Pelican Kayak, Project

[tacklejunkie]

Doesn't look so bad to fix that!
Already has the paddle holder on the right hand side too.
Looks like you just need a rod holder.
Have fun.
Got a bunch done to mine as well today.

[fishinone]

I made the first cut and started planning some other mods.


I used a Dremel tool with a RotoZip bit. The RotoZip bit has three flutes. They let you control the direction of the cut easier than a two flute cutter.


This hole will give me access to the seam way up in the bow.


Later the hatch will allow for storage in front of the foot rests. I'm working on a way to flatten the area where the hatch flange is.


I'm planning to cut off a bucket and weld it to the deck below where the bucket is in this picture. I ordered some yellow ones last night. I'll use it as a socket for other buckets up to 7 gallons. It think there are buckets made in that diameter in 2, 3.5, 5, 6 and 7 gallon. Different buckets can be set up for different purposes, like a baitwell, dry storage or a cooler. There are also trays that are called bucket organizers that stack in the buckets.

I'll see how the front hatch mod turns out before I decide whether to put a hatch in the back.


I got the Plano tackle box in this picture at WalMart for $8.74. I considered cutting a hole and mounting it in it, but it would be in the way of my feet. Now I'm thinking of welding the top off of the back bucket there to make a mount for it. I'm sure I'll use a tackle box in the top of the back bucket. With the tackle box in the top of a bucket it's a pretty comfortable seat for shore fishing or camping.

[fishinone]

I've been doing some testing with the new tools and different materials.

Last night the tip on my harbor freight iron just broke off while I was working. I had only had the tool for about 30 minutes. This morning I got the broken piece out of the screw hole ground down the shaft on the rest of the tip then threaded it with a 10-24 die. Tonight it was actually bending while I was using it after it heated up, then it broke when I tried to straighten it.


Harbor Freight is sending a new kit.





Fortunately I stopped at Home Depot and bought some replacement tips on the way home.


This Brass screw was a little harder to do smoothing with but it worked well. It didn't bend at all.

Tomorrow I'll make some feet out of some pieces of brass. I've got some brass tubing to make some tube feeders with also.



I'm putting screen in this weld.



The red spot is weed eater line that I tried, to see if it was the right stuff. It's not.

I broke the weld on the left with my hands after it cooled but the area with the screen in it held.



The yellow is welded with welding rod that I bought. The white is welded with strips that I cut off of a bucket lid. The ugly brown is done with strips that I cut out of the weld slot, there is screen under the surface.

The weld strip and the bucket lid both work well and are easy to work with. If you can stand orange, bucket lids are a dollar at Home Depot.

The strips from the kayak are harder to work with because they are made from 2 densities of material. the Ram-X has hard surfaces.

The slot in the screw head made pushing the screen in very easy.

I'm satisfied now that I can fix the 45" split in the seam. It should be stronger than original.

[tacklejunkie]

That's harsh on the tool breaking over and over again. Typical harbor freight tools made in china stamped OK and reboxed by let me guess "Pittsburg". lol
Been there done that bro.

Hang in there. Looks like tough work but you'll be stoked with a floaty boaty in the end!
Hit me up when she's done for a trip out on the water.

[fishinone]

I think the tip breaking will work out to be helpful. I made my own tip, it wasn't hard and it cost less. Now I'll make some more for special purposes.


This tip is made from a brass plumbing fitting.


The rectangular one works better on the flatter surfaces. The triangle should work well in a corner.


It was a lot easier to make a better finish.

I'm starting on the boat today!

[tacklejunkie]

If you can't buy the right tools for the job, make them!
Keep up the good work.

Was that a scrap piece you were testing on or another part of the yak?

Can't wait to take mine out again. Got busy for a bit.
Happy holidays this weekend folks.

[fishinone]

I can buy tips but one cost more than the 8 tips that I made. I made tips with different angles to get into different spaces, etc. I'm planning to shape tips as required also. When I start installing things with inside corners etc. I can make tips that fit and leave a gusset as I drag them.



This weld was done with a water jug, it's like a milk jug or a SunnyD bottle. It's easy to work with because it's thin but the yellow buckets are the same material, fill a little faster and match the boat better. The High Density Polyethylene (UHPE) of the water jug and the bucket makes stronger welds than the LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) of the bucket lid and welding rod but the LDPE is easiest to work with



I've broken every weld that I made in the test piece in the hopes that I won't break the ones in the boat. I've got it to the point now where I have to put the piece in a vice to break it, even without the Stainless Steel screen. I'm going to put the screen in anyway.

Patience makes better welds. The weld material has to be melted through and the surface underneath melted also. Melt the rod down into the groove to fill it then push the melted material out of the groove with the tool and melt the surface of the groove quickly and put the molten material back in the hole.

[fishinone]

I started the repair today.


I spent 3 hours trimming the crack for the weld then realized that heating the plastic with the heat gun made it an easy job.



That's the end of the split above the seam at the right.



The other end of the split is above the seam at the bow.



I prepared the edges for the weld. I removed all of the sawtooth breaks and most of the dirt that was in the crack and beveled the edges inside and out.



after prepping and cleaning the weld I tacked the 2 halves in place with a few short welds.



Here I'm preheating the material with a heat gun. before making a weld.



I put a ceramic heater inside the kayak to keep things moving a little quicker.



Here's the tool table. The second Harbor Freight welding tool arrived in the mail while i was working.



The rod holder came in the mail too.


This is the weld before the screen was added.



It looks good enough. It could be but I prefer to have it fixed for sure.



Adding stainless steel screen to the weld.



Here's the cockpit end of the weld with the screen added.



Here's the bow.

After taking a long time to put 10 inches of screen on I found out i can tack the screen with the heat gun by tapping it with the tip then preheat the screen and the boat with the heat gun. Just touching the screen with the iron pushes it right in.

Tomorrow I'm planning to weld the inside of the split.

If I were paying for this work by the hour it would be way better just to buy a new kayak.

[tacklejunkie]

It will have a hand done self accomplished feel when it's done though!
Aweomse work dude looks like you are doing it right. That thing will be stronger than new.

Did the guy say how the split happened? Looks like from a motorcycle tie down too tight around the yak or something?

[fishinone]

He didn't say how it happened. I think it was his mom's kayak though, he said she bought another one.

I think it split because there were 2 week spots in the seam on that side. I had seen one of them before. I found another one near the bow when I was cleaning up the edges for the weld. It looked like the it had been released from the jig or clamp before the weld had solidified, then the stresses in the material pulled those areas enough to open the weld in those 2 spots.

I don't think it lasted long. The 2 spots had less than an 1/8 inch of LDPE holding them where the rest of the rest of boat had about a 1/2 inch. Regular wave action could have split it open. The scratches and dings are probably from laying around in the back yard.

I found out that it's a 2004 Endeavor model, by e-mailing Pelican the serial number.