soitios

Andrew, I put a lot of hours into the build. Guess? Somewhere around 70. I took a lot longer than most people, I think. I drew out the frames on cad, printing was tricky, took me a couple tries, and i even made one of the frames incorrect so I had to remake it. Most of the time was just preparing the materials and painting. Assembly is the easy and fun part. If I had to do it again, I feel sure I could do it in half the time. Thank you for your strap recommendation. I'll definitely have to try a pair!! My car does not have a roof rack. I need to get one. Actually my car needs a valve job so if I can't fix it myself I think I'm gonna have to get a new car soon, I'll be on the lookout for a roof rack to match. I realized that I had not wrapped up my build topic with photos of the finished product!!!! Enjoy! Finishing up Sewing, it went quickly and was fun. The fact that the 8oz fabric is loose did not bother me. Kayak, with sewing complete. I used the lexel caulking along the base of the sewing to fill up any holes I made. I love lexel! It's so flexible, and completely clear. I found it easy to paint. Maiden voyage in the slough. It accelerates quickly and is pretty responsive. My only complaint is the seat. I need a better one. The basic one I have right now makes my butt sore after 30 min. Very light, easy to carry. I love this.

I just built the 12' Freebee, got 2 quarts, two colors, red for top, grey for bottom. I've applied 3 coats on top and bottom of the boat and I still have a few pinholes i need to cover. 2 quarts was the perfect amount for me, I have a comfortable amount of paint left.

Something else I wanted to ask everyone about. After I skinned the kayak, I used an iron to tighten everything up. I was pretty happy with how tight it was. Then I took it on the highway before paint, it got wet at least 3 separate times, dried thoroughly in between. Looking at it today and setting up for paint, I saw that it was very loose, possibly even more loose than when I originally sewed it on!! I thought I read somewhere that Nylon loosens up when it gets wet, but Polyester doesn't? Does painting make polyester stay tight?

I think I did two things wrong. First, I didn't securely strap around the kayak. I don't think just throwing the straps over the kayak is enough. Now, when I strap over the kayak, I reach the strap inside of the coaming and go through the frame a couple of times, adding a lot more friction. Secondly, I didn't securely strap the rear of the kayak to my car's hitch. I just hooked onto the hitch, when i should have securely tied to it. After bouncing on the highway, the hook came loose, and the canoe slowly made it's way over the side of my car... eeeek!

Update: I finished sewing the kayak and transported it, in the rain, to the place where I'm gonna paint it. Everything got wet but seem to be completely dry and looking great now. There was a hiccup......... I was using a couple of those foam kayak blocks (on amazon for $22). I thought I had everything strapped in really well.... but the rear strap came off my car's rear bumper, and the kayak swung to the side of the car on the highway!!! Imagine my horror when after hearing cars honk at me looking to the right to see my precious kayak on the SIDE of my car instead of the TOP!!! .. The kayak blocks were lost on the highway, ripped to shreds by oncoming traffic. I used a foam mat I had instead, and strapped the kayak down to it, this time winding the straps around the middle frames. Talk about having my heart in my throat!

I had a question about sealing pull holes. See the photo below. I just finished putting in the coaming today, tomorrow I'll do the whip stitch. I got the idea to use a bead of caulk along the running stitch before I do the whip stitch to seal up all the little holes I made, particularly in the bow and stern edge. Anyone tried this? ... is this overkill?

Here come the photos of the frame. I learned a lot putting this together, in some ways I wish i could start over ... I was in a hurry so I made some quick foot rests out of wood like I saw someone else on the forum do. It definitely works, but it's a clumsy solution. Next time I'll buy footrests. I was scared for the longest time that when I released the frames from the strongback everything was going to flex on me, ruining all my work, but to my surprise, nothing moved! The frame is quite stiff.

Point well taken, thanks Dave! I don't think I have time for decorative knots on the freeB 12 i'm building... but I wish I did there are so many awesome ideas.

Good to know, thanks guys!! Looking forward in my build to the rigging: are there any good webpages that describe assembling lifelines and bungee rigging? What's a good source for the tabs that are used off of the gunwales?

Dave, what are some different ways of decorating painters?

Thanks Dave, that helps. I was also curious about how the frames lash to the stringers. Does anyone rasp the stringer locations on the frames to be tapered to accept the stringers better? Lashing really pulls the stringer into the frame. Because the frame is much harder wood than the stringer, the edge of the frame bites into the stringer. If the frame was tapered, there would be better contact between it and the stringer.

At last, I've lashed up the entire frame! The lashing itself was a lot easier than I thought. Like Jeff suggested, I pulled some artificial sinew until it broke to get a feel for how much stress it can take, then just went at it... The hardest part was fitting the bow and stern as well as rasping the stringers to fit the bow and stern. The first couple ones I didn't do very well - I got the hang of it after that, but it still took me at least half an hour per joint. I'll get some pictures of the frame up really soon - I'm going to skin and paint this week! About skinning. In this video (starting at 2:10), Jeff describes sewing the bow and stern without a seam, tugging on the fabric as he goes so as to not require a seam on the bow. How well does this work with 8 ounce polyester?

That looks awesome, thanks for sharing! I like the dadoes - simplifies construction incredibly. How long is it?

Has anyone tried using this Rustoleum marine top-side paint? .... Great price and good color choices, the label says it can be thinned with mineral spirits. Kayaks are stored out of water, dry, so I imagine the fact that it is a top-side paint won't matter too much? ... I ordered a couple of quarts, so I guess we'll see!!

Does each roll you're using have 400 ft? There are 100 yard rolls (133 ft) and 300 yard rolls (900 ft) where i buy.