My new Kingy from Start to Finish.... something a little different!!

It's been flat out Eric's Canoes over the last three months but we have finally got through the back log of Kingy orders and have now got things to the two week turnaround time we've been aiming for.... What this has ment is that I managed to squeek my own Kingy into production last week, I have been using the first Kingy ever made and have not had the benefits of some of the changes we have made to the ski over the past months. I like the Kingy I have but it wasn't really my own and having watched and worked on so many good looking new Kingy's I wanted to do something a little different.

When I told Eric that I was going to spray Flames on my Kingy he laughed and I don't think he took me to seriously.... well on Friday I sprayed flames on my Kingy. It took hours to do and I got a few dirty looks but I did come in at 5am so that I never used up to much company time.(actually I came in at 5.45am but that's because the East was howling and I couldn't get the old Landy to top 100kms/per/hour)

Anyway what I want to do is take a photo of my Kingy as it winds it's way through the factory... I have gone for DP13 (light blue) over the top of the flames and hope it will work. Black is just to hot on the water, but it does look good.

Until tomorrow then...

Today  my new Kingy got Moulded.... as you can see I have layed the DP13(light Blue) over the flames so in theory tomorrow morning when we open the mould I should find a light blue Kingy with flames on top .... Moulding is when the Fibreglass and Resin etc. are layered into the ski, this obviously gives it the desired shape and strength. The Top(Deck) and Bottom(Hull) are moulded seperately, the Hatches, Rudder sleeves, aluminium strips, core mat and bouyancy are all fitted to the deck and then finally at the end of the day the Deck and the Hull are joined. I have used a special Exopy type glue to join my boat, we usually use a bonding paste which is super strong but it adds weight. The epoxy is fantastic but it also costs a lot more.... The average Kingy comes out the mould at 22kg's it'll be interesting to see how much weight the glue will save....

We use the Epoxy on our Caron Kevlar boats as we are trying to make them as light as possible.... if you are interested in getting a Carbon Kevlar Kingy you'll need to come up with about R16 000.... a tad more than the R7500 for the fibreglass version.

So I left work today with my Kingy in the mould, first thing tomorrow I'll get to open it up and see how it has turned out....

Until Tomorrow then.....

After a wet and windy drive to work and without looking to excited about opening the mould .. it was finally time to reveal my new Kingy. 

 Here is the Kingy with the top off the mould, don't really know how I feel about it to be brutally honest. A bit to much yellow on the flames, not enough Red, I have my reservations aout the DP13 Light Blue now.... Oh Dear!!

It's funny though how the Skis come to life again when you start to add the seams, hatches and other fittings.... interesting few days ahead.

My Kingy is out the mould and is now having it's edges gound back and being prepared for it's seam... I'll leave it for a day or two now to cure, I'm a big fan of not rushing a new boat... I think it's important to let everything dry before working on it. It's a personal thing....

So Friday will see the Kingy get it's seam, then sanded again, then water papered and then it's time for it's trim.... not sure if I should go Red/Black or Yellow, maybe I'll just use all three.

Till Friday then....

OK today I did the seam and trim, a lot of sanding and the proverbial elbow grease... but I first had to mark and cut out the hatches. New boats are moulded in two with all the hatches etc. fitted inside before joining so cutting out the top deck gives you access to these hatches.

I went for a two tone trim with a red nose fading into black..... not something we usually do as you have to get your timing pretty spot on, the resin dries quickly so you have to make sure you have the right amount of catalyst. I did the black first and then the red into it.... came out OK.

So now the seam and trim are done and the hatches are cut out we're off to polishing. My Kingy will be water-papered from head to toe and then polished from there it's off to final fix......

I spent the week in Dbn last week as Gary was paddling the Fish River Canoe Marathon so I had to take up the slack.... hence I wasn't able to finish off my Kingy story.

I am however back home and can tell you that my Kingy is finished!!! Polished, filtted and ready to go. I was going to bring it home on the weekend but the sea was a mess so I left it at work....

I have fitted it out to fit a fish finder and as soon as I can afford one I will fit it.... I'll have to talk nicely to the boss and see if he'll let me pay it off.

The other thing I have done is fit another two rod holders on the front deck, I/we have a plan to fit our trawling rods in front of us, rather than behind us aswe have done in the past. I'll do an article on it once I get to fish off my new Kingy

So there you have it, my Kingy from start to finish... hope you have enjoyed the journey through Eric's Canoes with me.

Cheers Anton