Re: What did I do?

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Jul 12, 2006

Sounds to me like the perfect way to dip a toe in the water, as it were, for a guy who thinks about building a boat 'one of these years'! Really oughn't be a terribly difficult thing to do. Got a random orbital sander?

I never mess with heat in kayak demolition. I much prefer saws, chisels, rasps, and the good ol' ROS loaded with 60-grit. I could make an established coaming become a mere matter of history in half an hour, easy.

If you mess up the deck too much, y' got two options. Fill in the divots and paint a surround feature, or install a recessed coaming. As for the new coaming, you again have two options: the plywood CLC-esque version, or the Schade-style cedar stripper. I chose the strip version on my first build because it seemed easiest. After seven kayaks, I've never done a plywood one, so that oughta tell you how the theory panned out.

Whatever you do, I preach being laid back and hanging loose in your approach, that there's nothing overy complicated or scientific in wooden boat building as we practice it here. Practicaly any misstep you make can be righted fairly enough with a little 60-grit.

Get a cannister type respirator, and make it a comfortable one, you're gonna be wearing it whenever epoxy dust flies. If you value your hide, that is.

In the website linked below, I swap coamings on a hybrid yak, but the exact same procedure would work on a S&G just as well. You can mix n' match cedar and okoume as much as you like.

Cheers, Kurt Maurer

In Response to: Re: What did I do? by gober on Jul 12, 2006

Replies:

• Re: What did I do? by jerry on Jul 13, 2006
  • Re: What did I do? by Kurt Maurer on Jul 13, 2006