Thought I would give everyone an update on my boat building apprenticeship. I posted a couple of weeks ago pictures of a mold that I was building out of carbon fiber. Well it has been an exciting time this week as we worked long hours to finish two Olympic racing kayaks for the world championships next week. . (BTW Everyone needs to root for Nathan Baggaley of Australia. He is one of the top 5 flatwater kayak sprinters in the world and will be racing our new boat. If he wins it means more orders before the Olympic games. )

Below is the first boat out of the molds after bonding the hull and shell. It currently weighs 9.4lbs!! I expect it to weigh well under 19lbs fully outfitted with a seat, coming, foot boards and rudder. It will have to be weighted to reach the minimum weight allowed by ICF rules which I believe is 26lbs.

It took 3 of us a very full day to hand lay up the deck and hull with pre preg carbon, vacuum bag it and bake it in the autoclave. The second boat was a little faster as we got more proficient at laying up some of the tricky spots.

I will post a few more pictures after it comes out of the paint booth this weekend.

Regards,

Jack