First, even before we showed up, Leigh had already made the 3-laminate White (?) Ash coamings for us. He also had all the frames cut out (marine grade plywood) for us; as well as glued our paddle 'blanks' (pine and red cedar) together. So all of that saved us an immense amount of work.
To the best of my memory, the schedule I followed was:
Sunday evening we spent an hour or two sanding the rough edges on the frames where the lashings would cross.
Monday was a long day for me -- 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (with 30 minutes each for 3 meals). All day I worked on lashing the frames and stringers; and began tying in deck beams. This was an extremely long day for me and I was exhausted by the end of it.
Tuesday morning I finished up the lashings, including the floor boards; and coated the entire frame and coaming with water-based polyurethane. In the afternoon we paddled (in supplied two-seaters) a couple of hours at Shad Landing in Pocomoke River State Park. After dinner I started working on trimming down my paddle with some wood planers, but did not accomplish too much as I found this hand tool difficult to use. (Later in the week, I switched to an electric grinder and made better progress.)
Wednesday morning we installed the foot braces and draped/cut the polyester skin. Before lunch I began the running stitch for the deck seam. This should have been simple but for whatever reason I could not keep the stitches tracking in a straight line. At one point I also had to 'back out' about 15" of stitches because I had inadvertently caught/stitched in a piece of overflowing fabric. Not happy at this point.I was also stressed as I was afraid I did not have sufficient fabric to cover the bow. In the afternoon we paddled several winding tidal creeks and into a shallow, open bay. After dinner, I returned to the lab to complete the running stitch and then stayed until 11:00 p.m. to finish off the whip/blanket stitch. As Leigh assured me I would, I had enough fabric. With Leigh's help I successfully 'gathered' the fabric around the bow without creating too many wrinkles. At some point I gave the coaming another two coats of polyurethane.
Thursday morning we installed and stitched in the coaming after doing a bit of final sanding where things needed to be rounded off on the frame. Immediately after lunch I used the heat gun to shrink the fabric and then painted the skin with an undercoat of white latex Kilz. (Leigh had previously demonstrated how much heat it took to burn a hole in the kayak's skin.) I skipped the afternoon group paddle today to Jane's Island State Park in the Chesapeake Bay as I needed some 'personal' time to go shopping and sight-seeing in Chincoteague/Assateague and take in NASA's visit center. In the evening I returned to the lab to put a coat of white-gloss Rustoleum on the underside of the kayak. I also took the grinder outside to whittle down my paddle and gave it a coat of polyurethane before leaving the work area at a reasonable time.
Friday morning we had passes to get on to the restricted area of NASA's Wallops Island at which we searched for shells. After lunch I put Rustoleum on the top of the kayak and gave my paddle another coating. After dinner we went for dessert at the Island Creamery for homemade ice cream. Two scoops of Pony Tracks for me with hot fudge and whipped cream.
Saturday -- more coats on the paddle; and more free time to go into town for shopping. In the afternoon we installed the back band. After dinner we went for a sunset paddle near the area where they swim the ponies across the channel each July.
Sunday morning we loaded up our kayaks to for a short paddle -- basically for a lesson on getting in and out of them and gain confidence we would not capsize them. Prior to doing so we cleaned up the lab. We also cleaned the lab mid-week to get all the saw dust swept up before painting. After the 30-minute paddle, we returned to campus to secure the kayaks to our vehicles and had a final lunch together at Noon.
Now that I am home, I still need to put some deck rigging and painters on the kayak. In preparation, I have given the top another coat of Rustoleum. At some point I also want to put a second coat on the bottom as well.
All in all -- It was a challenging but very satisfying experience.
Laurie
