Hi all, it’s Dave up here in Rochester, NY posting for the first time!

My family and I have been borrowing kayaks from friends to use on our annual vacation up in the 1000 Islands region of the St. Lawrence River for the past several years.  I have come to realize that I’m ready to take things to the next level.

I built a minimost monohull hydroplane for my boys four years ago, and absolutely fell in love with boat building.  A next boat build was really never a question of “if” but of “when”.  I did some research and decided that the CLC Shearwater Sport would be my next boat.   I found an amazing source of okoume plywood (same mill in France that CLC uses) right on the other side of town, so I’ll be building from plans.  In fact, I received those plans and everything else I’ll need other than the ply on Monday!

Let the new journey begin!  Well, right after I finish remodeling mom’s basement anyway!

I can tell already that while some aspects in building this kayak will be simpler than in the minimost, other aspects will be considerably more intricate.  With that in mind I may as well start with my questions now.

1)    Regarding scarf joints, I’m guessing that the full scale drawings are set up for a butt on all of the long pieces and that I need to add the length of the scarf to the drawings for everything to come out right.  Is this correct?

2)    I’m planning on using Solar-Lux Stain on my boat, and was wondering about how to handle filling in all of the stitching holes.  Is it possible to stain the wood flour used to thicken the epoxy?  I have seen others post questions about this, but I haven’t found any answers.

3)    Regarding the Solar-Lux Stain, I was hoping to hear any helpful hints others who have used this product could share with me.  Other that Nick Schade’s article and video, I haven’t had any luck finding information that will help with my specific concerns.  I have no experience with stain (I know this product is actually a dye), and from what I have read the process seems to be a science in itself.  None the less, I’m really feeling committed to staining (two contrasting colors) at this point, and will experiment with scraps until I feel reasonably comfortable before applying it to my cut-out pieces.  Any personal experiences people are willing to share with me would be greatly appreciated.

Well that’s plenty for my first post!  I look forward to “meeting” many of you over the coming months, and to learning from your experiences.

Dave