homemade kayak progress

Seeing that I can`t paddle for at least another month I have began working on getting fit again. There are 3 areas that need to be worked on, flexibility, stamina and strength. It`s amazing how fast the deterioration sets in when exercise stops, and I can feel the need to rebuild the muscles that were damaged during the op. Also for kayaking the core muscles need to be strong, this helps a lot in kayak control as the edging and hip movements are crucial for good boat control in rough water and when doing rolls and braces.There are a lot of good exercise programs out there so no need to get into the details, just to mention the yoga is great for flexibility and the Swiss ball is good for strengthening the core , also dumb bells are good too as they force you to use lots of unknown muscles for stabilising yourself while working out.

On the kayak building front, I have begun to work on the epoxy and fiberglassing of the outside of the boat, today put on the fill layer of epoxy on the deck and tomorrow will do the fiberglass. The fill coat of epoxy is recommended in order to seal the wood which then allows the fiberglass cloth to absorb and fill with epoxy without worry that most of it will be absorbed by the wood

I have also began work on the seat, carving one out of a block of minicell foam and making cheek

plates that will be attached to the inside of the cockpit later on.