I bought my wife a couple of kayaks for her birthday so we could spend some time away from the kids doing something we both used to do as kids, but forgot how much we liked it:
Nice little boats, until I came across this awesome web site. Building a boat was something I've always wanted to do, and you guys lit the fire under my arse to actually go do it. I ordered a UJ kit last week and have been busy trying to get it afloat. The rub rails went on today:
I also ordered Chick's seat plans, and found it a good way to pass the time while waiting for epoxy to cure. I put the bottom section inside the pirogue to see how it looks:
Tommorow I will move it off the workbench and scarf together my bottom pieces. In the meantime, here's a few things I've learned:
- Wax paper is your friend when working with epoxy. I like it better than plain plastic because any drips you get show up better, making it easier to avoid making a mess of things.
- Expoxy will end up on your hands no matter how many pairs of gloves you put on. It will also end up on your drill, your clamps, etc.
- It is tough to get the exact proportion of epoxy resin to hardener with just a plain mixing cup. The graduated ones I have call for a min. of 3 oz., and sometimes you need only half that. I should have ordered the pumps from Raka. Some of my mixes have lasted for 20-25mins, some more, some less. It seems that when I add micro-balloons and wood filler, it cures quicker. No worries though, it all works out the same in the end.
-Scarf joints are a PITA, but doable. My pirogue measures 14'10 instead of the 15'+ I had originally planned due to screwing up the scarfs on my first attempt. Speaking of scarfs, I first tried doing them with an electric planer, but it mulched the lauan pretty good. The belt sander is the way to go, imho. Since I burned mine out last fall building my garage, I picked up a dirt cheap one at Big Lots for $35 --works like a champ.
-You can't have enough clamps. The green ones in the pictures sell for a buck each at HD - a cheap alternative to those expensive woodworker clamps. I bought twenty, thinking that would be enough -- boy was I naive...
- Although I used lauan, I discovered a cheap source of marine plywood down the road from me: Aircrast Spruce (http://www.aircraftspruce.com). They sell okume for about half of what I've seen online. Everything else there is a ripoff though...
-It is easy to get ahead of yourself in this project. There's a ton of stuff to do, and for me alot of it was new, I made a stupid cosmetic mistake by not sanding off a pencilled-in guide line on one of the sides. I guess this will be my "artistic license" because I don't see myself sanding through the saturation coat to fix it...
Boat building is addictive. My wife was skeptical when I told her I was building a boat for the kids, but when she saw it today, she became a believer. (In the end , the kids will get my Stingray and I'll keep the pirogue.) She now wants me to build her a rowing shell -- anyone here ever built one of these?. Anyway, even the hounds like hanging around the shop!
I just want to thank everyone here for contributing to this site. You have made this an easy and fun thing to do. I'll post some more pics as I make futher progress. C ya!
Nice little boats, until I came across this awesome web site. Building a boat was something I've always wanted to do, and you guys lit the fire under my arse to actually go do it. I ordered a UJ kit last week and have been busy trying to get it afloat. The rub rails went on today:
I also ordered Chick's seat plans, and found it a good way to pass the time while waiting for epoxy to cure. I put the bottom section inside the pirogue to see how it looks:
Tommorow I will move it off the workbench and scarf together my bottom pieces. In the meantime, here's a few things I've learned:
- Wax paper is your friend when working with epoxy. I like it better than plain plastic because any drips you get show up better, making it easier to avoid making a mess of things.
- Expoxy will end up on your hands no matter how many pairs of gloves you put on. It will also end up on your drill, your clamps, etc.
- It is tough to get the exact proportion of epoxy resin to hardener with just a plain mixing cup. The graduated ones I have call for a min. of 3 oz., and sometimes you need only half that. I should have ordered the pumps from Raka. Some of my mixes have lasted for 20-25mins, some more, some less. It seems that when I add micro-balloons and wood filler, it cures quicker. No worries though, it all works out the same in the end.
-Scarf joints are a PITA, but doable. My pirogue measures 14'10 instead of the 15'+ I had originally planned due to screwing up the scarfs on my first attempt. Speaking of scarfs, I first tried doing them with an electric planer, but it mulched the lauan pretty good. The belt sander is the way to go, imho. Since I burned mine out last fall building my garage, I picked up a dirt cheap one at Big Lots for $35 --works like a champ.
-You can't have enough clamps. The green ones in the pictures sell for a buck each at HD - a cheap alternative to those expensive woodworker clamps. I bought twenty, thinking that would be enough -- boy was I naive...
- Although I used lauan, I discovered a cheap source of marine plywood down the road from me: Aircrast Spruce (http://www.aircraftspruce.com). They sell okume for about half of what I've seen online. Everything else there is a ripoff though...
-It is easy to get ahead of yourself in this project. There's a ton of stuff to do, and for me alot of it was new, I made a stupid cosmetic mistake by not sanding off a pencilled-in guide line on one of the sides. I guess this will be my "artistic license" because I don't see myself sanding through the saturation coat to fix it...
Boat building is addictive. My wife was skeptical when I told her I was building a boat for the kids, but when she saw it today, she became a believer. (In the end , the kids will get my Stingray and I'll keep the pirogue.) She now wants me to build her a rowing shell -- anyone here ever built one of these?. Anyway, even the hounds like hanging around the shop!
I just want to thank everyone here for contributing to this site. You have made this an easy and fun thing to do. I'll post some more pics as I make futher progress. C ya!
