Kayak Outriggers

[goanywhere]

I was going to mount them on pivots and use them as rudders!

[goanywhere]

Ok, I managed to get the filleting done ok along the keel. I tried to make a long rounded tool to finish it all nice and neat, but it was too flexible and wouldnt push the epoxy down firmly enough. In the end I made the 'frosting bag' you referred to and squeezed the mixture in and I just reached in and smoothed it along with my finger (yes, I did wear gloves!). It was a bit messy but it worked better than anything else. I was able to smooth the edges with my fingers as well so the result was smoother than I was expecting.

The only thing was that when I was finishing near the point of the bow I was sqishing merrily away and I heard a crack. I think I might have been a bit aggressive and a tack cracked. After I took these shots, I inspected the top where the point of the bow meets, and it was just a bit loose, so I just gaffer taped it nice and firmly and it should be fine.

Then I went and cut the deck by tracing around the top onto the piece I had set aside for it. I wanted to wait until I had filleted just in case the shape was not exact, and as it turned out it was a bit 'fatter' at the nose of the bow, but not by much.

Now I am going to reinforce the deck section where I want to put bolts through for the spar fitting. I am going to glue a 10mm piece of ply to it, with holes drilled just big enough for the bolt heads to fit inside. Then I will push the bolts through and fill the recesses with epoxy glue to embed them nice and tight. I won't be able to get inside to tighten up bolts and things unless I make inspection ports, which I don't really want to do, so I need to make sure that the bolts are fixed for good.

Next is glassing the inside fillet. That will be fun. Actually I'm not concerned now that the fillets are done and fairly smooth.


This is the 'good' end.


Nice and square and symetrical.


Deck rough cut and ready for reinforcing.

[PiratePete]

What I did on my Wadefish is drill the hole under size for the head of the bolt & pushed the head in so it held tight in the ply & then removed it put epoxy around it & glued it in with a cover piece over the head to hold it in.

[goanywhere]

Yes, I thought of that. making the hole just a mil or so undersize and squeezing it in using a nut on the other side was what I was thinking. I don't know that a cover piece is absoluely necessary if a thick glue just thinner than fillet material is used to fill in around the head. But that's an idea. I have about 15mm from the top of the bulkhead and the rim of the hull, so I might not have room for a cover piece over the bolt head. If I cut the head up to create some keying using a file it will be enough I think.

I taped the keel tonight. It was a bit of a job even for such a small one. I found that the tape buckled a fair bit at first, but as I let it sit and gradually teased it along most of the buckles came out. It's not perfect but I'm fairly happy with it. I won't be glassing the inside, I've painted the inside with epoxy, and that should be fine if I glass the whole outside. I'm using 6 oz glass, which is overkill for a couple of outriggers I think. I'm also going to paint them with 2 pak paint so there'll be plenty of strength there.

[jem]

I think you'd be fine not glassing the inside. You don't have a paddler sitting in there and this appears to be more of an open-water type thing. Be sure to get a decent sized sheer clamp to glue the deck/lid on with. That's the area that will experience a lot of load transfer. The glue that bond the sheer clamp and deck/lid will experience a lot of push-pull.

[goanywhere]

Yes, I will be gluing batons around the top to glue the 'lid' to. I could even tape the edges as well for extra strength, but I will be glassing all the outside anyway.

How do you suggest I apply the glass to the outside? Do I glass the hull from the keel 'up', and then the decks, or from the deck 'down'? I would think the former because of the seam at the bottom, but I could tape the keel over the seam and fray the edges of the tape to reduce any hard edge.

I will be reinforcing the decks underneath, and hopefully will get the reinforcing exactly the right dimensions to be able to glue to the batons inside nice and tight. That should take care of the strength issue. There is also a natural inverted curve to the decks that will assist with strength as well.

[jem]

you'll have to apply in two stages. Starting with the bottom might be easier.

[goanywhere]

So on the edges where the chines and the deck meet, is the glass overlapped here?

[jem]

yes. You might have to do that after the 1st fiberglass application cures.

[goanywhere]

It's been a quiet couple of weeks, too much other stuff to do, but I have managed to make some progress. I have attached batens to one pontoon, and finished the keel on the other one.

Next is attach batens to the other one and then the decks go on. But I have to strengthen the decks and fix the bolts securely before they go on.

One little question that is bugging me. Should I make a drain holes and plugs for the pontoons? I wasn't going to but if for any reason they crack or leak (god forbid!) I wouldn't be able to drain the water out. On the other hand I intend to make them strong enough and extremely watertight, so that shouldn't be an issue. What are your thoughts?