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Hi all, The Lil Diva hull has not progressed much since my last posting - I have been far too busy on a new project at work, and also took a month off to visit some of the USA. Awesome trip, with my only regret that I couldn't get up to visit Graham. Next time...... Currently the Lil Diva hull is still waiting for the foot brace pieces to be fitted before I put the deck on. The little hull is cute, and lines are sweet. I have started building a Grand Diva as well - the butterflies are cut out and being joined - resin drying as I type this. Will be 3D after this weekend. Those 18' panels are long and floppy to handle! I intend to progress the building of this Grand Diva quickly to the stage I am at with the Lil Diva, then complete both the Divas together, just like when I did the 'Twins'. I bought a digital camera while on holiday, so will be able to capture the building process 'on film' a lot easier and faster than before. I hope I can post pictures faster than before.... Once these two are complete, I'll get borrow one of the original Divas and photgraph all three of them together. Regards, Chris.

All right, all right, keep your hair on, you impatient wood carver.... Progress to date has been slow - too many other factors taking my shed time. However, the inside of the hull has been sanded, the seams filleted, taped, smoothed and resined a couple of times. Next step is to mount the seat supports and I'll paint the insides - the same as I did with the Twins.

Hi Steve, You'll love your Diva - I built built two and they are much loved by their owners, and much admired by anyone seeing them. I'm in the throes of building the prototype of a 13' 'Lil' Diva', which will soon be followed by an 18' 'Grand Diva'. If you can get hold of Australian Amateur boatbuilder magazine, over two issues there were articles I wrote about building two of them at once: 'Twins'. The same articles are reproduced on the B and B Yachts website. I have also published a few photos in an album in this forum, and have been really slack about posting more, but I will do so eventually. If you get any queries, then give me a call on (07) 4975 6719 or email ccsb.spooner@bigpond.com Anyone else too, for that matter, that wants to chat about Divas or other boats/construction, feel free to drop me a line or call. Regards, Chris.

You will note now that I have worked out via some complicated mathematics, and a set of bathroom scales, that only two work benches are required to support this Lil' Diva hull. Just don't ask how I got the hull into the bathroom to weigh it........

Nemo wrote : How many sheets of ply do you need for the Lil' Diva? Answer : None - I have plenty already. Seriously though, only 3. Two for the hull, bulkheads and coamings. One for the deck. Construction is progressing, hull is complete and getting sheathed now. Photos will be posted in due course, but I promise far more quickly than the Diva album took.

Hi All, I've finally managed to get some photos posted in an album in the gallery, of the Diva kayaks construction. There are only about a dozen photos so far, following the progress from cutting out through to a completely laced hull. I'll add more photos next week, with the final pictures being the finished kayaks. Graham has kindly sent me a set of the new Lil' Diva plans, a 13' version for small adults and children, and also a set of the 18' Grand Diva plans. I have the Lil' Diva under construction - right now it's a complete hull all glued and ready for the seam fillets and tapes. I'll post photos of it once I've finished the other album. This is the first Lil' Diva to be built, and I feel honoured to be building the prototype and road testing the plans. I will build the Grand Diva once the Lil' Diva is finished. Watch this space! Cheers, Chris.

Graham, Thankyou very much for the package that arrived in the post today. Two sets of plan, no less. The Grand Diva and the 'Lil Diva are going to be started this week. I can see that these three Divas are going to be in great demand, based on the number of enquiries about them. If I get much more interest I'll have to become a full time kayak builder! Thanks again Graham, and I'll keep you posted as to how they develop. Nemo - eat your heart out, I'm cutting ply again...... Chris.

Sorry Tom, that last post was meant to be addressed to Tim. Chris.

Tom, Just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons, have you looked at www.scruffie.com? They have a range of old fashioned looking sailboats - I like them so much that I actually have one of their 24' Scintillas under construction right now. (Mine is to be named Scintillation) Their 18' Stornaway cabin version would be something like what you are looking for, and they would send a kit to you. Their 16' Scruffie could have a cabin added, but the 18' with cabin seems perfectly balanced in looks to me. I've built their smallest, the Shimmy, for a client, and can vouch for a comprehensive kit, everything supplied and a great looking and terrific sailing boat when complete. It wasn't difficult either. My father, aged 70 something, was so impressed with what I built and how they sailed, ease of rigging, stability etc, he bought a kit for himself and had it sent to New Zealand. His is just being painted now. Enough said, just go and have a look at the Scruffie Marine site. Chris.

Happy New Year Graham, I'm all set to take on another kayak or three. The ply is stacked in the shed ready to go. If you send me the Grand Diva plans I'll make a start on it, and send me the Baby Diva plans as well and I'll give it the test build. At last count I have a total of 23 Divas of various sizes to build - subject to testing of each model of course. It's going to be a busy year or two!!! Cheers, Chris.

Graham, I have just ordered a stack of 4mm ply - the challenge to you is whether you can deliver the Grand Diva plans before the ply arrives. Just kidding about the challenge, I'm too busy working on my current project to use the ply I've ordered. I'm putting the ply aside until this project is finished, and by which time the plans should be to hand. There is a lot of interest in the baby divas, and one quite firm enquiry for a Grand Diva. There's going to be Divas up and down the East Coast of Australia at this rate! Cheers, Chris.

I used a flat backed oval shape of aluminium on one small sailing boat I built, and the designer of that particular craft specifies it on all his designs. The edges of it I faired onto the stem and keel, after glueing and screwing it on. It looked fine, and stopped a lot of dings in the wood. I even have one on my current project, a 24' trailer sailor which is also from the same designer. I feel it is an important piece of protection, and I would include something of that nature on all my sail boats. Regards, Chris.

Nice job on your boat, richenry. I have the plans for a 10' 'single piece' version, and I intend to build it soon. I hope mine will look as good as yours. I reckon your oars will be fine - I had 2 piece oars on a previous dinghy, and the connectors were a black plastic (nylon or PVC?) material - I am not sure which - but they lasted me a few years, took a lot of abuse and were still fine when I sold that boat. Being stainless steel however, yours should last forever! Chris.

Hi Ric, If you haven't already done so, go to the B and B Yachts web site, and read the two parts of my article about building my two. The articles are called 'Twins'. Graham has set them up as pages to read directly from the site. There might be some info in them that helps you, especially in the second one as it covers that stage you are up to now. Regards, Chris.

Hi Guys, Just chipping in with a comment about something I once saw on another US boat builder's site. The builder had finished his interior surfaces with a product called Flow Coat (flo coat?). It was an epoxy type paint that went straight over you 1st or 2nd coat of encapsulation epoxy. The finish was stunning - very smooth and glossy - just what you want inside lockers, heads etc. It brightened up those dark areas, and with such a smooth finish was an easy 'wipe to clean' surface. On another tack, our local epoxy manufacturer has a couple of pre-coat ply treatments. One is a type of thinners called TPRDA which stands for Timber Preservative Reactant Diluent Additive. This is mixed into the epoxy and used as a first coating on the ply. Helps the epoxy soak into and seal the wood fibres. The other product, Timberdure, is a 2 pack very thin epoxy which soaks into the ply more than just plain epoxy. Epoxy then just goes on straight over the top. I've used the Timberdure, and it doesn't stiffen the sheets as much as plain epoxy. I Timberdure coated the whole sheets, then cut them out, joined etc. to make the boat, and then epoxied them once they were complete. I used that method to build a couple of small sailboats and they turned out fine. You should have similar products available in the US. Regards, Chris.

Ricardo, That looks impressive, and I remember that stage well. Take care bending your deck panels over those beams - it's a lot of stress on the ply, and you will need to relieve that stress with some heat. I also found I needed some bracing under the beams down to the hull, and across to the chines to help hold it all still while the deck panels were fitted. I hot melt glued in some cross pieces to achieve it. I notice there are two joins in your panels - does that mean you are building a Grand Diva? Or are you just economising on your ply? Keep it up - the finished kayak is well worth the effort you are going to. Seeing these pictures gets me excited - I can't wait to start my next ones - all four of them!! We are going to have one each - a Grand Diva for me, a standard one for my wife, and when the plans are released, a couple of baby ones for my two boys. Good luck and happy building. Chris.

Greg and Kudzu, I emailed some pictures to both of you today. My photo editing software was playing up and I am re-loading it next week. Then I will be able to create a page of it all. I have trouble finding time to sit at my computer - I'm always in the shed! I have a Guillemot Expedition Single stripper kayak and a Bateau CX19 cabin runabout 'on the bench' at present, so I'm busy. My wife has expressed an interest in having a Diva too, so I'm going to make a 'family of 4' - a Grand Diva for me, a standard Diva for her, and two Baby Divas for my two young boys. Graham is developing the Grand Diva as an 18' (or was that 18' 6"?) version, and slightly narrower than the standard Diva. It should be a real load carrying version that will track like an arrow. Plans are not yet on sale, but will be soon. The plans are being 'tweaked' now a couple of prototypes are finished. Cheers, Chris.

Hi Graham, The magazine is published - the first part of the article has hit the streets. I have a copy of the magazine in the post to you, along with a CD of the article (in word) and the photos in the article, plus a second CD of all of the construction and launching/paddling photos I took - over 100 of them! You can use/post any that seem appropriate. Frank thought he could reduce them to make them 'forum friendly', so perhaps you could send the CD on to him when you have finished with it. The two owners are using their Diva's a lot, and enjoying them. My son is anxious to get his own 'baby Diva', and I'm looking forward to building that as well as one full sized one for myself. Are the plans available yet, for the Grand Diva? Chris.

Hi all, I too have been looking for a set of plans for proper small kayak. There are numerous kits available, but the cost of shipping to Aussie is going to make it too expensive. The little Pygmy's at 10' and 13' look about right, but they do not supply plans of them. And all other childrens kayaks I've seen that have plans available are for 'toy' kayaks. Perhaps it's time Graham deigned a mini Diva for the children of Diva owners. My children want a small one each, and I have had numerous requests for me to build child-sized proper kayaks from potential Diva buyers. If mum and Dad have a real kayak, why can't the rest of the family. There would be quite a ready market for some little Divas. Just to let you know that the picture in Nemo's post is one of the two I built, getting taken home after it's first launching. Nemo is a friend and he is giving me a hand to down-size my photos for posting. Watch this space.... Cheers, Chris.

Greg, Graham charged me a royalty of $8 per kayak after buying the first plans set at full price. He doesn't need to supply another set of plans, so there is no postage, handling or printing costs for him to have to charge you for. Works out good for the builder. Doing two at once was not a big hassle if you have the space. I could do something on one, and while it was drying, do the same on the next. Whatever troubles you find and work out are automatically easier on the second, so the second one goes together faster and easier although you still build them both at the pace of building the first one. Having both at once out the front of my workshop was a real traffic stopper, especially once they were structurally complete. Best of luck with yours.

Sorry Guys, I haven't figured out how to reduce my pictures to be small enough both in physical pixels and file size for the forum yet. More to the point, I haven't had the time to figure it out. I still intend creating a website/album of my Diva construction, but if Graham can publish what I've sent, then that will be a help to anyone interested in building one of them until I get myself sorted out. This hocus pocus with computers is a little out of my league - give me some timber and glue anyday. But take it from me - the Diva is not overly difficult to build, and the resultant kayak a stunner - the two I built are much admired. Chris.

Search for Diva in the forum, or find posts by me, and you will get my responses on building them. I intend to publish a link to a site that will show the construction and launching. The two I built are both great. They track really well, and paddle effortlessly. Chris.

Hi everyone, The Diva twins are completed, launched and living with their new owners, who are rapt with them. They look beautiful, paddle effortlessly, and track straight and true. The hatches do not leak either! Interesting to note that while empty, they float so high that the chine does not even get wet. A couple of plastic or fibreglass kayaks of a similar shape look nothing beside these gleaming wooden creations. For kayaks of the same weight, I know which one I would sooner have! The 'tupperware' paddlers will be envious every time these Divas are on the water. Now I am not so busy for a short while, I'll organise a web page of photos on the construction through to finishing and paddling. Cheers, Chris.

Frank, Mine are built heavy. I used 4mm Meranti which is heavier than Okume, they have a hefty adjustable footbrace in them, I completely glassed the outside of the hull, I glassed the whole cockpit area (inwale to inwale, bulkhead to bulkhead), painted (1 each primer, undercoat and top coat) the whole insides of the hull, and have added the rubrails to the outside. I am also heavy handed with the resin - my hulls were pre-resined with two coats before glassing, and have a minimum of 4 coats of resin over the glass - no filler added - and 3 on the decks before varnishing. The hull is painted with 2 coats each of primer and undercoat, and 3 top coats. Six coats of varnish went onto the decks. The kayak would be amply strong enough un-glassed (glassing is an option to do anyway), is fine with 3mm decks, could utilise lightweight Yakima (or similar) footbraces, and leave off the optional rub rails - rounding the gunwale over instead. The number of coats of resin, and each part of the painting system could be varied too - I got a reasonably good finish on the insides with far fewer coats of paint. You would have the benefit of a beautiful looking boat weighing well under 35lbs, if you did those things. Regards, Chris.

Hi all, Frank, the best I can tell, the boats weigh about 40#. I hopped onto the scales and picked one up, then deducted my own weight. They are quite heavy, but I have purposely built them heavy for the abuse they will get in the hands of their novice paddler owners. I have just given the decks their 4th coat of varnish, with the 5th and last to go on tonight. They look superb. The paddle shafts are under construction to Nick Shades design, and I already have the blades cut out to the pattern in the Diva plans. The deck hardware, hatch straps etc. will go on next week, and they will be complete. I'll get some photos posted for you all to see the construction steps until finished boats. Chris.