Canoe! Progress Resumes!

[catsittingstill]

Today I mostly finished leveling the gunwales, re-fitted the front deck (I decided the back one was close enough) drilled the holes for the screws to go into the front deck, and epoxied and screwed both decks in place.

Notes to self: 
1) FIRST wedge boat out, or in, to design beam.  THEN fit decks.  This will save you a lot of time.
2) Shove a shop lamp under the deck.  It makes it a lot easier to see where the high spots are.
2a) Low angle block plane Martin told me to buy--worth its weight in gold for this operation.
3) Drill the screw holes through the gunwales without the deck in place.
3a) Clamp a bit of scrap wood behind the gunwale to keep it from splintering where the drill bit exits.
3b) Watch the level on the drill; that thing actually works and will make it easier to get the screw hole at an angle where the screw will stay inside the deck for its full length.
4) Then clamp the deck in place and use the pre-drilled gunwale holes as guides to drill into the deck.
5) Tape, tape, tape! Dookie schmutz that doesn't hit the wood is dookie schmutz you don't have to wipe up or sand off.  There is no prize for using the least masking tape.

Also Martin called me back (when he is on vacation, bless him) to let me know that a single wetting won't hurt the walnut gunwales, so I will be putting Constance in the water for seat-and-thwart position testing.  I will run a strip of tape down the bow and stern with inch marks (and numbers) so my shore observer can tell me when my trim is right.  I'll move the seat-box back and forth until the center of gravity is right, then move the back thwart and foot thwart to match.  The foot thwart will be curved so tall people can put their feet toward the middle and short people can put their feet toward the sides and hopefully it will be good for a range of sizes, since it will be my guest boat.

But golly, the dark walnut gunwales sandwiching the light white pine hull look *really* sharp, especially with the light white pine decks in place.  I'm giving serious thought to making my thwarts of ash rather than walnut, partly because I'm getting really tired of the knots and weird grain of the walnut, and ash is very straightforward that way, and partly because I like the look of the light-and-dark woodwork together.

Comments

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there should be a prize for using the most masking tape?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-)

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I'm now having visions of a contest that requires making an entire (visually accurate but doubtlessly nonfunctional) canoe out of different types of masking tape, the way the duct tape company runs a contest where people make those amazing high school prom outfits out of nothing but duct tape. :)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Actually, duct tape would work fine (I think) for the skin in skin-on-frame construction. You'd still need something rigid for the frame, though.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Our Art teacher, back when we had one, had a picture of Edna from the movie The Incredibles! In it, she says "No Tape!" Tape does not hold up for very long, and art projects that use it fall apart. Our Art teacher wanted kids to make projects that would last for as long as they wanted them.

So it seems funny to hear about a project that needs MORE tape...and I know masking tape is exactly for this purpose, and meant to not last. Still, I'm programmed wrong now!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yes, the point is to throw it away. The stuff that stays is permanent stuff like wood and epoxy. I'm sure the Art teacher would approve :-)

[boywizard.livejournal.com]

I admire your persistence on this project - I usually on work in fits and starts, when the mood is right. That's why I'm still not finished with my cat(amaran) after four years. As for thwarts, go with the ash. It is substantially stronger than the walnut, especially if the walnut is knotty and has 'weird' grain, as both weaken the wood. Question: I have never heard the term 'dookie schmutz', although I think from context that is an epoxy-based filler. Do you purchase it ready-made, or mix it yourself, and if so, what is your formula? I use microballoons, cotton microfiber, and colloidal silica, generally West system, but not West resin, which I consider overpriced.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I tend to work in fits and starts but along about the time the canoe turns right-side-up I tend to want to get it in the water. And that starts pushing me to finish.

Dookie schmutz is a term I learned from canoez (http://canoez.blogspot.com/), meaning epoxy with sawdust and cab-o-sil (fumed silica) though I sometimes leave out the cab-o-sil, and sometimes I add phenolic microballoons.

Um. I don't really have a formula. I drop sawdust in and stir it in and drop the other additive(s) in and stir, alternating stuff until it looks right. Right being, roughly like peanutbutter. It should stick to the stir stick (like mayonaise) rather than dripping off. The exact proportions don't seem to be crucial.

[adamek.livejournal.com]

I like ash for seats, thwarts & paddles.

re: Trim. Are you going to be camping with this or just day trips? If camping, you want room to move your pack and food box as the food box gets lighter over the duration of the trip.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

I am hoping it will be suitable for camping. If it winds up that it cuts into the waves too much, that may not work out, but I won't be able to check that until the canoe is finished.

Right now there's space for a smallish pack in front of the front thwart and a largish pack in back of the back thwart. The distance to the widest station works out such that if the widest station really is the center of buoyancy, the front pack should be 2/3 the weight of the back pack (so 20 pounds in the front and 30 pounds in the back, roughly.)

I hadn't thought about the weights changing as the food gets eaten. I could always move some clothes or something into the food pack for paddling, I suppose.

[adamek.livejournal.com]

On our one or two week trips we didn't use much expensive freeze dried stuff. Old Town Trippers have plenty of cargo capacity so we used a lot of heavier canned food.

That time I was in the heavy waves on Lobster in Puddleduck I had the large food box, and my parents had most of the camping gear in their Tripper. They were well behind me (Dad stopped to fish in the inlet). I figured if I got blown down the lake past the campsite... Well, I had the food. They'd have to come and find me. ;)

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

:-) When all is going to pieces around you, it is good to know where your next meal is coming from.

I have a dehydrator so I dry stuff (tomatoes, mushrooms, cooked chicken, apples, etc) for our trips. The food bag was still pretty heavy for the Quetico trip, though. Food for four people, for a week, adds up.

Inscribing

[adamek.livejournal.com]

Oh, and one tip. Sign your canoe in one or two places, under the varnish to prevent erasure or wear. Name and phone number can help in recovery from theft or just river accident.

Re: Inscribing

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Oh, hmm. Good point.