Kayak - Construction journal - Coaming- Upper part

Coaming - upper border

	With masking tape, I marked the height of the coaming (about 19 mm) and after a first session with the sander, this is how it looks.

To construct the horizontal border, and be sure that the measures are correct, I used again the carbon paper trick.

	With a bit of care, it's possible to mark both the inside and outside borders.

On an improvised table, with the drawing protected with kitchen wrap, I glued the pieces of wood... I hope these hold!

	I'll sand it down to the exact form once glued.

After applying some epoxy with talcum filler, I installed the top ring very carefully, and applied 'misc weights' to make the border follow the form.

	Near the front, it was difficult to apply the correct pressure just left and right of the point, so I had to 'supplement' it.

It worked! Only in one spot, for a couple of centimeters, did the glue not take. This was solved with quick setting epoxy. My 'old' S&G is alongside, for minor repairs, also to the coaming.

	With file and sandpaper, I adjusted the inner border to the vertical walls of the coaming. Then I measured, from the inside, 23 mm all around to mark the desired width.

Yet another session with the sander, and the result: more dust and a coaming ready for epoxy, looking quite nice.

	Cleaning the upper surface, I noted that at one spot, the ring had split (less than 1/2 mm). Easily solved: a splinter of the same wood glued in between.

Now's the time to glue the tape in between the deck and the top ring. No ready-made tape available here. From scrap fibre cloth, I cut my own tape. It's important to remove the two synthetic threads near the border, as they tend to distort the cloth.

	To ease the cutting of the narrow tape, I put masking tape at the desired width. Don't press the tape, or it will me difficult to remove without damaging the cloth. I wanted 43 mm width: 18 mm for the heigth, and 10 mm for the lower side (deck) and 15 mm for the upper side.

The tape in place. That part is easier than it seems... I've removed the lengthwise threads for the horizontal parts,

	Impregnated in epoxy, the tape nearly disappears. Maybe I'll apply more epoxy later, to hide the weave, though it's not really necessary. The white spots in front are from the sanded deck, very exaggerated by the camera's flash.

Continues with internal parts.

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