To help ease the ply over the bend, I heated it up with a hair dryer. This was very necessary as I found to my horror when the first centre deck piece which I tried flexed nicely during the heat of the day, but later when I was ready to glue it down in the cool of that evening, it split in two up the middle. What a waste - at least some of what was left was big enough to be parts for the hatches. Is this where the term ‘Cold Snap’ comes from? Second time around I was wiser, and heated it before getting it to bend. It worked, and my centre deck section was soon in place. I nailed and screwed it in down, using sacrificial pieces of ply under the nail and screw heads to facilitate their removal without damaging the deck once the glue was dry. I was aiming for a clear finished deck, and wanted to make as few marks on the deck as possible.

I did the bow section next, and found that heat was also needed to help ease the ply over the deck beam near the bow, although the actual height above the inwales is minimal. The bow is slightly turned up at this point, and the ply did not like being curved in two directions at once. The rear deck went on the easiest, having the least mount of curvature across it, and virtually no upsweep at the stern. Once the glue was dry, and all the nails and screws removed and their holes filled, I trimmed the deck overhangs flush with the sides of the hull ready for the rub rails to go on.

Wow. The kayak was really looking complete. I rang BoatCraft to see if they had some Gaboon which had been hard to get, and my luck was in because they did have some which they promptly sent up for me to make the second kayak deck from. It’s much more flexible, and being 3mm instead of 4mm too, made the second deck so much easier to fit. Its lighter colour would mean the twins were just a little different too - no longer identical.

The hatches consist of an inner ring glued to the top of the deck, made from three layers of 4mm ply with a rubber ‘gasket’ attached to the top to seal against the underside of the hatch top, with the hatch top having similar rings around its perimeter, with a corresponding gasket on the underside of the rings to seal them against the deck. The rings are laminated in place over some plastic taped on top of the deck, then removed and cleaned up before being glued in position. The outer rings get laminated the same way first, then are glued to the underside of the hatch top, which is tricky because they want to flatten down onto the hatch top instead of the top conforming to their laminated shape. I had to rig up a complicated jig of clamps on a work bench, to force the hatch top down to the lamination, then past that point a little to allow for some ‘springback’. The process worked fairly well because my hatches sat in place without much of a gap between the deck and the rings. What little gap there was, would soon be filled by the foam rubber gasket material.

The cockpit coaming was next, and it was constructed in much the same manner as the hatch rings. Two rings of 4mm ply were laminated under a larger 6mm piece, all on plastic over the deck with the aid of all of my clamps. Again the ply had to conform to the rapid rise up to the cockpit front, and needed some heat to get it to conform -especially the 6mm piece. After they were dry, I cleaned them up and glued them back in place on the cockpit - again utilising all of my screw clamps.

Now I was getting close to finishing. The kayaks were complete, with just the painting and varnishing to go. I resined all of the deck and the hatches with two coats, then turned the kayak over to paint the undersides. I placed padded balsa beams on some work benches placed far enough apart so they ended up across the hull under the open hatches, and let the kayak sit on the strong hatch rings. I masked off the bottom of the rub rail, and then started the painting. Two coats each of primer, undercoat and topcoat were applied, with a light sanding between each coat. When I look back and think about how much longer they took me to build than I first thought they would, I realized that the complete painting process took a over week of evenings alone - per kayak! And that was not including the varnishing which took five nights for five coats per kayak as well. There is nearly one month just for the finishing, because I could not always work on both kayaks each night once the painting process was under way. Just masking and un-masking took a couple of hours each kayak.

So, once the painting was done, I turned the hulls once again and right side up now, started in on the varnishing. I lightly sanded the resin on the deck before applying the varnish, and between coats the varnish got a light scratching with 120 grit paper. Five coats each gave the deck and hatch tops a great lustre. Just when you think you’re finished, you find that the list of jobs still has some more to go.

I still had to make and fit the seats and padded seat backs, hatch straps, bungee cords and some handles on the bow and stern. Back to work.... The seats are a canvas sling, fitted onto two rails that slide through holes in the seat supports. Talk about comfort, just like sitting in a deck chair. I trialed a paper pattern made to the dimensions on the plans, and that’s when I noticed a minor plan’s error - the pattern didn’t fit. Just as well I had not cut the material yet. Once I sorted out the dimensions to suit the hull and seat supports, I marked them out and cut them from the canvas. Then I engaged the services of my wife with her trusty sewing machine to sew them up for me. The seat backs are formed to fit the curve at the rear of the coaming by means of another laminate created on the deck at the back of the cockpit before the coaming goes on. This laminate subsequently fits under the deck at the back of the cockpit. The curved laminate had the seat back glued to it, and after the upholstering of the seat back, was fastened up under the coaming with the only screws left in the kayaks. The backs were padded with 1" foam, and covered with the same material as the seats - a red canvas.

The hatch straps I had made up with loose tails at a local upholsterer, who also supplied the hatch sealing material and the bungee cord. I laid the straps onto the hatches with the buckles all lined up on the centre line, and marked where they met the outside edge of the deck. I used a soldering iron to poke a hole through the doubled over strap, and then screwed them down into the inwale with stainless screws and cup washers. I bought some tiny stainless steel saddles and screwed them on the deck, again into the inwales, to take the bungee cord. I whipped the ends of the bungee cord together, and covered the joins with some heat shrink. Lastly were the handles. The plans - and many other kayak plans too - suggest drilling holes right through the hull, sealing the holes with resin and then drilling through the resin to take the rope handle. Sometimes this hole is through the ‘end pour’ of resin, but these Divas do not have that end pour. I was reluctant to drill a hole through my newly painted hull, so screwed small saddles into the deck beams near each end of the kayak. I spliced a small rope loop under the saddle, and had great handles without the holes in the hulls.

The hulls are gleaming white, and the decks clear finished which gives a lovely contrast. The black hatch straps and bungee cords set off the whole look. These kayaks were meant for business. Finished! Not quite... there is a small matter of propulsion.

They were rapt with them, and are looking forward to using them out on Moreton Bay. I was very happy to see them floating at last, and track so well in the breezy conditions of the day. Light strokes of the paddles sent them smoothly through the water so effortlessly that a day paddling should not be very tiring. With the V of the keel along the hull, I had felt that rudders were not really necessary and that decision was vindicated during the test paddling when they did not stray from their path even with a cross wind. I had been given some lovely 100-year-old Hoop Pine which had been sufficient for one paddle shaft, and had made the other from the left over Meranti. Big mistake! The Meranti shaft snapped on the first test outing, and I have had to make another after my return home. Actually, the paddle had been fine while Vikki was using it relatively sedately to try out her new baby, but when someone else tried out the kayak and really gave it ‘what for’, it snapped under the strain. I was glad that the shaft had snapped then, and not when Vikki was fighting wind, tide and chop part way between islands in Moreton Bay. Better to find out things like that before they are in situations that could be life threatening. And it’s not a problem to make another paddle. This new one is from some more of that lovely old Hoop pine too. Various onlookers at the launching were very approving, and the consensus on the day was that the Diva is one great looking kayak, and my workmanship something to be justly proud of.

Seeing some ‘tupperware’ kayaks the next day just reinforced how much better looking these wooden creations are. If they were side by side, the gleaming wooden ones would be standing out as something that catches your eye. I found a few minor things that could be improved on the plans, such as mentioning that the seat supports and foot braces should go in before any finishing of the insides is done, and Graham from B & B Yacht Designs was glad of my feedback. He has since changed the plans to reflect what I found that could be mentioned or done differently. He had never even considered someone wanting to paint the insides.

Jeff is still working on his, and at the time of writing this has it at the ‘hull with inwales fitted’ stage, and has started to glue and fillet the seams. He has plans to finish it over the next couple of months, ready for the spring. All in all, I found these twins fairly easy to build. All the pieces made exactly to the plans dimensions actually fitted together amazingly well. The hardest part was getting the centre deck sections and cockpit coamings to conform to the required shapes, but I found heat was the solution to that. The rub rails are an option, and I feel that the kayaks would look quite nude without them. They are worth the effort to make and fit them, as they afford a little more protection to the hull if coming alongside anything. They also help deflect some wave action that might otherwise flow up over the deck.

I have come to realise that the finish is directly proportional to the amount of fairing and sanding of the base, and the great finish on these comes from the efforts I put in on that foundation. Varnishing is nothing to be scared of. I have done very little of it before now, and got great results just by following the instructions on the tin. It’s hard keeping dust and insects off the wet varnish, but with care it can be done. Quality paint and varnish are worth every dollar. If you want a million dollar looking job, be prepared to spend a couple of extra dollars and buy top grade paint and brushes. I used International Paints varnish as well as their paint.

Although I built these both fairly heavily to be extra strong, they both finished at just on 40 pounds (20 kilos). Some supposed ‘lightweight’ plastic or fibreglass touring kayaks advertised on the ‘net are just as heavy. Without doing the ends after cutting the ends to a curve also supplied as a pattern with the plans. Two coats of resin, and a further four of varnish, and they were complete too. These blades look a little unusual in that there is a hook formed on the top corner, which is useful for grabbing objects to pull yourself over with as you come alongside a pier or wharf.

Varnishing is nothing to be scared of. I have done very little of it before now, and got great results just by following the instructions on the tin. It’s hard keeping dust and insects off the wet varnish, but with care it can be done. I did a rough tally of the material costs, and each kayak accounted for about $650-$700, which is not bad when you see kits advertised for more than that, and then you still have to build them and add the hardware.

So, if you want a beautiful looking sea kayak for weekend touring, try your hand at building yourself a B & B Yacht Designs’ 16 foot ‘Diva’. For those who want a bigger kayak for increased capacity, there is also a Grand Diva which is 17' 6" feet long. Both have the capacity to comfortably carry a weekend’s camping gear and food, and still paddle well.

Give it a go - you should just have time to get one done before Christmas...