling the holes. I don't think I will do much sanding right now because I anticipate some glue drippings to occur while working on the deck. I don't want to make the hull too thin with any unecessary sanding.

I planed down the stern end of the stem and did a rough sanding of the last 6 inches of the stern to see how the transition looks. I think it looks great! So far I am pleased with the surface of the hull. There is still more planing to do on the bow stem piece, but I am waiting for the glue to dry. Instead of quitting for the day, I cut some more strips for the deck.




Project Elapsed Time: 59 hrs