A launch date was fixed when the boat was nearing completion.  I had a few people meeting me at the marina area and therefore the deadline pressure was on for me.  I had purchased a second-hand set of roof racks with a kayak carrier included beforehand.  I had never loaded a kayak on a car before and only had plastic rope to tie it up with.  When driving down to the marina the boat was moving around on the roof so much that other cars were beeping their horns.  Unfortunately the paint would not dry to a hard finish for weeks after the launch and some of the paint came off the boat to the roof-racks on the way down to launching spot.  I did successfully get the boat to the water, however, without accident.  At the launch, I did not feel one-hundred percent sure it was going to float and take my weight when I sat in it; it was my first boat and the question of ‘will it sink’ is in the back of your mind.  The boat worked fine and it was complemented on.  You can see in the photos that Richard had his wooden kayak there too, a Cape Charles.  It was a big day for me and represented a lot of effort to get to this stage.  I did not remember it now, but the photos show I have not made the hatch covers yet.

Taking to the water for the first time: will it float?

In the water, Richard in foreground with his Cape Charles kayak.

First paddle.

First Paddle.

First paddle.  Notice the hatch covers are not made yet.

The build was problematic and I was sloppy with the glue.  Maybe this was because of some shortcuts I tried to make, my inexperience,  but it took an extraordinary long time with all the fixes I had to do.  Bad and incorrect things that happened during the build were:

·         one of the side panels broke when bent-to-shape for the three dimensional stitching together; it broke at the scarf joint where two ply sheets are joined to make a panel longer than one ply sheet.  This was remedied by making a butt- joint, something the instructions do not recommend as a preferred way.  The join is strong and there is no noticeable flat section in the shape of the boat to tell it was done. 

·         The epoxy pump got air in it, somehow, when I was making the keel out of epoxy resin.  I am not sure if the mix of epoxy-to-hardener is correct on the keel.  This is important for strength reasons.  I measured out the epoxy by eye and it was certainly not the exact mixture.  The keel epoxy did go ‘off’ (harden), however, so, this cannot be too much of a problem.  I now mix epoxy by measuring it out in cups; something that astounds everyone I tell, but I will never trust a pump again after this experience.

·         The epoxy did not go ‘off’ neatly on the keel.  Although it went hard, it corrugated and left creators like the ones on the Moon.  I thought this was solely the problem of mixing, but the epoxy went off slightly this way again with my second building project.  I am not sure if this is a problem with all epoxy or just Bote-Coat epoxy.  It is an embarrassment to show the keel to anyone admiring the boat, but they do not seem to notice unless I point it out.

·         I did let the brother-in-law touch the boat again after my issue with him.  He laid the fibre-glass sheath over the hull.  This was done in Brisbane in the storm season.  A big storm came over us when the job was in progress.  I was to discover the roof leaked in the shed we were in.  Some water dripped on to the wet epoxy as it was laid over the boat.  It was also so humid that the brother-in-laws head dripped sweat over the wet, un-cured, epoxy also.  The fibre-glass sheath seems fine despite these problems.

·         When it came to filling the cloth weave for the fibre-glass sheath with other coats of epoxy I used epoxy thickened with filler instead of using just unthickened epoxy to fill the weave.  I am not sure how this has affected the strength of the fibre-glass sheath, but it seems to have worked out okay.  I did this as a result of not constantly consulting the instructions and my miss-understanding on what to do – somehow you get strange ideas about how to do a job.

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·         The boat had a twist in it.  I levelled the boat, before gluing the panels, with a bubble level instead of two broom sticks like it says in the instructions; it appears to me that bubble levels are not as accurate as straight broomsticks.  I think because of this twist I had to fill a hollow in the rear of the boat and straighten the keel.  The photos show how difficult this was.

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·         I pinched the bow and stern together so that they were ply-to-ply.  Somehow I thought if the boat had fine entry and exit it would be more streamlined.  This was a mistake and reduced the volume of the bow and stern.  Never try to outsmart the designer!  Although the boat is 17 feet long, it has more of the buoyancy and hull shape of a 16 foot boat because of this.

·         When it came to buying paint I went to the local paint shop and tried to buy oil-based house paint and marine varnish for the boat.  The paint shop attendant found out what I was using the paint for and convinced me to buy “Endrust” (one-pack epoxy paint) instead of oil-based house paint; and instead of varnish, a clear pavement paint.  I thought this a little unusual and expensive but was convinced and purchased it and applied it to the boat.  The use of the epoxy paint was definitely over-kill and subsequent coats of paint have been water-based exterior house paint; this has worked just fine.  I would not recommend water based exterior paint because the brush-stroke marks do not settle out and the finish is therefore not as flat as it could be, but as a paint, it functions well (This has been true for many years but after writing I have just found some bubbles in the last coat of paint).  I would recommend anyone painting their boat now to use a light-coloured oil-based paint applied with a foam roller so that you have a smooth finish.  Equally, when it came to re-doing the clear topsides the clear pavement paint could not be sanded as it behaved like glue that did not go off properly (I think this is called ‘waxing’ to those who know); in future, I recommend to use only varnish (no stain included) with a UV inhibitor.  The deck had to be scraped to the wood when it was redone years later, another major exercise (and good that I used even-veneered ply for the deck , which is not available anymore) .