Good to hear it's coming along.

The cockpit apron (big flat ring you get in through) is glued in as part of the decks. All of the forms should be covered in tape or plastic so they don't get glued to the deck, otherwise it will be rather hard to pull the deck off. Check out photo 58 on the construction gallery. What you might want to do is trace out a concave version of the form to rest the upside down deck on whilst you glass it, photo 53.

I had a thin gap down one side. I trimmed down some slivers of planking, and fitted them in through the underside. You might need to trim away a little of the cove to  push the sliver through.

Thanks for replying, but not sure I understand your response.

- are you saying that the cockpit form is attached after the planking process during the fibreglassing process ( the form comes off separately from the stripped deck as it is not attached)? The pictures seem to suggest it is attached somehow when the deck is taken off..

- I see page 58 and it looks like it is attached.  But how?

- whatever the gap, will the glassine fix it? It is at least 1 mill wide. 

Thanks again for replying. 

struggler

I am also building a Shearwater 17 Hybrid.  The cockpit apron is simply the first piece of the deck to be placed on the forms and not permanently attached to them in any way. Each strip butts up against and is glued to the apron so that when you pull the deck off the forms, the apron comes with it.

I hope this answers your question.

Mike

I see our confusion now, terminology rather than different approaches. 

Forms are vertical, and temporarily go across the hull. Not stuck to deck.

the apron is flat, permanently part of the deck. Ends of Strips will be glued to the apron as you go. 

Ok, terminology is the issue. My forms are all covered in plastic and I know they are temporary. Cockpit apron is what I was referring to and the answer seems to be that this is attached to the strips by wood glue. This must be a very slight connection to the strips as the strips barely connect to the apron (there is no bead/cove connection). The manual does not mention anything about this connection.  So, thanks for answer but I am dubious but will give it a go. Thanks for the feedback!

On the other question, will the glassing process (bottom then top) cover any holes or gaps in the laid planks? If I fill these gaps with some type of resin paste I don't think it will look any good but maybe the gap won't look good anyway if not fixed?

Struggler - Australia

I agree the joint to the apron seems improbable, but it does work. Cut the strips to an interference fit (just over length). I then pull sandpaper up and down between the end of the strip and the apron, sand facing the strip. This profiles the end of the strip with the right bevel and curve to give a lovely tight joint. Aim to have the top of the strip flush with the top of the apron. There will be a step on the underside which you can fillet later. 

On the gaps. I would whittle some strips to fill them in.  It will be more satisfying than epoxy filler. Don't leave the gap till the glassing. You will end up with a big air pocket which will bubble out either when you glass, or later when the sun comes out. Hairline gaps between strips that you can't see through can be filled with epoxy/wood flour mix though. 

I built the Night Heron hybrid last year and encountered the same problem. My first strips matched up perfect with apron but went downhill from there. I ended up getting some carbon fiber to cover my mistakes, and frankly terrible job, butting the strips up against the apron. What I found however is that it is just a very slow tedious process to get it right. You really have to take your time and if a strip looks really bad just redo it. I became inpatient and frustratred. Looking back I regognize that was my error. I was doing it right. Had I taken my time, and really concentrated on my work, the result would have been much better. I also had some gaps that I filled with wood filler but I had some smears that did not show up until I applied varnish. The best advise is to use a sliver of the same colored strip, if you have it, to fill your gaps. The small ones can be filled with epoxy but they too show up when the varnish is applied. I have built the SW S&G and just ordered the Arctic Hawk. I can do S&G boats really well but find the hybrid/strip boats a challenge. I plan to try again if I can sell lone of my S & G boats to buy another one. I use my boats a lot and that is the most imporatnt thing. I felt I did a horrible job on my hybrid but get all sorts of compliments on it when I take it out. My advise is take a day or two off from working on it and just keep in mind it takes some time to get it right.  Only you will notice the real goofs, no one else will. Mark

To 'struggler' - Australia.

Hi there from sunny Queensland, 

I'm intending to start on a hybrid Shearwater 17 after Christmas (cooler weather then), but I'm having difficulty sourcing bead-and-cove cedar strips for the strip deck.

Would much appreciate knowing where you obtained yours, and contact details..

Going to the Grafton Wooden Boat Show this weekend (Nobv 2nd) - hope to get plenty of info, ideas, inspiration!

Many thanks..

Lawrence Watson - SE Q'ld

All

Thanks for all the replies, it has been very helpful in me continuing this journey. I feel a bit more confident and I don't feel I am as crap at building this than I have been, although I am on world record pace for slowest build.

L of S - I purchased my full kit including all strips from the CLC dealer in Wollongong, which has now closed down. CLC have now associated themselves with Denman Marine in Tasmania (http://www.denmanmarine.com.au/) who I have not used yet, but plan to to purchase more wood glue and resin. I would think that is where you can get full kits sent to you. 

Cheers 

struggler

On gaps...you can plug them, squeeze them or fill them.

I think the best way to plug them is with wood while you are stripping. I'm talking mostly about the kinds of gaps where you can actually see between the strips. I took to cutting very small strips and simply pushing them into place and then using tape to hold them while the glue dried. 

Remember, too, that you can glue small strips of wood on either side of some gaps and clamp the offending strips back together, and then plane away the glued strips. One of Nick's videos shows this technique.

Small gaps can be filled by saving your sanding dust and mixing it in with Cell-O-Fill or other cellulose filler to get to the best color match possible. This is done before you lay down the fiberglass. In some cases you can just use wood flour, which ends up a medium brown.

I had lots of problems with gaps, especially as the edges of some strips flaked away as I sanded. I also had a problem that, once I fiberglassed the deck and hull, I had messy drips and small threads of fiberglasss that I needed to sand or plane away from the edges, and that messed up the tight fit of the hull and deck. As much as I tried, I finally filled a few gaps with Cell-O-Fill and wood flour.

I fretted a lot that I had made a mess of things, but once I finished my Petrel, people never seemed to notice all those areas I thought I messed up. They just see a beautiful wooden kayak. 

Good luck.

struggler - thanks for letting me know your sources - I have been in contact with Denman but their kayak kits seem to be made of Unaffordium!   In any event, I always intended to build from plans - I'll keep looking!

Good luck with the rest of the buuild - you'll have a lovely craft on completion, and your current difficulties and frustrations will only add to your final satisfaction, I'm sure.

L of S

Someone gave me a Shearwater hybrid that had a home made fiberglass coaming on it that was too small for me to comfortably fit in.

Since the deck was already completed, I cut the old fiberglass coaming off,  pressed the apron down on the deck traced around it with a pencil, cut it out with a jigsaw, and wired the cockpit apron into the hole with copper wire.  I then tacked it in with epoxy, pulled the wires, and glassed the underside, then glassed the top side and put the wood coaming on.

Not the way the book says to do it, but I had to do it that way because the boat was already completed.   IMO it might be easier to just build the strip deck then cut the cockpit opening out later rather than trying to fit each of those little strips to the cockpit apron and the holes where I wired it together are barely noticeable.

Anyone else done it this way on a Hybrid?

Rob C.

stitching the apron to the planking is a great idea. No matter how closely I measure the bloody planks, I end up with gaps of 1 to 3 mills between the apron and the end of the strip - drives me nuts. I still do not understand how the kit expects it to be done. I have resolved to just do the best I can and then figure out how to attach the apron later. 

as I have never built a boat before and have never done carpenters work, I am just trying to complete one step at a time. I am somewhat blind to the next step ( although I have read the manual from cover to cover ten times and looked at the expert videos, they really just glaze over the details or show experts whittling a piece of wood to perfection in 10 seconds where it takes me 30 minutes with the saw and sanding and I still get a gap). But I did this to learn and have decided to do my best and then fix it best I can later when it does not work, like the apron connection. 

i have been strip planking for the last 3 months and about 60% complete. Nervous about apron attachment and taking the top off and back on, not to mention deck hatches and skeg, but am determined.

thanks for the comment and the great idea.

cheers

Struggler

The trick with the strips is to whittle the points down first, and shove them in snugly. Mark the apron end of the strip with it in place. Trim the strip a little too long, then put it back in. Sand it down as I described a few posts up, with the sandpaper trapped between strip and apron, and you'll get a tight fit every time.

Don't try to cut both ends of the strip by measuring and dead reckoning, as there will be too much variation at the pointy end.

I made it easy for myself.  Purists will not like that I used a router table with the proper bit to put the bead on the pointy ends of the strip and get a perfect fit there.  As for the cockpit apron end, after getting nearly the right length, using a Dremel with a sanding drum allowed me to get the perfect curvature and fit after the bow or stern ends were put in position first.

struggler - do you have the Nick Schade masterwork (book) on 'The Strip- Built Sea Kayak".   It explains all...

If you cannot get a copy quickly (but CLC or Amazon have them, I'm sure) call me and I'll mail you mine on loan - I won't be starting on my SW hybrid until early next year.

L of S   Q'ld 3206 8493

Thanls Lawrence, I don't have the book but will keep my eye out for it.  I have finished stripping the back deck and now focused on finishing the front, so am moving forward. I know it is not even close to perfect but keen to finish this step and move on to the next challenge. 

Cheers

Struggler