Shearwater Sport Launch

In July, my friend Pete came with me to the Wooden Boat School in Maine to build a Shearwater Sport. It's amazing what can get done in a week under the expert guidance of Eric Schade.  I came home with a kayak ready for finishing.  Of course, "ready for finishing" means I was about halfway there. Anyway, I persevered and finally finished it in time for Labor Day weekend and Pete helped me put it in the water.

After spending a lot of time on the CLC web site and this forum, I decided to try some of the things I learned here on this kayak.  Here are the modifications:
1. The kayak has hidden footbrace bolts, which would have been a lot easier to do if I could have done it before putting deck on the hull, but there was no time in the week long class.  Once I got home, I was able to get them in by tipping the kayak on its side--one side at a time.  I think it was worth the effort to eliminate the bolts through the hull.

2. I also put an onlay on the rear deck.  To do this, Eric just glued it to the deck with superglue and then I covered it with fiberglass and epoxy. 

3. For the bow, I brought along a graphic image printed on rice paper.  I put epoxy on the kayak first, and then put on the paper image before covering everything with fiberglass and more epoxy. The rice paper blends into the wood which makes the image stand out.

4. I put fabric with a fish scale pattern in the bottom of the cockpit and then covered it with fiberglass.  Unfortunately, the pattern is rather subtle and doesn't show up in photos.  I don't spend much time in fabric stores and was a bit overwhelmed with the choices.

We had a great time in Maine, and the Shearwater Sport is really fun to paddle.
-Wayne