Hello everyone,
I just got my Kaholo 14-Kit and already the first few steps make me wonder:
Glueing up the long pieces and subsequently fiberglassing the inside of the deck:
- should I build/improvise a long table to have a surface that fits the whole length of the pieces? Con: expense of work and money considering that all the rest of the building process doesn't require a table.
- shorter table/workbench with sawhorses backing the ends? I guess this might work for glueing, but the fiberglassing would be a mess.
-glueing and fiberglassing on the floor?
How did you do it?
A long table is very helpful in all phases, not just gluing and fiberglassing. It's really useful for finishing prep work and finishing, too.
Gluing and glassing on the floor is definitely possible. I've done it quite successfully. But your back, knees and legs will really thank you for a waist-level table.
I made one from 1/2 a sheet of the cheapest 3/4" plywood from the local DIY store and a pair of 2x4s for stiffeners. I set the thing on sawhorses and covered it with 4 mm polyethylene dropcloth material. Between boats I disassemble it and store the pieces for next time. I've used it on 3 boats now so the $60 original cost is well amortized (even if you don't count the money I saved on orthopedic vists because of the more ergonomic angles).
Laszlo
Laszlo is far more experienced than I am and certainly knows what he's talking about. Having just finished a Kaholo 14 build (in final finishing steps now), though, I'd say that the gluing/joining of panels/sheer clamps steps would not really benefit from a longer table - particularly if it's only 2 feet wide (you want full-width pressure at the joints, and bottom/deck panels are obviously wider than that once joined). I did as much gluing as possible in parallel on a plastic-covered garage floor. I also put epoxy and fiberglass on the bottom of the deck on the floor and did not find it difficult (aside from being constrained by the clutter surrounding my build space that I was too lazy to clean up) The one part that made me nervous was moving big, floppy panels around by myself (definitely heard fiberglassy noises when moving the glassed deck around). I'd say that a 2nd set of hands for those rare moments probably would have been more useful than a longer table (I used a 2x8 plywood half sheet on top of sawhorses or stools, depending on the step - once the board was stable, I mostly stopped using the "table"). A longer table would allow you to avoid risky movement of full-length joined panels and would make it easier to move the deck into place for gluing, though. Pretty easy to justify spending < $100 on boards/sheets/another sawhorse for a longer table, IMO, given that it's much less than the cost of the full build.
Herbie makes a good point about the possible need for a wider table. I was building kayaks which are pretty narrow so the 2-ft wide table worked well. You could just go with a whole sheet of plywood cut in 1/2.
Laszlo
Thank's for your thoughts.
My husband was making fun of the idea of working on the floor, he thinks it's poor style. But I guess a table is in fact the more confortable option, so I searched around the basement and found two full sheets of plywood that'll work clamped to our glueing table (4'x6') and supported by sawhorses at the overhang.
I guess for this once this should work and if I decide to build more boats/boards I can still build something more specific for the job.
What can I say? I have thoroughly tasteless building methods, but my boats come out looking almost like they were built by a pro (mostly because I spend about 3 times as long as a pro would to build them). I can live with that. ;-)