Building an Outer Island

Building the Deck

Before starting on the deck I cut some thin strips of mahogany that I put over the edge of the keel line at the bow and stern. This was actually done before I started planing and sanding the hull but I didn't get a picture of it until I started working on the deck

The hull has been mostly sanded and mahogany strips added along the keel line.

From the picture above you can see that the boat is now right side up and the first few strips have been added to the deck. The first strip is from the same plank as the dark cedar on the accent feature. The next strip is from the same plank as the strips below the accent.

I had to decide at this point how adventurous I wanted to get for a pattern on the deck. I didn't want anything too gaudy or difficult to do, but I also wanted "something" to make it distinctive. Without some sort of pattern it would just end up looking like a log with pinstripes. The next few pictures show how the deck is being layed out:

layout of the separator strips.

After installing a couple of strips along the sheer line on the deck I layed out some dark cedar strips to separate the different colors of cedar and pine strips that I had made.

A good shot of the first few deck strips and the separator strips near the bow.

In the picture above you can see the duct tape I've used to hold the strips together while they're glued. I tried to do the deck without the use of staples. I went through a lot of duct tape.

The deck with the sections starting to get filled in.

After laying out the separator strips it was just a matter of filling in all the sections. I actually made the deck a bit more difficult to strip because sharper radius in the curve of the pattern that went around the cockpit.

Stripping of the deck is finished!

In the picture above the deck is completely stripped. It looks pretty rough because I've just filled in all the small gaps with a mixture of epoxy and wood floor. Now, there is lots of sanding to do before the deck is ready to be fiberglassed.

The next page shows some of the fiberglass work

Building an Outer Island Kayak