The stitch & glue process involves pre-cut plywood panels "sewn" together with short lengths of copper wire, then covered with fiberglass cloth & epoxy resin. This makes for a very light and strong hull. The Solace weighs around 40 lbs, much lighter than a comparable poly, fiberglass or even a kevlar boat and is as strong or stronger.
1. First order of business is joining the hull and deck panels. The various pieces are sorted, laid out, the puzzle joints pressed together and an epoxy wetted fiberglass reinforcing patch is applied to the joint. Then the patch is covered with a plastic sheet, smoothed to feather out the resin (less sanding later) & weighted with a brick until the epoxy cures. Bricks are not part of the kit or the finished boat unless you forget the plastic sheet!
2. To build confidence for what's to come, you start the stitching process with the seat. Plywood panels magically form into a molded "tractor seat" as stitching progresses.
3. The hull is started by stitching the first two panels together at the keel and then to a series of bulkheads, two of which will become permanent later.
4. Hull panels are added, one at a time, until you reach the sheer. Looks like a boat at this point. Exciting! The hull was "Very Gently" flipped over onto saw horses at this point and carefully aligned. Then epoxy resin is injected along each seam using a syringe. Next epoxy thickened with wood flour is applied to fill the seams. Getting thickened epoxy loaded into the syringe was tricky and messy. Vinyl gloves are a must. Once the epoxy cures, the copper wires are removed, heating the stubborn ones with a soldering iron when necessary.
5. The 4 deck panels are joined and fitted to the hull with stitches and masking tape. Surprisingly, it fit very well with a minimum of fiddly, fussy, fitting. Then the seams are filled with resin ... except for the hull to deck joint! Once the epoxy cures you remove the deck, pull the stitches and apply glass tape along the underside of the seams.
6. And now it starts .... SANDING and more SANDING. With all the seams sanded smooth and the hull cleaned of dust it's time for the laying on of hands ... er ... cloth. 6 oz is used for the hull although Waters Dancing will ship the kit with 4 oz if you're willing to trade some strength for the lightest possible boat. It goes on in one piece with cuts made only at each pointy end. While the instructions say to use your hands to smooth the cloth over the hull, I found a shop brush to be the ideal tool. Worked like a charm!
7. Major epoxy rush! Lynda mixed while I brushed. You don't dare mix too much at one time as it gets very hot and sets up before it can be brushed on. After about 20 minutes a squeegee is used to remove excess resin. After a few hours cure time another coat of resin goes on, followed by a third. The process has to be continuous and pretty much eats up an entire day as well as your sense of humor. By the third boat it would probably get easier.
8. Give me strength! Now you get to repeat the process on the inside of the hull. It's tricky getting the glass laid in. You use pieces trimmed from the outer hull covering which results in the use of at least two pieces or more if you don't do things perfectly. I needed four but partly because of the difficulty getting the cloth laid in smoothly at the stern. Once again the shop brush was a huge help. I used clothespins to hold the cloth along the sheer. Only two resin coats this time as the finish is less critical.
9. With With the epoxy cured, glass trimmed and sanded you're ready to attach the deck. Some final fitting was needed, the two permenant bulkheads are tacked in the hull with hot glue, then taped and wired to the hull and deck at the sheer. With epoxy injected as before you finally have a one piece boat. But wait! There's more! The hull to deck joint has to be reinforced with glass tape on the inside. This was the hardest step, at least at the pointy ends, since you have to work with your head and assorted appendages stuffed through the hatch while covering the joint with a previously wetted and rolled length of glass tape, coaxed into place using an acid brush attached to a stick. Putting the boat on its side helped. The result wasn't always pretty but luckily it's hidden.
10. Precut plywood reinforcing pieces are glued to the underside of the deck at the hatches. 2" abs pipe sections split with a saw make cheap and effective clamps.
11. Lighter weight (4 oz.) cloth is used to cover the deck and is lapped about 1" over onto the hull. Vinyl electrical tape is used to mask and establish a cut line. Before the epoxy is completely cured the cloth is trimmed with a utility knife (No box cutters in my shop!). Three epoxy coats are used on the deck, just like the hull.
12. More sanding! The cockpit coaming is glued on with thickened epoxy. Oops, didn't get a picture of this so you'll have to trust me. With sanding dust cleaned and the floor vacuumed and mopped with water, we don a surgical gown and proceed to varnish. Even with all the precautions, invariably dust, spiders and assorted cat hairs manage to entomb themselves in the varnish. Three coats, wet sanded between while doing your best to be philosophical about cat fur and paw-prints in the varnish and it's nearly done.
13. The kit supplies all the deck rigging but not the sealant. One more trip, this time to the local boat shop, who order it. Another trip to pick up ... oops, wrong material. Another trip to pick up the reordered Boat Life Sealant and the rigging is finally attached. Yep, it's a kayak alright!
