a new model is born

It finally made it out of the mould after heaps of preparation

I get a kick every time I build a boat and pop it out of a mould,spraying gel coat laying in all the fabric ,joining it together and starting the fire to cure the boat in the mould to wake up the next day,undo the bolts and pop out a seakayak,its a complicated process but when that shiny and brand new kayak come out ---whoo hoo !!

So imagine what its like to design and build a plug ,cut and paste new bits in sand and fair all those new joins so you cant see or feel them , buff and polish so its unbelievably shiny ,apply 8 coats of wax with an hour or so between coats and then finally get the plug ready for moulding

So thats the mould made ..then you have to AGAIN  sand down any imperfections and getting the mould 100% then finally after another 8 coats of wax on the mould before you can spay and lay fabric in the mould.

Last Tuesday I manufactured my first sea kayak out of this new mould and the new Nadgee ???? is simply stunning

Strangely in fibreglassing you can do all the hard yards to ensure your product is perfect BUT you really dont know till you pull the first one off that mould and I got it right on.The boat is smooth  and glossy right out of the mould.

Fantastic result for any manufacturer 

Here are a few pics of the new Nadgee ?????

I'll be finished the whole boat in about a week with some more  complete photos then

Making a plug

I'm well on the way to building and completing a new plug for a new model sea kayak.
Building a plug can be hours sanding and filling , getting it right.The floor of my shed was a dust bowl at the end of the day today

You can build a plug a few different ways and I wont lament on the varied ways but I chose to cut and paste into an existing kayak but the down side of that is ALL the sanding I have had to do ,its been incredible how much dust I have created but to get it perfect it has to be done,what ever way you choose to build your plug it will involve sanding somewhere along the way

Just to get the new stern right on the plug took over 14 hours of sanding and sanding and then spraying with a filler,then sanding again to make sure its 100% even, as any bumps will come out in the mould and will show impurities and a slack job

You can run your hand up along a boat and you shouldn't find any lumps as these are great places for air entrapment when you build so flatter the better

I'll keep you posted on the new model and am looking at finishing the plug this week

From a manufacturers perspective it very interesting and exciting when you get a sea kayak ready for production and the market

Lots happening here at NKA at the moment keep your eyes out for the new model