C-Forum

And here is the outfitting as it stands now. I increased the size of the back rest and added a little foam to the knee cups. I also made the opening to the front of the boat a little bigger.

You can also see what is looks like with two coats of clear acrylic spray paint.

One problem I did have is that I got the cockpit 1/2" too far to the left. Not sure how that happened, but it doesn't really hurt anything and is hard to even notice just looking at it.

28 lbs final weight is not bad for that construction. I would just dread the removal of the "plug", but it looks like it went really well.

For reference, my C1 hull (4 x 5oz carbon plus some polyester for thickness, plus reinforcements) came out around 8.5 lbs. The deck (2 layers carbon over Spherecore) about 4.5 lbs. Seams: 1.5 lbs. End-pours: ~ 1 lb. Seat, straps and walls added about 3 lbs. Since I used the infusion layup method, making the top (with coaming) and bottom took about 14 hours, most of which was cutting the material.

For all the finishing work required, I think I'll stick with making molds. I think mine took about 20 hours for everything. I just used polyester resin and glass, so the materials were under $150.

Amazing job in general but what I'm most interested in is how do you make the leg casts? I want that in my boats!

Yes, I think if you make more than one boat, definitely make a mold. The way I see it is you either do all you sanding on the mold one time, or you do all your sanding on every boat you make my way. It was nice shaping foam, as opposed to cutting up glass plugs and molds to come up with a new design. And I was able the make a boat to go down the grand canyon in less than 3 months from scratch.

As for the knee cups. First you sit in a box like this full of plaster to make a plug.

Then you paint the plug with mold makers urethane rubber. Then you pour some plaster in the rubber to support it (maybe called a mother mold). After you break off the plug you end up with something like this.

Then you cover the rubber mold with foam of whatever thickness you want to use in your knee cups. If you want the tightest possible fit, you use no foam, but it's pretty painful as I know from my first one. Then you layup your glass or carbon fiber over your mold like this.

Next you pull out the mother mold. This loosens it enough to pull the rubber out of your knee cups.

Then you just add a foam liner and a foam seat.

It is very comfortable as you are supported by the length of your leg from you knee to the top of your foot.

I have a very understanding wife. She even mixed all of the epoxy for us.

UNDER STATEMENT!

Kudos for her putting up with your addiction!

Thanks for posting - good ideas to bounce around the brain for future projects.

Awesome Matt, thanks!

Love it Matt, Thanks for sharing! I bet that boat is comfy.

Great thread and details of your project. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for posting Matt - great stuff here! I think the new boat fits you well . Looks awesome!

Chris

Impressive. Seems to me..... you know what you are doing.

Pépé was really good on big water. I didn't flip much. A few big exploding waves knocked me over but I stayed mostly upright. I think a slalom boat is perfect for the grand. It has lots of speed to get around a big wide river and there were many big fast green waves that were super fun to surf.

I did hit a couple of rocks but only got scratches and no cracks. In general epoxy seems tougher than what ever normal gel coat is used. Overall after 16 straight days of paddling I think durability of pépé is good.

It was a trip of a lifetime.

Matt

This is hermit rapid below. On lava, I was able to punch through the v-wave hole but was flipped by an even bigger crashing wave just above the cheese grater rock.

Looks like a super job. I just love boat building in living areas. The house where I grew up, almost certainly still has epoxy globs on the floor of the spare bedroom. My Dad went on a business trip, and...

Can you tell us the width and maximum depth of the boat?

Roy