Putting It All Together

With the deck finished on the inside and the hull finished on the inside, it was time to put the whole thing together. Blue tape and sometimes a bit more force were used to get the two pieces matched up so that 4" wide glass could be installed on the inside seams. Took two days to do the two sides.

After the inside seams cured, we sanded a radius onto the shear of the boat and then glassed the outside seams. We were able to do all of the outside seams in one session.

With the boat in one piece, I took advantage of a calm day to pour some resin with micro balloons into both ends of the kayak. The end pours smooth the very end of the boat and fill the area where the u-bolts will be installed on the deck.

It took two passes with resin and a squeegee to fill the weave on the cloth of the hull,

before we flipped it over and did the same process on the deck. It looks ugly when it is sanded but the resin clears it up. While we were waiting for resin to dry, we found time to carve a seat but I haven't taken any pictures of that yet.

With the fill coats in place, the extra glass around the edge of the hatch covers is barely visible.

Next steps will be to paint the hull and coaming, varnish the deck and hatches, and install the u-bolts, perimeter line, and foot braces.