I’ve gotten behind in my posting, and am trying to catch up now. I’ve still been making good progress on the kayak, just not getting this updated. I’ll try and correct that now. I’ve also hit some warmer weather, which is nice. That also seems to motivate me in that I’d love to have this all wrapped in May. The warm weather reminds me that it’s a lot closer than I realize.
The next step in the process following the wiring of the hull is adding in the bulkheads and hanging knees. The kayak
has two bulkheads, one at the front and one at the rear. These “walls” form the front and rear storage compartments. They also function as ballast and keep the boat afloat in case of roll over. I purchased the optional hatch kit, which will be added later. The hatches have a watertight seal so I don’t lose the ballast feature. The bulkheads and knees are wired into place like the panels. I’m able to just slide these into place. I did not have to scribe or trim them at all. This is one of those steps where you need to use your eye to check that you don’t bow out the side of the boat. The knees just get wired in place “as is”. Not much to adjust here. Their main purpose is to hold up the carlins, which is essentially the inside edge of the portion of the deck
that surrounds the cockpit. More on that will be coming up. Note that I now have in place a temporary beam stick across the middle of the kayak. This keeps the hull in it's proper form. This will remain in place until the inside of the kayak is reinforced. At the end of this step, I also tighten all the wires and check the joints of the panels. These should look even, with the inside edges creating a "V" shaped groove visible on the exterior along each seam.
Also to note, I've got a board sitting across the boat towards one end. In proper terms, I have a board sitting on the shear clamps sitting perpendicular to the kayak. This will be used in the next step.
