Guillemot Lo Kids Kayak build

[Slacko]

I'm coming to the final coats of paint on the Strip dinghy that I've been building, so I've started my next project.
A stitch and glue Kayak for my 6 year old daughter.
I picked up 2 sheets of 4 mm Okuume from a local plywood supplier this afternoon.
The plans only need 1 sheet, but I need some to put new decks on my Catamaran hulls at some stage so thought it was no more effort to get 2.
It was pretty cheap, and seems to be OK even if it has a micro thin veneer on both sides, making 5 plys in total.

[IMG]20171101_172506 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

I then printed the A4 sheet showing the offsets for the panels which there are 6 in total.
I have a roll of heavy paper so got the bottom drawn, spiled with a leftover strip from the dinghy and then cut out on the kitchen counter.

[IMG]20171101_200452 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

Hopefully I can get this completed before summer is over. Nick Schade thinks a weekend and a few evenings is what it takes, but this is my first S&G.

[Slacko]

It took about 3 hours to transfer the patterns to plywood, rough cut them out and then plane them to the lines.
5 pieces in total, although I still need to get the cutout in the deck drawn and cut.
The batten will get around the tight curves better on the plywood using nails as guides, and I will end up with fairer curves than drafting them onto the paper pattern and trying to copy onto the plywood. I don't have drafting ducks, and not much need for them in my future at this stage.

[IMG]20171108_170510 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

Tonight I drilled some of the components and wired them together with carbon steel welding wire. It is a bit thick, but OK and I have a packet of it in the shed.
It looks like a boat already. The FWD deck is just dropped into place.


[IMG]20171108_202835 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

I'm using a mahogany door and a step platform as the building table as the sawhorses have the dinghy on them until the weekend when it gets launched.

[Slacko]

This morning I put the fillet into the hull and laid the cloth with a coat of resin.

[IMG]20171117_105434 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

Last night I wired the deck together and put some epoxy spots on it to hold it together once the wire has been removed.

[Slacko]

I've been resin coating the insdie of the hull and deck to fill the weave.
I used a foam roller to apply the resin to the dry cloth with great results, the cloth is tight on the ply, smooth with an even wet out.

[IMG]20171120_141427 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

I then glassed the outside of the hull using the same method.
After that, I bonded the deck onto the hull using 3" wide cloth strip. This is a bit of a one armed paperhanging exercise.
I had to attach one side, wait for it to bond, then prop the hull apart using sticks on the inside and repeat the trick on the other side.
In hindsight it would have been easier to wire them together and put some small fillets inside to hold it together, then put the cloth in after it had set.

The outside of the hull got fibreglassed then 2 coats of fill epoxy rolled on.
This morning I turned it over and sanded a radius into the deck/hull join and fibreglassed the deck.
As per the instructions, I wrapped a layer of masking tape around the hull about an inch down from the sheer.
The glass was then wetted out onto the tape.
After about 3 hours, I followed the top edge of the tape with a sharp Stanley blade, cutting the soft glass. I then peeled off the tape removing the excess fibreglass in a nice sharp line.


[IMG]20171127_195532 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]20171127_195549 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

This needs another fill coat and then ready for paint after a bit of sanding and I'm sure some filler.

[Woxbox]

Nice

[Slacko]

The next trick was to put the coamings on the deck.
As this is a kids toy, there is no need to be able to attach a spray skirt.
I started of with some teak that I have, making a piece with all 4 corners rounded off with the router.
I thought that I would be able to steam it and bend it into the hole. No such luck, as it snapped trying to get the acute curves into it.
This was a common theme over the next couple of days of spare time.
I made quite a bit of kindling for the fire next winter, going to a laminated piece rather than solid to make the bend easier.
I made a shaped form that bent one side of the hole at a time on the bench and was still not getting any success using my dwindling stock of 6 x 20 mm cedar strip supplies.
The cedar was getting scrappier as the kindling pile got bigger.
I got the steamer running a little hotter and left the 6 x 20 mm sticks in there about 45 minutes, which is a bit longer than everyone talks about here.
I finally got 4 bent laminations to do the 2 sides of the cockpit.
The next day I got the first layer glued and clamped.
The second layer went on the next day, and it all looks acceptable after rounding off the edges.
I'm going to glass it with biaxial 200 GSM, and see if I can finish it bright.
This is where I am up to now.

[IMG]20171204_182155 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

The owner trying it for size.

[IMG]20171204_154416 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Slacko]

I've now got 2 coats of International primer, and 2 coats of oil based enamel of the owners colour choice (resene tranquil) on the bottom.

[IMG]20171210_150316 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

The deck is primed, ready for topcoat and varnish on the interior.
Ready in plenty of time for Xmas.

[80OldCS]

Looks great, very nice work!

[Slacko]

I now need to make a seat.
I was looking for some high density closed cell foam to carve, but it was far too expensive.
Any other ideas would be welcome.
This is how it looks now.

[IMG]20171211_144759 by Craig Slack, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Woxbox]

Those portable bleacher pads sold to football fans are just fine. The paddler should be very close to the bottom in a shorter, narrower boat anyway.

[nedL]

Adorable!

[amish rob]

A foam pad on the floor and a backband would be the most minimal seat, I should think.

Peace,
Robert

[Slacko]

This has be outgrown, so is listed for sale.
The proceeds of which will go into a full size Ganymede build.

[Slacko]

I started drawing out the Ganymede in the family room floor on paper, and it is a big kayak for an 11 year old.
We decided some thing smaller was in order.
I have ordered a set of plan and manual for the Wood duckling from Chesapeake Light Craft.

When I weighed the Io to list it for sale, it is quite overweight from the website specs.
If I had built it to spec, Penny would probably still have freeboard and be able to use it.
I can only think I must have used heavier fibreglass cloth and/or heavier ply.
Since I built it, I've found out that the inner cores of the ply I used are not Ocuume.
I need to be a bit more careful with this one.