CH14 underway

[MartinV]

I've been working all afternoon and have:
- rounded the keel and chine
- found a crack in the outer layer of the ply near (one of) the bow(s). I already thought I heard something snap yesterday evening when I wanted to flip the canoe. It's in a bottom panel where it is bended most near the bow. Maybe it's the mahogany which doesn't bend easily, I don't know, but it proved very difficult to align the panels in that area to begin with. I've sanded the area and put some glass fabric on it. Can anyone confirm that 100% mahogany ply is difficult to bend?
- glassed the outside seams

It's actually starting to look like something that might float at some point in time!
Next up: rub rails

[MartinV]

Tomorrow I will glue the last layer of rub rail on and install the yoke.

[Jeff]

Very nice MartinV!!

[MartinV]

I've epoxyglued the yoke in place as well as the final layer of rubrail. When the clamps are out of the way tomorrow I can get crackin' on the breasthooks and then all construction work is done.

[MartinV]

Slowly but surely I've continued work on the canoe. I've cut breasthooks out of cheap exterior ply.



I wasn't sure about what would be a nice radius, but it suddenly hit me: I've used the leftover piece of ash (out of which I cut the yoke) as a template, so now the breasthooks have the same curve as the yoke, a nice designer touch if I say so myself

I've sanded the edges of of the glass tape (had to wait until my son was with his mom again, don't want him around when doing that), installed the breasthooks and saturated it all.



It won't ever win a canoe beauty pageant, but I'm not displeased up till now. Next up: buy paint, lightly sand the inside before clear coating it and fair the outside before painting it. Hope to splash it next week.

[Jeff]

Send us photos after fairing & paint and then of course on her first splash!! Nice job, Jeff

[MartinV]

I've faired the glass tape and do not intend to do much on the panels. I'd like to have it splashed soon as we have some kind of Indian summer thing going on here. Besides, Fairing is not really my thing and it won't hurt so much if I take it out of the water and scratch and dent it. My main goal was learning how to stitch and glue and I have.


I've read about how to choose the correct paddle, yet I've never owned a canoe paddle so I wanted something cheap to start with and use as reference. I found a couple of cheap wooden paddle at a sports discounter. Only $30. The finish is horrible, but it will do.

[MartinV]

Painting is slow, but I'm down to my second coat on the outside. I've chosen RAL 5018, which closely resembles one of the 1960s Volkswagen colours which they used on bottom half of the van. I wanted to go for that 60s look and it should look great when I've clear coated the inside (mahogany)!



My painter (who's a yacht painter as well) advised me to use a two component PU paint system, which I did. I managed to get two and a half coatings of (grey) primer out of one can and could have managed maybe four out of the can of coloured paint, but it will be three. The final coating I'll do tomorrow and maybe Sunday I'll be able to get the first coat on the inside. I must say, the paint system I'm using is very easy to use, totally idiot proof. I'm not using a brush nor a spray gun but a roller and it works fine.
My canoe should be splashable next week. I don't intend to install seats yet, but if I do, they will be removable. I have some experience in paddling on a stand up paddle board, and I like the control you have when kneeling.

[cape man]

Looking good! Like the color.

[MartinV]

Thanks! I've flipped it and started coating the inside. Now that it's flipped I can see that my thoughts on the colour combined with the clear coated wood weren't so bad at all.



The final coat should go on Tuesday. If I apply a coat of boat wax on Wednesday, I should be able to have it in the water on Thursday.