The seats Pt.1.

I had planned today to finish epoxying the outside of the hull but we had very high humidity so I decided to have a play with the seats. This is a part of the build where I think a few woodworking skills are handy. I marked the position of the seats on the top edge of the top panel and using a string line and level was able to mark the positions on the hull. Using a “joggle stick” (use wikipedia) I marked the widths and then I layed a level over the top of the panels I was able to get the angles of the cuts. I joined the seat pieces using a small dowel jig. I made everything a couple of millimeters over size so I can adjust the fit when it finally comes around to gluing the seats.

Glassing the Hull.

In Michaels plans he gives two optionis to seal the outside of the hull.  One is to epoxy a 50mm (2″) strip of glass tape along the outside seams and then give the hull it’s three coats of epoxy. The other is to cover the bottom of the hull with glass cloth finishing 25mm above the bilge panel. I chose the second as the fiberglass gives a good strong protection. I spent a day sanding the the ply smooth and laying out the cloth. My cloth came folded and it is quite difficult to smooth out the folds. If there’s a next time I will order the cloth in a roll. The epoxying takes patience especially filling the weave of the glass mat with epoxy. I applied three coats but after starting to sand I think I should have given it a fourth. After the first coat had become tacky I trimmed away the excess cloth having previously taped the line where the cloth finishes. I also had trouble cutting and laying the cloth around the stems, it had a habit of sliding around and lifting. Some advice I was given later was to let the epoxy become very tacky or sticky and then lay the cloth into it. All in all it didn’t turn out too bad but there’s a lot of sanding to do.

Paddles and Routers.

Dealing with the router first. Because of the way I want to finish some of the “fitting out” on the canoe I will have to use a router. I could just use it hand held but routers are extremely dangerous because of the speed they rotate at. The best way to use one is in a table set-up but these are exspensive so I decided to build my own.  A piece of 10mm plexi glass to fit the router to, a 12mm sheet of ply for the table and some 20mm hardwood underneath the table to keep it all straight, and then another sheet of 12mm ply for the fence or back-board. A few stainless screws, nuts and bolts of various sizes, a safety switch (very important) and a lot of head scratching and the end product didn’t turn out too bad.

The paddles. I’m just experimenting with a few ideas for paddles. I want to eventually make a good set of paddles for my wife and I but these are just to get us up and going. I bought two beech hoe handles for the shafts and cut a slot in the top to take a ply insert. I then cut ply triangles leaving one with a extension to fit into the shaft. I’ll epoxy the ply together to form the handle and then shape it with an angle grinder and small drum sander. The blades are just cut and formed from 5mm ply left over from the canoe. I’m just making these up as I go along. It’s really good to have something like this going on at the same time as the canoe build. It’s a good place to use up any left over epoxy.

Fitting the bulkheads.

In the plans Michael gives the dimentions for the bulkheads but as each hull will differ slightly he has made them over size. It’s a case of trying and then trimming until the bulkhead fits the shape of the hull. To make sure they are in the right place I set up a centre line and marked the distance from the stems to the bulkhead on the stringline. After making sure the boat was level I could square off the string line and set the bulkheads in place and then clamp them to the gunwales. Also a couple of strategically place paving stones helped. Then it was a case of mixing some thickened epoxy and glueing them in place.

Joint failure.

Just when things seemed to be going along nice and smoothly we had another set-back. When I was having a beer with my neighbour and bragging about my boat building skills, one of the scarf joints on the gunwales let go with a loud thump. Just to add insult to injury, not five minutes later another one broke. Within the hour a third broke. This was the first time I had made this sort of joint and after disscussing the problem with the guys on woodwork forums I found I’d made a couple of mistakes. I hadn’t wet out the joint properly, I had made my glue too runny and then used too much clamping pressure.

After cutting the joints again I hope I’ve got it right this time.

A thing of beauty.

When I first started looking for a canoe to build I came across a post on woodwork forums where someone described a canoe as a thing of beauty. I remember thinking at the time that such a description for a boat was a bit over the top. Last week I turned the hull over to fill the outside of the panel joins and was instantly taken by the beauty of the form of this hull design. It was really a defining moment. Time to sit back, look and enjoy. Well I did.

Now the glueing.

After the panels are stitched together they are glued using small “fillets” or “micro fillets” between the copper wire ties. It’s a job that needs a lot of patience, especially taking care to not glue the wires in.  After allowing a couple of days for the fillets to dry the copper wire can be removed. The fillets can then be sanded and then the final filleting can be done.

After turning the hull over the joins between the panels have to be filled with care been taken to not spread the epoxy everywhere.

Tightening and checking.

The spreader I had put in to do the stitching was only temporary and also too small, so the next step was to cut the three spreaders to get the right hull width.  After tightening the stitching and lining up the seams with a bit of gentle thumping with the heel of my hand it was time to check for any twist in the hull. After first levelling two saw horses and then turning the hull upside down on top of them, by laying two straight edges over the bottom it’s possible to see if there’s any twist in the hull. The result was great. I’m really pleased.

The stitching.

This is when it all comes together. The bilge panels are clamped together back to back and marked out and drilled. They are then lined up with the bottom panel and starting from the buttstrap and working outwards matching holes are drilled and then stitched with copper wire. The same with the sheer or top panels. I must say after the epoxy drama, there was a great satisfaction in stitching the panels together.

When it all goes wrong.

To make working much easier the panels are given three coats of epoxy before they are stitched together. When the first coat becomes tacky the second is applied and the same with the second and third. Where disaster struck was when it was too late in the day, well too late at night actually, for me to apply the third coat because the second was too wet. Thinking that the epoxy would still be tacky enough the next morning I left it. Here comes my mistake. The epoxy was past the tacky stage but I was still able to push my fingernail into the surface. Thinking that it was still green, I went ahead and applied the third coat. The epoxy had gone too far and was allready producing amine bloom or blush. Amine bloom occurs when there is high humidity or low temperatures or both and there is a reaction  with unwanted components which come to the surface of the epoxy. After removing the last layer of epoxy and scrubing the surface of the panels three times and giving them another sanding just to be sure, I then applied two more coats. Dissapointing and a hell of a lot of extra work and my own fault but I won’t do it again.