heneksja

So it has been a while since I started this thread. Life got in the way. But I got the kayak ready for the water--although haven't launched it yet. What I ended up doing was getting the fabric I got from Kudzu craft and getting it printed. One shop said they could do a dye sublimation print on the large fabric. But after keeping my fabric for a couple of months, he finally said the width wouldn't work on his machine. He had a machine that has the dye pattern on paper and fabric on separate rollers and then they roll together to print. The machine was wide enough for the dye paper, but wasn't set up to take up my wide fabric. Another shop (Ironmark in Annapolis Junction, MD) had a big flatbed inkjet printer. It could take my fabric--any extra just hung out the side of the machine--but only could print 48" x48" at a time. But they can move the fabric and print again. So I had it printed in 5 sections. The first and the last sections of 32"x48" and the middle sections on 48"x48". It costs $362 to print. I checked out a sample before hand, and there didn't seem to be a problem with the finish adhering to the printed fabric. Although time will tell how it holds up. I used this water based poly acrylic clear marine finish on it called CrabCoat from a little outfit called CrystalLac. It seemed to go on pretty well--and was very clear. I had some problems with seams leaking though. So I had this can of Flexseal--you know that stuff they advertise on TV. I ended up using that on then bow and stern and on the top seam. The can I got was white. So you can see from the pictures where I put it. I discovered after I had already did a coat that I could brush it on the seams and then just wipe it off. It stayed in the crevices but wiped off the flat fabric pretty easily. The photo of the whole kayak is before I put all the Flexseal on. The other two photos are of the before and after wipe of the Flexseal. I will post a launch pic, once I launch it.

There does seem to be some confusion about the product I bought. Apparently I didn't really get the marine grade Crabcoat. So I thought I would go with the Dura-Tuff that you were suggesting. But alas, as far as I can tell they don't make it anymore, or it is just out-of-stock everywhere. The link you supplied doesn't show a price and an "add to cart". Other places say it is out-of-stock.

If I wouldn't have already bought this stuff, I might have used the Dura-Tuff. Not sure about the dye and solvents. That might be the case that the dyes would be better with water base, but I didn't actually think of that. Frankly, I was in the Woodcraft store and told the guys what I was doing, and that is what they recommended. I didn't see Jeff's post about Dura-Tuff until after I bought the stuff. I am going to try it on my sample. But again, how would I know if it is going to work or not. Will it be obvious if it isn't adhering to the cloth, or isn't going to last? By the way the company got back to me about the product name. Apparently some distributors wanted to call it something other than Crabcoat, but it is the same thing except for the label. So it is marine grade, UV protection, and flexible. So all that is claimed here http://www.crystalac.info/crabcoat---marine.html applies to the stuff I got. Sounds like an interesting family owned company.

Has anyone tried CyrstalLac Exterior Clear Gloss finish on polyester. I am planning on getting my cloth printed with a dye-sublimation process using a Maryland flag motif. I got a sample of the printed cloth that I am planning on testing with my finish. Someone at Woodcraft convinced me that this CyrstalLac stuff would be good. I am looking at their web site and don't see the exact stuff that I got listed and got a request out to them to see if what I got is the same as their Crabcoat stuff. But if anyone has experience with their products, I would like to know. Also, I don't know how I am going to verify whether the stuff works or not based on the test on my sample cloth. I can put it on and make sure that it seems to adhere to be fabric, and doesn't crack when the fabric is stretched. But out side of that, what can I do to assess durability in any kind of rigorous or semi-rigorous way? I think I read in another post that subjecting it to heat may not be a fair test. Is the only real way to test is do the whole kayak and take it out on the water for a year and assess the condition?

Thanks for the info. Maybe the next edition of the manual would correct the numbers and give the info in more detail like this. Really the only thing that is wrong in the manual, is it didn't say anything about the keel at all, so it implied to me that the keel must be 5/8" and be part of the "rest of". But phrases like "set of" and "rest of" aren't much help when you are going to the lumber store. It took us a while to realize that "one set of" meant a pair and we had to get the frames our to see how many "rest of" were. Giving lengths would be even better. I did have a general question about the sizes, which prompted me to ask the question in the first place. So are the stringers, chines and gunwales supposed to be just a little proud of the frames? I gather it is better to be that way, than the other way around. I guess that would be a wear point of the stringers were recessed on the frames and maybe look wrong too on the finished kayak. We were already made 3/4" stringers and figured if they stuck out a bit, it wouldn't really matter.

So the manual says (revision 5.0) for the Firefly: Gunwales are 1-1/2" x 5/8" one set of chine stringers are 1" x 5/8" the rest of the stringers are 5/8" x 5/8" But the depth of the frame slots on the Firefly kits for the keel is more like 1". Other stringers are more like 3/4" deep. So should ignore what the manually says and make the keel stringers at 1" and the rest at 3/4"? Is is generally true that stringers should be either flush or slightly proud of the frame pieces? I was a little confused when Jeff Horton answered a question about the Firefly in the "oversize notches" thread with a statement about the Short Shot. Are the stringer dimensions all the same on both models? I asked similar questions in that thread, but there was no response. It is an old thread, so maybe no one looks at old threads.

Any advice on stitching up the fabric for the Firefly? If I do the double cord stitching with the premium polyester, I heard where you said that might be hard especially around the bifurcated bow. So could I start with making kind of like a sock with the stitching on the inside and fit over the bow to start with and work from there. Although I am not sure exactly where the "sock" would stop. Seems like doing that double cord stitch would be hard when you are doing it over the bow and stern pieces anyway since it would get hard to tuck the ends in when there is no free area underneath for the fabric. But with the bifurcated bow it would make it even harder. Do you use a different technique over the bow?

So my book says (revision 5.0) for the Firefly: Gunwales are 1-1/2" x 5/8" one set of chine stringers are 1" x 5/8" the rest of the stringers are 5/8" x 5/8" But the depth of the frame slots on the Firefly kits for the keel and top stringers are more like 3/4". So should the top and keel stringers both be 3/4"? By the way, on the kit, the stringers are all 5/8" wide except for the chine stringers that are 1" and the 1 1/2" Gunwales. So I don't get what Pilotlon said about the 5/8" width rattling. My problem is more that 5/8" stringers would recess in the top and bottom frame notches. I was a little confused when you answered a question about the Firefly with a statement about the Short Shot. Maybe you know they are the same, but that isn't obvious to me.

I mis-spoke when I said onion paper, I meant to say rice paper. But the only reason they say rice paper is that it is supposed to disappear better. Yeah on the clc boat I put under the fiberglass. So with SOF, it would just be the fabric, the paper on top and then the finish. Or would a thin coat of epoxy with the paper work on a SOF? So no one here has actually done it. Yes I can try, but how would I know if it was going to hold up or not?

Thanks everyone. I don't think the disrespect thing applies to state flags like the US flag. There are so many things in MD that use that pattern. We got crabs with MD flags for instance. But to know the material is too light to use as a skin is what I was trying to find out. Painting may be the way to go then. And like bwhip says, I could make it flow better that way anyway. Just seems like a lot of trouble to paint the boat like that. But at least the flag isn't that hard to draw. So what about an extra layer with a paper flags? On my CLC wooden kayak I did onion skin decals under the epoxy, is there any reason that wouldn't work for SOF. I am thinking making paper flags and position just the way I want them on top of the skin before the clear finish. With epoxy, the paper just disappears when applying on top of the onion skin. It works better when the pattern is printed on the underside of the paper--the epoxy kind of interacted with the ink when it was face up. But that is epoxy, not sure it works the same for the SOF finishes.

I want to make a SOF kayak--leaning to the firefly design--using one or more Maryland flags for the skin. If you don't know the crazy MD flag google it. It is kind of a wild design with history to boot. I am looking at sites that sell flags and I can't tell much about the material. You can order in nylon or polyester. When they offer polyester they might say something like 2-ply polyester. They sometimes give some stats about how durable it is for outdoor use, but nothing specific like 8 oz. Anyone know anything about flag material, or can tell me what exactly I should be asking the flag sellers so I can find out whether it is suitable? My inclination is to go with polyester because I want it to maintain a tight fit and don't like the idea of nylon that would get wrinkly when wet. Then there is the other question. Must I buy one big flag or can I stitch a couple together? The MD flag kind of lends itself to extending--its already a repeating pattern--what's a couple more repeats going to hurt?. One could take two 5'X8'flags and sew together end to end and get a 5'x16' piece which may not quite be enough, depending on the boat plan--maybe three 4'x6' flags or some combination. But must I have a continuous piece of fabric to do this? Can stitched pieces be below the water line? Aesthetically, I wouldn't want to chop off the pattern on the top of the boat.