deck progress

I have made good progress but it does not look like it in the photos. My deck pattern took a long time but I got it done. Now that I have if finished I have changed my mind about how it should look. So I will cut a portion of it away and change part of the pattern. It will take me a few more hours of work but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

I met some kayak builders on the web and they came over to look at my kayaks. Rod and John both liked the man cave and the kayaks. Rod is a pilot so we did not run out of things to talk about.

Deck design

I never left the house all weekend. I worked about 16 hours on the deck pattern. I thought that it would only take about two days to complete. After two days, I only have a third of it finished. Hundreds of small wood parts and not two of them are alike. Each one is made to fit individually.

The dark wood is purple heart left over from the wood duck build. The light colored wood is bass wood.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

turning over the hull

Today I turned the hull over to start working on the deck. I was able to get a full day of work in and I got a lot done.

The deck will have a very complex color design so there is a lot of prep work to do before it starts to take shape.

whiskey strip

There is a reason the last strip is called a Whiskey strip. I can think of some other names but I will let your imagination fill in the blanks.

Tomorrow I will flip the hull over and start working on the deck.

Keel strips

I started laying keel strips on the bottom of the kayak. I am way behind where I should be in this build. Other things in life have distracted me from working on the kayak. Tomorrow I plan a full day of work. I hope to make good progress.

Gluing up strips

Like I said in my last post, gluing strips is a slow process. It would go faster if I used staples. Many people do use staples to lay strips. You do not need to wait for the glue to dry before you lay the next strip. You can lay all the strips in a weekend that way. But because I don't want staple holes all over my kayak I have decided to do it the slow way.

Glue a strip and wait until the glue dry's. Then glue another strip. I will glue a strip in the morning before going to work, another strip after work, and then one more before going to bed.

Slow progress

Things are moving very slow. Very little progress. We have had a crazy September. Lots of illness and injury with close family members. Lots of time spent visiting hospitals. And at the same time I have had to work extra hours at work to fill in for others.

I do try to work at least 15 or 20 minutes every day on the kayak. I glue a strip and let it dry. Then the next day I glue another strip and let it dry.

A few weeks ago I went kayaking with my friend Ted. He has a Chesapeake 17LT that he built himself. It's the only home built kayak I have ever seen other than our Wood Duck. It is truly a beautiful boat. It is the first sea kayak that I have put my hands on. At first I was scared that I would tip over, but after 10 minutes or so it felt great. Very fast and very smooth. The Wood Duck is a very stable platform but the CH 17LT comes alive in the water. Ted did a fantastic job building his kayak and now he is building a power boat.