Glassing the inside: One hour from no longer needing it, my old orbital sander died. It costs almost as much as a new one to repair, so I rented a sander for a day to finish the inside of the boat. There came a time in sanding the inside when I said to myself, "Enough already, this has to be as good as it gets, I'm tired of rubbing out just one more imperfection!" I put the primer coat of epoxy on the inside and it looks just great.
It took five long, intense hours to lay out the cloth and apply the epoxy resin to the inside. Because the Clear Coat has such a long pot life, I decided to put the epoxy-dust paste into the stems first, cover it with strips of bias-cut cloth, and then lap the main cloth over those edges, all in one session of laminating. This eliminates alot of sanding. The next day after glassing the inside, I squeegeed on another light coat of Clear Coat across the bottom to slightly fill the weave of the cloth and give it some protection from the inevitable sand and mud.
Stern air chamber: I've made some cardboard patterns for the air chambers, and glued together the strips for the stern air chamber. In order to make a curved chamber between the bottom of the canoe and the mid-point of the transom, I cut a 1/8" mahogany plywood panel into the shape of the cardboard pattern, and then scored it with a radial arm saw, making several parallel cuts so that it bent smoothly as you see in the top layer here. I glued cedar strips to the front surface of this panel while it was tacked into place in the stern, and to fit the curved portion, I beveled the edges of the strips.
The stern air chamber panel is installed. I masked off the corners to be coved with epoxy/wood dust paste, used a small paper cup to spread the paste into the curvature of the cove, and then pulled off the tape to make a neat edge. I applied the bias-cut strips of glass cloth over the paste before it had gelled. I discovered later on that when the canoe is left exposed to the sun in a hot parking lot, the heated air in the chamber expands enough to strain the fiberglass and make it visibly delaminate at the join with the hull along the cove. I will have to install a pressure-relief valve of some sort.
I'm researching late into the night on the internet, gathering as much information as I can about sails, ropes, rudders, leeboards, etc. Jim Michalak's site was a goldmine of information. I even posted a note asking for help on the Wood Canoe Heritage Association bulletin boards, and got exactly what I needed--- Tom Tompkins of Cedar Island Canoes knew about a traditional design for a 20' canoe using a 70-square-foot lateen sail. Designs that have been used and worked for others is the best starting point for designing your own rig.
Installing gunnels: It may be overkill to dowel-pin the outwhale to the inwhale with epoxy glue like I did today, but hey, it looks tough! I believe the bonding of all the parts together with epoxy makes the gunnel into a solid unit that distributes stresses uniformly, instead of concentrating stress at screws. I have also had experience in the past of discovering rot underneath an outwhale that was screwed on, even when it had been sealed with varnish.
Keelsons: I have sanded the gunnels smooth, turned the canoe over, and now I am in the midst of attaching the 3 keelsons, kneeling on a folded tarp under the upturned canoe, drilling and driving screws over my head -- tedious work, at best. I taped the keelson in place with mylar packaging tape to make sure it was on straight, then gently drilled up into it from below with the countersink drill, and drove in the first screw immediately to cinch the keelson down against the hull. After that screw was in place, I didn't have to worry that the tape was going to let go, and I continued down the length of the keel, alternating between drilling and driving screws.
After varnishing, I capped the keelsons with a 1/4" layer of UHMW (ultra high molecular weight) plastic, which is as slippery as teflon and as tough as nylon. Greg shields the bottom of his drift boats with the stuff, and we routinely drag boats around the shop or the parking lot like they had wheels on them. Greg says you could drag your boat down the road without a trailer and it wouldn't hurt it!
The Stripper's Guide to Canoe-building by David Hazen is available from:
Copyright 1998, David Hazen. You may download, store, or print a single copy of this page for your personal information. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored or transmitted for personal gain.
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