: Hiya Paul

: How are ya doing after the big move, and having to go back to work? How's the
: latest project coming along?

: On that cheap epoxy, will they show you some samples of it, or sell you a
: small sample amount to test before buying a gallon? I think I'd look into
: it before writing it off completely. You may have found a sleeper there,
: and could save some big bucks. Could be a turkey, but, might be worth a
: try for that price. What have you got to lose, after the price you got
: that plywood for? :) How close to "Free" are you on that one
: now? Think anyone would trade you a gallon of epoxy for a Paul Lund Kayak
: Kit? You cut up some of that ply and make a deal. A boat "Kit"
: for a gallon or two of epoxy? :)

: So, are you all settled in the new house yet or still trying to find storage
: space for all your goodies and get it all unpacked?

: Good to hear from you again.

: Rehd

Hiya Rehd,

Thanks for the warm welcome back. The move went well, we moved from the southern fringe of Sydney over to the north-side about an hours drive away. Going back to work has been great, I've gone from a grants-funded medical research lab to a job as a lab manager for a high tech start-up company, quite a change, lots more money to spend :-) and a large salary increase as well *G*

The latest project hasn't gone very far, I've been busy settling in. That's all about to change though, as you probably know we have the Olympic games on here in a few weeks. The road where my work is situated is on an "Olympic Route" I think the marathon or the bike road race goes past there, or something. So the powers-that-be decided we'll shut the company down for 2 weeks, which means I'll have two weeks to hang out in the new work shop, drink the occasional beer, listen to the Olympics on the radio, and churn-out a S&G or two.

I was going to build a Cape Charles or at least a modified version of one from The Kayak Shop, but I've also got plans for a West River 180 from an issue of Sea Kayaker which I like the lines of a lot. I don't like the the idea of all those pieces of ply used in the West River (it's multi chined), too much sanding. So I guess I'll design some sort of hybrid of the two, say single chine, 22" beam, 18' loa, 17 1/2' waterline length...Fast....

Though, I could probably buy the plans for a chesapeake LT18 and get pretty much the same thing. But seeing as the ply didn't cost me anything, buying plans wouldn't be in keeping with the whole "Paul's free kayak" thing. So I guess I'll design it myself and make sure I enjoy the building, just in case I design the worlds first submersible kayak *G*

As far as this cheap epoxy goes, I havn't written it off. I'll just make sure I talk to their chemist and get the whole picture and maybe a sample. I think there was a thread about MAS? a couple years ago, same thing, cheap to-good-to-be-true. But that stuff turned out ok, so...

We've got a digital camera in the lab at work, I might see if I can borrow it over the break, take some snaps and keep you posted.

Well, that went on for a bit longer than I expected,

Nice to be back on Nick's electronic front porch,

Paul.