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Step 8Finishing Touches
At this point I was really getting tired of working on the kayak and just wanted a finished boat. I went to this site and bought the weather stripping, bungee cord, seat, backrest, footbrace, and footbrace mounting kit. It's possible to make your own footbrace, and seat but I was getting impatient.
To finish up the cockpit I fiberglassed the floor where my feet would go and added plywood hip braces on the sides for a snugger seat. Also the hip braces provide a place to attach the back rest strap. The footbrace mounting kit came with instructions that were pretty straight forward. It's the no-drill type that just glues to the inside of the kayak.
To attach the bungie cord and backrest I made my own padeyes out of glued together plywood strips. I simply stacked five 24x1/2 in plywood strips together with epoxy and clamped it all together. When it cured I drilled holes for the bungee cord, and cut it into 2 in. sections. I used a bench grinder to shape it then sanded it smooth. For the hatch I was able to clamp the padeyes to the deck, but in the front section I had to just glue them to the deck without clamps.
I made the holes in the front and rear of the kayak extra large so I could feed a chain thru it and lock it to something if I needed. I used a hole saw to make the holes then used brown packing paper and fiberglass to seal it up. I made a tube of packing paper about 1/8 in thick, then cut out some fiberglass that would cover the inside and outside of the tube. I then rerolled the tube while wetting it with epoxy and putting fiber glass on the inside and outside. Once the tube was slightly smaller than the kayak holes I fed the tube thru the holes and tried to enlarge the tube so that there were no gaps between the tube and the kayak. Once the tube cured in place I cut off the excess and of course there were some gaps that I filled with thickened epoxy. After sanding it out, it turned out pretty well.
Once the kayak is as smooth as you like and all the fittings are glued in place it's time to add varnish. The varnish protects the epoxy from sun damage and also adds a nice shine. I bought some gloss spar varnish from the hardware store and stuck it everywhere the sun will shine including the cockpit interior. Don't however forget the remove the bungee cord, seat, and backrest first. When it dried I lightly sanded it with some fine sandpaper then applied 2 more coats. Be sure to do it in a well ventilated area and wear a mask when sanding and applying the varnish.
If you are like me it took months to finish this sucker and it's time to take it out. Grab yourself a paddle and a lifejacket and test it out. Lo and behold it floats and floats well. The kayak ended up weighing in at 37 lbs and is 14ft. 2in. So far, I've taken it around the local lakes, and down the lower Salt River once. So far no leaks. I scraped the bottom a couples time on the river and it fell off the car once (Oops), but it's easy to fix. Just sand it, apply more epoxy if there's any left, and add varnish.
To finish up the cockpit I fiberglassed the floor where my feet would go and added plywood hip braces on the sides for a snugger seat. Also the hip braces provide a place to attach the back rest strap. The footbrace mounting kit came with instructions that were pretty straight forward. It's the no-drill type that just glues to the inside of the kayak.
To attach the bungie cord and backrest I made my own padeyes out of glued together plywood strips. I simply stacked five 24x1/2 in plywood strips together with epoxy and clamped it all together. When it cured I drilled holes for the bungee cord, and cut it into 2 in. sections. I used a bench grinder to shape it then sanded it smooth. For the hatch I was able to clamp the padeyes to the deck, but in the front section I had to just glue them to the deck without clamps.
I made the holes in the front and rear of the kayak extra large so I could feed a chain thru it and lock it to something if I needed. I used a hole saw to make the holes then used brown packing paper and fiberglass to seal it up. I made a tube of packing paper about 1/8 in thick, then cut out some fiberglass that would cover the inside and outside of the tube. I then rerolled the tube while wetting it with epoxy and putting fiber glass on the inside and outside. Once the tube was slightly smaller than the kayak holes I fed the tube thru the holes and tried to enlarge the tube so that there were no gaps between the tube and the kayak. Once the tube cured in place I cut off the excess and of course there were some gaps that I filled with thickened epoxy. After sanding it out, it turned out pretty well.
Once the kayak is as smooth as you like and all the fittings are glued in place it's time to add varnish. The varnish protects the epoxy from sun damage and also adds a nice shine. I bought some gloss spar varnish from the hardware store and stuck it everywhere the sun will shine including the cockpit interior. Don't however forget the remove the bungee cord, seat, and backrest first. When it dried I lightly sanded it with some fine sandpaper then applied 2 more coats. Be sure to do it in a well ventilated area and wear a mask when sanding and applying the varnish.
If you are like me it took months to finish this sucker and it's time to take it out. Grab yourself a paddle and a lifejacket and test it out. Lo and behold it floats and floats well. The kayak ended up weighing in at 37 lbs and is 14ft. 2in. So far, I've taken it around the local lakes, and down the lower Salt River once. So far no leaks. I scraped the bottom a couples time on the river and it fell off the car once (Oops), but it's easy to fix. Just sand it, apply more epoxy if there's any left, and add varnish.
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be proud that you made it by yourself.
thanks for the instructable