More stripping and a highlight strip.

I had now reached the waterline of the hull and I wanted to add a highlighted strip. What wood should I use?  The Myrtle is quite light and tends to bleach to a mellow-yellow after a few months out in the sun, so a light highlighter strip was not an option.

Highlighter strip finished

I searched my lumber stack for a dark-coloured piece of timber which I could cut into a ¼ by ¼ inch strip to highlight the waterline, but found nothing.  Then began the search of the local timber yards, which are now oriented toward the building industry and not cabinet making or woodworking.  I visited three to search the stacks.  Most of their dark wood was hardwood and not very dark – like spotted gum, Jarrah, or Ash. Most of the planks were also quite short.

Someone suggested AJAA Timbers at Queanbeyan.  I took off in the small Golf and spoke to the son of the owner who directed me to Alex.  It appeared he knew every piece of timber in their extensive yard, but we drew a blank in the main shed, so he sent me off to the distant shed to have a look.  It was full of timber poorly stacked and not quite what I was looking for, but I did find a few one-inch square battens of Merbau that were 7.5 meters long.  I selected two but decided to only take one to test.  I got it for a very reasonable price and then strapped it onto the roof of the Golf with long overhangs fore and aft.

I soon had the batten on the table saw and cut a few suitable-sized strips for the waterline.  They are not quite what I had in mind, but this South East Asian timber, which may have come from the Philippines, is orange-brown in colour but ages to a darker reddish-brown.  It has a tendency to stain if used as an outdoor decking timber, but that will not happen on the kayak.

I quickly prepared the lower strip for this square highlighter, but I made the Merbau strip too thin when I put them through the planer by turning the handle the wrong way!  Back to the yard and the distant shed to select the second-best piece.  Pay for it, tie it to the Golf, and again cut and thickness, but this time get the dimensions correct.  I had both sides glued in place soon after.  I hope it will darken over time.

Stern highlighter strip

Above the waterline strip of the hull, the kayak starts to curve over to the centre line of the keel, commonly known as the chine.  This corner is difficult to strip plank by bevelling the edge of the lower strip because the change in direction is quite large, so it is recommended to switch to a bead and cove system for stripping.  That is the next step in the stripping process, but what a saga.