I laid the second strips of seam tape this morning — all morning, or so it felt. I sanded the originals to get a rough bonding surface and to level the lower edges. Epoxy apparently migrates to the lower edge of fiberglass tape by gravity or by wicking, cures, and leaves a substantial ridge there. The orbital sander makes quick work of it, but that leaves another mess to clean up. I spent 2.5 hours laying the new tape, removing the tabs that held the boat to the verticals (replacing them with clamps no longer needed at bow and stern), and putting some epoxy on the revealed bare spots. My taping is not an example of fine craftsmanship as some examples online suggest that it could be. I’ll wait a day for everything to cure and pick up the project on Day 20.

I am done for the moment with epoxy; the hardener in the original kit came in two 1-quart cans. One was exhausted exactly as seam-taping came to an end. There are still a few fillets to be installed around the bulkheads, but they are mostly for water-tightness and cosmetics, not for structural strength. I’ll get to them by and by as part of painting and finishing.

Confession

I didn’t mean to modify the specs, but it’s time to take note of some departures from the plan. The design sheet says the Oxford Shell is 20’6″ long with a beam of 23 inches. When I measured mine last night, it was 20’9″ long with a beam of 21 inches. The keel is formed by a slightly deeper V than drawn; the sides above the chine are slightly steeper. I have no idea how that happened. I put a spacer the length called for where called for before clamping the side panels and sheer clamps. Nevertheless: no matter how I allow for this or that, the plan shows a boat 5% broader than this one. No wonder I had to sharpen my chisels to make the bulkheads fit.

I am not enough of a marine architect — hell, I am no kind of marine architect — to know if this is problematic. It all sounds better than drawn — the extra length is trivial, but the reduced beam and slightly deeper V seem “significant” and, frankly, desirable (or at least “not undesirable”). A little more speed and a little better tracking at the price of incrementally reduced stability sounds like the wholly successful design basis of my all-time favorite kayak. According to the drawings, the Piantedosi Row Wing will still fit with room to spare. Even in its narrower form, this hull remains much beamier than any kind of racing shell, which do not, after all, generally doom their skippers.

Since there’s absolutely nothing to be done about this dimensional surprise, let’s just call it good and carry on.

Tomorrow

is for removing stitches and seeing what will be needed to present a smooth hull for glassing.

A few collected tips

to be gathered up after the project is done. (1) If you come upstairs and find resin or uncured epoxy on your watchband and you just do not want to see the shop again right away, a splash of vodka will clean it up just as well as denatured alcohol. (2) When using seam tape on inclined surfaces, begin applying epoxy on the uphill edge or just beyond it. The epoxy will flow down through the weave, under the tape, and over it so (gloved) finger pressure will encourage the goop to meet in the middle and complete the filling process quickly, neatly, and economically. (3) There is no universal answer to when it is best to lay down a thin coat of epoxy over which tape can be set, when it is best to lay down the tape on a dry surface, or when it is best to pre-wet the tape. By the time you know when each technique is appropriate you’ll be done with laying down tape and praying never to need the knowledge again. (4) One important function of fillets is to ease the angles which fiberglass tape must take: it can only bend so sharply before it refuses to bind at the sharpest part of the curve. (5) Just as “You’re building a boat, not a Martin guitar,” so are you not building an airplane: no imperfection in construction is going to fail suddenly or catastrophically or begin a chain of failures that ends in a flaming crater where a daycare center used to be and get written up in an NTSB investigation. Pretty much the worst case is having to drain some water and figuring out how to slap on a patch. (6) Likewise, it is not a white-water or sea kayak: this hull does not need to survive repeated rock bashings, attempted wrappings, and entirely inept surf landings. Lightness and low drag are more appropriate aims than titanium-like strength.

Many processes in stitch and glue boatbuilding turn out to much easier than they seem in prospect. Laying down fiberglass tape is not one of those.

See you tomorrow.