Injecting epoxy

Injecting epoxy

Work continues on the kayak. The next step was to fill the seams with epoxy. Once again I had to decide between the directions in the construction manual or the Kayaks You Can Build book. I decided to try both and see how it went. The book calls for taping off the seam and putting a putty thick epoxy in the seam. (You can see that in the back with the blue tape).The manual calls for a thinner epoxy that is injected in the seam. The putty was neater, the injected was faster, in end, I ran out tape and used a combination.



After the epoxy cures, I remove all the wires. I actually got a blister from that.

After all the wires are removed I went over the hull removing lumps of epoxy where the wires were, refilled any low spots, and rounded the keel area. I love my cabinet scraper!




Next I put on a saturation coat. This is to saturate the wood so it doesn't suck epoxy out of the fiberglass layer and "starve" the fiberglass. I actually called Pygmy Boats to see if I needed this because, once again, the book and manual differ. But the guys who wrote the book have more experience fiberglassing and probably know just how much epoxy they need to keep the fiberglass full. I don't, so I thought I would add this extra step.

Hull half saturated.

I am planning on painting the hull of this boat, but you can see here why most people who build these boats just can't bring themselves to cover up this pretty wood.

Tomorrow I fiberglass. Hmm, maybe I better do some painting too.

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Pygmy Boats
Kayaks You Can Build