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Tonight I tack welded the panels that had been stitched with copper wire and connected the deck to the hull so that the shapes match. To the right, you can see how I filled a syringe with glue and glued the seams of the boat. This makes for a weak bond, but one that will strengthened in a few days or weeks.

I checked for twist in the hull and then connected the two pieces using more copper wire and shrink wrap so that the kayak has taken shape....

Next- hatch work...
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January 4, 2009
The deck of the Maestro is nearly complete. I finished shaping the pieces yesterday, drilled holes in the panels, and stitched them together with copper wire before I left for the pub.

At first I was very dissatisfied with it, but today, after a goodnight sleep, I redid all of my hard work and shifted the panels a little...The end result is a deck that fits and is ready for gluing. I've decided to glue it tomorrow night, when I have more time to devote to it...

Right now the deck is loosely stitched to the hull...There is a temporary deck form that needs to be trimmed
(on the picture above), that prevents me from closing the gap between hull and deck. Once I trim this form, I'll tack weld the parts and ready the production of the bulk head hatches.

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January 2, 2009

I'd like to have the deck attached to John's kayak by next week. I finished shaping all of the parts yesterday and glued them together last night. To the right, you can see all of the glued pieces alligned. (Typing this blog is tough due to all of the bandaides on my fingers)...

To the left is the bow end of the deck...You can see the puzzle joints clearly. From a distance, they don't look half bad!!!! I did sand a little through the veneer on the center deck piece but overall it's an ok job....

Once again, I bit through the veneer ever so slightly!!!! My glue job wasn't great and I ended up sanding small dimples into the wood too...

Next up...I need to bevel the edges of all of these pieces so that they fit together well...I'll use my dremel tool...and then I have to drill hholes into the pieces so that I can stitch them together with copper wire to forms....I'll try to do a bit of this tonight, but the pub will be open for the first time in days, so I can't guarantee doing too much work...
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December 31, 2008

I vowed by the new year to have the hull of John's boat completed and here it is, loosely stitched and waiting the tightening...

This is a view from the stern; the bow must leave out the window (upper right hand corner of the picture) bow first or there would be bad luck associated with the boat (mariner's rule: The bow of a boat always moves ahead of the boat.) John will sit in between the 2 large bulk heads in the middle of the boat and the deck (in pieces to the right of the picture) will cover his legs and the bulk head hatches (for storage). Tonight I'll tighten the stitches (checking for boat twist) and will begin working on the deck.

The deck will be challenging because it is composed of more puzzle joints, and of course, this is the part of the boat everyone sees the most. I've not made a deck like this before, so it's all new to me!