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Here is the hull stitched together, looking from the stern. Note it consists of
four panels on each half. At this point, the interior seams have been glassed with
3" wide, 9 oz. fiberglass tape. The exterior needs some final sanding, and it
will then be ready to fiberglass. |
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This shows the interior of the hull with bulkheads and deck beams
installed. The bulkheads were installed prior to fiberglassing the interior.
You can see the temporary crossbraces and ties which maintain the hull shape until
after the final glassing. |
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The fiberglass cloth has been cut to rough size and is being smoothed over
the exterior of the hull. In this case, we are using two layers of 3.25 oz. satin
weave cloth. This will give a very smooth surface to the hull with minimal extra
epoxy needed to fill the weave. |
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The completely glassed hull. It has a very smooth surface with only
one light fill coat of epoxy over the glass. |
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The hull of this kayak was constructed of 4mm B.S. 1088 grade Meranti
marine plywood. Much of the wood that we have has a beautiful curly grain figure.
This boat will be finished bright (marine varnish) to highlight this wood figure. |
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Rails for Yakima adjustable footbraces have been installed. These
are bolted and epoxied to hardwood blocks which are then epoxied to the hull. This
eliminates visible bolt heads on the exterior of the hull. |
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The deck for this boat is constructed of four pieces of 3mm marine grade
Okoume plywood, two for the bow of the deck and two for the stern. The top edge of
the deck changes from a gentle camber at the cockpit to a sharp ridge at the bow and
stern. This makes for some very tricky deck construction. To start, a short
section of the deck halves nearest the cockpit are glass taped together at a flat angle to
form the cambered portion. |
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Here (at left of photo) is the laminated insert for the bow of the deck.
This thickens and reinforces the raised portion of the deck. A similar insert
is added to the stern end of the deck. |
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To facilitate the final shaping of the deck, a temporary frame
approximating the plan view of the finished kayak is constructed. The deck pieces
are then clamped into this frame and stitched with copper wire along the deck ridge.
The extreme ends are held together with clamps. |
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Both ends of the deck are shown, clamped into their final shape. |
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This temporary assembly is inverted and braced in place so that the
interior of the deck can be fiberglassed. |
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The bow deck has been glassed. This is done with 4 oz. plain weave
fiberglass cloth. When the epoxy cures, the deck will retain its final shape. |
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This shows how the laminated bow insert has been filleted with thickened
epoxy and glassed over. |
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The completed deck halves are now ready for installation onto the hull. |
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A trial fit of the deck is made to make any final adjustments. The
deck is glued to 3/4" thick shear clamps that run along the top interior edge of the
hull panels. These are shaped to a variable bevel along the length of the hull to
conform to the angle of the deck panels - a tricky process, to say the least. |
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The stern half of the deck has been attached. It is epoxied to the
hull, and on this prototype, is also held with bronze ring-shanked nails. These will
be eliminated on production models. Note the wedges under the clamp strap.
These hold the deck tight to the deck beam. |
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The bow half of the deck is now installed, in the same manner as the stern
half. The joint between the deck and hull is quite complex on the Puffin. For
about a foot or so on each end of the boat, the edges of the deck and hull butt together.
This quickly transitions to the deck overlapping the hull along the rest of the
boat. Precise joinery is required, since this edge will be visible on the finished
kayak. |
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The Puffin cockpit is built into a cockpit recess (we will be doing this
on all of our kayaks). This starts with an oversize cockpit opening as seen here. |
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Here, a plywood cockpit recess insert is being fine tuned for a precise
fit. We are using Meranti plywood for this insert to contrast with the lighter
colored Okoume deck. |
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The cockpit recess insert is held in place with masking while the interior
seam is joined with bias-cut 6 oz. fiberglass tape. |
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The use of a cockpit recess substantially lowers the cockpit, especially
in the rear. This is very important on the Puffin, which has a high ridged deck. |
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The edges of the deck have been trimmed and the deck glassed. This
deck has one layer of 3.25 oz. satin weave cloth which overlaps the deck/hull seam. |
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Here is the bow of the deck. The hole in the bow is a distinguishing
feature of Bering Sea kayaks. |
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The final boat ready for a test paddle. At this point, it still
needs a cockpit coaming, seat, deck fittings and rigging, and hatches, to say nothing of
sanding and finishing. But there is no resisting the urge to get her into the water
and paddle a bit. |
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The Puffin handles like a charm. Had a tough time getting Christy to
give it up and let me try. |
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This is the most ultimately stable boat that we build. Although it
has a waterline beam of only about 19", at a slight bit of heel, the widely flared
sides kick in and it becomes rock solid. |
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Although it has a maximum beam of 25 1/2", the sloping deck leaves
plenty of "knuckle room" when paddling |
