Many updates, much progress

Well, even though there hasn't been an entry in awhile, progress is being made.

Here is a pic of some fabric being stretched over the frame to see how it will look once the skin is sewed on.

This one is from about three weeks ago before the stern and bow were attached, and before the lashing had started.

This is a small frame I built to practice sewing the skin. It is the part I am the most nervous about since I have never even sewn a button, let alone 18' of polyester. 

This is a form I made for the coaming (the hole that you get into the boat with). I am making it using a technique called lamination, where I wrap thin strips of wood around this until I get what I want.

This is a box of stuff I bought, which had some spillage of some citrus solvent. Very lemony smelling, but happily nothing else was damaged.

Here are a couple of shots of the boat today, all lashed up and ready for the coaming and skinning. Looking not bad, eh?

Here is a shot of the coaming being glued. I ended up using every clamp in my shop. Many thanks to my friend DaveZ for the fine maple that is being used to build the coaming.

And finally, here is a picture of the steamer I built to heat up the wood so I could bend it. That was fun.

Lake broke up today. Boats going into the water this week. Hopefully the kayak will be ready in a week or so.