A Close Shave

I spent the better part of today in the garage working on the boat and I had a great time. Time just flew by. The bulk of the work was planing down the sheer clamps to the proper angles to allow the kayak deck to attach flush with the side panels. The kit came with two plywood templates that are used to determine the proper angle of the sheer clamps, the first template is a 16" radius that is used for the bow section of the boat and the second template, a 49" radius, is used for the aft section. You can see in the photo the deck beam (which I installed 2 days ago) which is a 16" radius, and is a good example of how the curve of the deck needs to be translated to the sheer clamp. 

The second task, after the sheer clamp planing, was to do the "end pours". Basically, I filled the bow and stern tips with epoxy to add strength and impact resistance, and further down the road I will be drilling a large hole through the hull and end pour to thread a rope to use as a carry loop. The end pour set up is pretty tricky, at least the way I decided to do it. In order to keep the epoxy from simply flowing down into the bottom of the boat I had to construct a temporary dam out of thick paper and packing tape. The area that I was working in is very tight and confined and getting the dam wedged in there was a challenge. Reinforcement with more packing tape is definitely critical in keep the epoxy contained. The stern dam seemed to be holding up when I came in for the evening, but I'm weary the bow dam might be breached. Hoping I don't find a pool of epoxy in the bottom of the boat in the morning. I built up the dam more, it should hold. 

The final step of the day was to install the small  bow deck beam, which is similar to the cockpit deck beam, but just smaller. This piece is held in place with thickened epoxy but no screws.