Skinning

I followed the skinning process from Corey Freedman's Skin Boat School.

I bought nylon, urethane, dye, sinew and sewing needles from the affiliated Spirit Line Store.

Following the videos on their site, I spread the cloth over the hull of the frame and sewed a "sock" at each end.

Then stretched the skin tight until this "sock" fit over the point of the bow.

With skin stretched tight along the keel, the kayak is now sitting upright with half of the nylon flipped up over the deck.

When it was time for the final stitching, I had the instructional videos playing in "loop" mode until I got the hang of things.

Eventually I took the plunge and started sewing...

...and sewing...

...and sewing.

Finally completing the rear deck.

And feeling a little more confident, the front deck.

After pulling the skin between each stitch, fingers start getting a little raw.

The excess material above the stitch must be trimmed off.

I used this butane-fueled soldering iron with a cutting blade attachment.

Not the best tool, but it did the job of cutting the nylon and melting the frayed edge.

Here you can see the trimmed deck...

...and the completed finishing stitch along the back deck.

Looks like it's wrapped in a cocoon at this point.

The transparency of the nylon is evident in these photos.

To attach the coaming, I inserting nails into the nylon and out through the sewing holes around the coaming base.

I continued tightening and trimming the nylon until it was even with the top of the coaming.

Then made several passes around the inside of the loop folding the top half of the material down behind the bottom half.

Sewing was a matter of pulling out one nail at a time then running the needle in and out through the holes.

Here is the finished job.

Having that original strap fairly tight gave the coaming a nice secondary curve.

Here's a common shot - a look down the front interior.

My wife stepped out to see the finished stitching and decided it was good time for another "boat and builder" shot.