Kindly Old Dr. K’s Hydrosphere

The outside seam for this boat is a single layer of 10 oz. kevlar tape.  As usual, preparation is most of the task.  The dry tape is trimmed to fit the length of the boat and laid out on the seam.  Masking tape is affixed on both sides of the tape with just enough room to fit the tape.  This allows us to sand, sand, sand the area where the seam will lie without scratching  up the rest of the boat.  Then, to protect the boat against drips, and it always drips, we affix a drape of plastic sheet outside of the masking tape.  Finally, we paint a layer of resin on the sanded area, impregnate the seam tape with resin, and lay it down on the the seam.  Wait a couple of days for one side to cure, turn the boat over and repeat.

We’re almost done.  You could actually paddle the boat now if you had to, but there are a few more details.

Boat gets its protective drape.  The seam area is the space between the two lines of masking tape.

The yellow kevlar seam is in place and curing.  I tilted the boat somewhat to one side so I only had to drape one side against drips.

The seam is cured and cleaned up.

Next and final step:  Outfitting