These akas are fun to build.  When you finish four of these babies you can claim to be a fair to middlin woodworker.

After finishing the 16 major pieces it was time to setup an aka producing pipeline.  The assembly process is somewhat involved and requires several steps for each aka.  I have it setup to finish one aka per day.


Here is a good look at the first step.  Glue all the pieces together.  In addition to the sides and tops I have to make a shaped plug for the curved small end and a square plug for the big end.  I used GelMagic in cartridges to apply the glue.  Just applying the glue takes a good 30-40 minutes of fast work, and that is after a few hours of sanding, fitting, and prep.  The clamping part goes rather quickly after all that.


This shows the next stage of the pipeline.  Another aka is on an adjacent table getting its glass coating.  This is a two day process because the top and sides are covered on the first day.  One layer of 6 0z glass goes on the top and one side.  Another layer of glass goes on the top and the other side.  This gives 2 layers of 6 oz glass on the top and one on each side.  The next day the small end of the aka gets its final cut on the bottom to mesh with the top of the ama.  Then a 6 oz layer is applied to the bottom and one side.  Another layer is applied to the bottom and the other side.  This final layer results in all four sides having two layers of 6 oz glass.

While that is going on there is still work to do on everything else.


This shows the port ama with a coat of epoxy applied and the outer seams with a fillet applied.


And then the keel was coated with 6 oz biaxal tape and the outer skin of 6 oz glass was applied.  The next step is another layer of standard 6 oz tape for the bow.

        

 

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