17' Lapstrake Canoe

[Vernon]

This is my first new build, although I've owned a 1966 30' CC Sea Skiff in the past. I bought her in pretty bad shape but in 'somewhat' seaworthy condition, used and worked on her over the course of 6 or so years, and finally sold her due to life maybe 8 years ago.

Since then my wife and I built our own house and a nice big shop, the lack of a shop was my only gripe with the old boat. The largest bay in my shop is 42' x 20', sized to fit my next boat, intended to be a 32' or larger Chris, another Day Cruiser model, my idea of the perfect fishing boat for Lake Erie. What can I say, stick with what works.

The house was very near completion and the shop just needed cleaning up, so I found myself searching online for my next project. My search eventually landed me on this forum about a year ago. I was in no hurry, still work to do on the home, so I continued looking around the area and on the web for the right boat, as time allowed.

I also continued reading this forum. I've never claimed that I wasn't at least a tiny bit nutty, but the lot of you are partially blamed/credited with this latest affliction of mine.

I spent a few months re-working the small side of my shop for woodworking / boat building in order to try my hand at building from scratch. The 14' x 24' attached bay of this area seemed just about right for construction of Weston Farmers Kingfisher.

2 problems - I don't really know what I'm doing and I'm not sure of the right construction technique for a lapstrake trailer boat. I like the idea of a traditional build, but the benefits of the epoxy glued lap is appealing. So traditional riveted with solid wood, Plywood and rivets with caulked laps like my old Chris, or epoxy glued lap? I'm not soliciting opinions on this; I've read the various opinions from builders here already without deciding the best way forward.

Solution - start simple and small with a well documented project; try the different techniques for myself; experiment. I can't do models; I just plain don't like fiddling with little pieces of anything (well maybe gold). I've done the 60's 'Chris style' lap glued with the '5200 like' Thiokol, so I need to learn a bit about traditional solid wood lap and epoxy glued ply lap.

The plan - 1st: 17' epoxy glued lapstrake canoe, 2nd: 16-18' Mantinicus Dbl Ender traditional (not sure, I don’t have the plans for this one), and finally make the call on a Kingfisher or something similar but maybe a bit bigger, I can probably go up to no more than 20' in the space available.

I know that’s a lot of work over a long time, but step 1; build that canoe and see if this boat building business is for me. I’m about 3 weeks in, working in my spare time and I can tell you it just might be, you’ve already read my description of this as an affliction above. The big cruiser I’ve been thinking about for years will have to wait until this thing runs its course.

So that’s the introduction, on with it then.

1. 17’ Lapstrake Double Canoe, Double paddle, by Walter Simmons.
2. Build in my home shop - small town in Northern Ohio – about 15 miles from Lake Erie, 50 miles east of Toledo.
3. The lofting, molds, plank keel, stems, cutwaters, setup, lining off done.
4. Picking up planking material tomorrow, weather permitting, likely start planking some this weekend.

I’m Vernon just like the screen name says, I got pictures.

[Vernon]

First the refence material and plans.
Building Lapstrake Canoes by Walter J. Simmons and also his Lapstrake Canoes CD.
I spent time studying both and can recommend both. I was very pleased with both the plans and the material and can tell you I would have wasted alot of time without at least one of them
.

[Vernon]

The picture reminded me that I got his Glued Lap Constuction book as well. About $90 for the lot if I remember right.

Lofting then. It wouldn't have been absolutely necessary, the prints come with a full size body plan, but it was recommended and this is after all a learning exersise for me.

1/4" luaun ply, 2' x 18', nailed to the bench, painted white. Here's the setup.




reverse angle, just because I edited down to size and uploaded to flickr for some dang reason.




What's with the silly checkbox that doesn't like to stay unchecked.

And the Body plan. Pictures badly distorted, but I overlayed the actual full size plan provided as a check when I was done and I didn't do too bad at all.

[Vernon]

I rounded up some wood that dad and I had collected over the years. I though I might find some reclaimed good stuff in the overhead in Moms garage. I brought the stuff home, and cut some samples. I don't know wood species well and I had some questions. Since then I've answered some myself by buying a few pieces of white oak and ash.

#1 turned out to be white oak, I have 4-3"x4"x7' pieces of this - won't be using in this build, but happy to see it for ribs on the next

#2 - don't know what that is, I'll put a blow-up below if any one has a clue - lightest wood in the group with the exception of the pine sample

#3 - walnut? - I have a couple of 9' 2 1/2"x3" pieces - too bad it was used as framing lumber, I could have convinced myself to use this for cutwaters, breasthooks, inwales, outwales - as it stands I thought I'd try to lam up one of the cutwaters just to see - glued really well, broke one though, there was 1 nail hole that i missed and left in - oh well nice idea

#4 was just a sample of red oak laying aroung for comparison

#5 tuned out to be ash - it's stems and cutwaters already

#6 must have been some the origingal floor beams from my old Chris (I replaced them all) - 2"x3"x3' - 6 of them - Doug Fir ?

#7 was just another coparison sample of pine

[Vernon]

#2 from above, any idea's

[Vernon]

#3 - Walnut?



And Finally #6 - Doug Fir??

[Vernon]

I'm just realizing how late it's getting. I'll have to catch up later.
Vern

[James McMullen]

Good for you, Vernon! I'll be watching for more.

[daveboling]

I could be (and often am) way off, but #3 looks to me like mahogany. I've got a good bit of walnut at home, and the surface grain looks a good bit different.

[Ron Williamson]

To me,#2 looks like White Oak.If it's very light,it may be on the way to rotten.
#3,I'd guess to be Black Walnut edge grain.
If#6 is Doug.Fir,it'll prolly smell like the D.Fir ply at the lumber store.
R

[Vernon]

Good for you, Vernon! I'll be watching for more.

Thanks for that James.

Thinking back, your Rowan may be the inspiration for the Mantinicus I'm considering next. I'm not set on the model, only that it will be a dbl ender row/sail. I think I can get about up to 20' in here very comfortably on the diagonal but that'll be decided when the weather warms up again. Right now, I'm thinking I may have to stop and install that wood burner that's been on the long list of 'other' projects in order to finish the current build. Highs right now are 55-60 degrees F in my area and sinking fast. I have a couple of Kerosene torpedo heaters but I don't like the cost of running them, the fumes - limited as they are, and the noise. Also it bothers me to take my scrap outside to burn without getting at least that small measure of comfort out of the useless bits and pieces.

I'm going on, I could of just put this as - Rowan - Like - Inspiring.

Thanks again,
Vern

Oh! I did something you ond others might say was 'borrowing trouble', I thought of you on my first trip to the local hardwoods shop. I didn't do what I did without reason though, and I had my eyes wide open. More on that later as I catch up.

[Vernon]

I could be (and often am) way off, but #3 looks to me like mahogany. I've got a good bit of walnut at home, and the surface grain looks a good bit different.

Thanks Dave,
I was originally thinking walnut or mahogany. I'm just back from the hardwoods store, a local place called Homestead Hardwoods. Get this, the place is 8 miles from where I grew up, maybe 12 miles from where I am now. I found out about it on this forum.

Anyway, turns out they have some free samples - I collected a few.
In the pic below, there is a walnut sample on edge along with my failed cutwater experiment - I straightened it out and spring clamped it together, experimenting again. I think this comfirms walnut.



By the way, this stuff glued up nice - West 105-205-406. I can't get the offcuts apart - chisels, hammers, torque in the vise - no way to get it to fail on a joint.
I'm going to check for more of this and see if I can't cut around the lathe nail lines and use it for inwales, outwales, breasthooks.
We'll see about that later.

Thanks,
Vern

[Vernon]

To me,#2 looks like White Oak.If it's very light,it may be on the way to rotten.
#3,I'd guess to be Black Walnut edge grain.
If#6 is Doug.Fir,it'll prolly smell like the D.Fir ply at the lumber store.
R

Thank you Ron, you may be right about #2. I had forgot that the original pic was in order of relative density. Nothing scientific, just heft one of the pieces of varying size and set them on board by guessing weight. #1 is definately white oak, but the 2 pieces are quite dissimilar. I only have a bit of #2 though, so I think I'll chop that into saw guides or something to be safe. #3, yes I think walnut it is - I'm not certain of its suitability, but man I like that stuff. #6, bingo again I think, see the samples I brought home today in the previous post. I compared the samples and its Doug Fir. I found 7 more varying lenghts of that today - around 6ft average. Its for sure now that its the cutout good parts from floor beams on my old Chris. I'm keeping that in my pocket for later.

I'm started a library of known samples for future use. Seems to be the only way I can really tell is to hold the piece.

Vern

[Vernon]

Ok, today's trip. Decided on merenti 6m ply. Okume would be better for wieght, but at more than twice the cost. This will be a 2 person canoe and I imagine will top out around 60-70 lbs - heavy yes, but not for 2 people who won't need to portage much at all.

Score - I didn't know they had 5'x10' sheets at not much of a premium. This may reduce the number of scarfs by 14 (7 strakes) - sweet deal - I like.
$266 for the 5 sheets, but that's way more than I'll need I think.

[Vernon]

I'm out of order, but I should be able to catch up over the next few days.
Here's a picture of the shop. The rainbow was just the look I was trying to achieve,
The canoe is just behind the front of the truck.




That's it for now, more later tonight.
Back to work, reinforcements have arrived.

[Rich Jones]

Wow, you've just won the "Best Shop Ever" contest!
Of course, now everyone will chime in on which beer goes best with boatbuilding...

Nice work. Looking forward to your progress.

[Vernon]

Wow, you've just won the "Best Shop Ever" contest!
Of course, now everyone will chime in on which beer goes best with boatbuilding...

Nice work. Looking forward to your progress.

Thanks Richard,
It's really 2 shops and an office space.
Up until about 2 years ago, we lived in there, our house came later. It's long dimensions are 60' x 70'. 70' because there was a 68' house trailer that I got for free inside the longest section. The windows were tied to the outside via plywood 'tunnel's', essentionally windows with about 20" sills. You'll see that as I post more of the pictures I have. Since then the bedroom to the right was torn off, and a 30'x10' 'popout' section behind was also demolished. What's left is what I'm now using as a small boat shop. It's a 14'x24' bay attached to a 10'x56' equipment area. Quite a bit of work went into getting ready for this project (series of projects really). It's not really ideal for a shop, but I'm very happy with how it worked out as it was essestially wasted space once we move in to the house.

Parts of the trailer still exist, you can see the high man door in the pic. It's a heated area with a bathroom and all the other utilities still intact, just smaller so I don't have to heat as much. The largest room inside is 14'x34'. It's not anywhere near transformed into what I want it to be, that is a project for another day as we put alot of long hours in the buildings here and I'm just plain burnt out on construction projects. Now I'll play with boats for awhile.

The original largest shop through the big OH door is essentially as built, but a completely seperate space. I have yet to decide if I want to tear down some more of the trailer to join the 2 shop areas.

Vern

[Vernon]

The moulds.

I clamped a top on one of my table saws and laid out a copy of the full size body plan on there. The level is the base and the 2x4 represents the building floor. The moulds are built a bit tall because the table is bigger and lower than needed in order to accomodate a bigger boat build.



Actually looking up, the level is just laying there and not clamped at this time, not at the base.
I used a second copy and alternated from side to side to cut the patterns with scissors, non-traditional for sure, but very quick and easy.

I apparently don't have enough thumbs for action shots, but here's evidence of the massacre.

[Vernon]

The result. A very short canoe

.


And another look, lined up a bit.

[Vernon]

I cut up 1/4" strips of ash for stem and cutwater laminations. Stems to be 7 lams, cutwaters 4. Incidently that Ash used to be a home made flatbed for a pickup truck.



Set up a epoxy station, inside my heated area.

[Vernon]

And did the laminations in conjuction with the building table setup. I don't have enough clamps to do more than 1 at a time. My digital camera gave up the ghost and I was using the wifes cell phone for a bit. All's well, I have a new one now.



The cutwaters were laminated right on each stem.

[Vernon]

Framing the work table. I decided to give up a set of heavy saw horses for the duration instead of cutting up wood.



Sheeted the top with 1/2" ply, reclaimed again, and set up the moulds.

[Vernon]

This shows the orientation of the shop, you're looking over the stern of the canoe. Also shows I can clean up after myself from time to time. This was a very windy day and I dusted with the leaf blower.

[orbb]

Nice! Looking forward to more posts.

[Rich Jones]

Since your building jig is so stout, I'd set it up on locking casters. I do that with mine, that way I can roll the whole thing this way and that to see how my lap lines are looking from any angle and from a distance.

[Vernon]

Thanks orbb, I'm still a bit behind on posts, more tonight. I can tell you its been alot of fun so far, mainly because it's been awhile since I've jumped into something like this that I've never done before. Learning new stuff is good!


Richard, you are absolutely right about the casters, I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to eyeball it from further away. I also don't know why I didn't set it in there on an angle so I could step back a bit in the corners. I'd also have to come up with a way to support the stems, a bigger table perhaps. Ah well, next time...

Vern

[Vernon]

I've got all the power equipment I need, spent years in the construction trades, but not to much as far as the more specialty hand tools needed for this type of work. I picked up a nice little Anant rabbit plane for about $50 from Amazon. It's not a top of the line tool, but after a few hours of fine tuning, it works like a charm. I've added a bag of the black plastic spring clamps from Lowe's and 16 of the green spring clamps from Home Depot. The one's from HD are the way to go, buck apiece and a nice firm grip, although the platic set has its uses too. I have a nice set of chisels, but the designer suggests 2" chisels, he's right on that, they are much easier to use. I paid for his literature, I should probably listen more without having to prove to myself that he's right. Picked up a long 2" Irwing and a standard 2" Buck Bros, both nice tools after a good honing. I got 8 of the 6" Irwin speed clamps, Ace had packs of 4 for a little over $22. Now that I have these, I can't do without. 8 more would be nice. 4 of the orange bar clamps from HD, handy too. And of course the all important shop camera - well a box anyway, cuz well....




Started using my new West epoxy and didn't really know to much about it. Then bought the latest Goo Bros from Amazon. That was backwards, typical. The answers are in that there book!

[Vernon]

I needed my longest bench back to make way for work on the plank keel, so I stuck the lofting on the wall. I pull down the pieces that I need as necessary. I've been adding some more details as I go.




I needed a shop computer to post while the glue sets of course, so I set up an old laptop way down at the end of the shop. It shares a table with my sawbuck. Just close the lid of the laptop and toss the keyboard out of the way. Handy setup for when the Radial Arm saw is set up for something else.

[Vernon]

Back to work on the canoe.

No images of work on the plank keel, this was after the old camea died. I milled to thickness, then on the bench I layed out the center line and stations, picked the keelson and rabbet off the lofting with dividers and faired with the 1/2"x3/4"x18' lining batten I previously made from a nice clear piece of poplar. As it sits in the picture it still needs beveling. The rabbet was roughed out using my router freehand to the rabbit line and set to 3/8" deep. It was possible to do this way because the plans allow for a 2 part keelson and keel each 3/8" thick, Therefore, the inner rabbit is a consistant 3/8" deep. You can sweep away most of the material easily before the hand work begins.

I did mine out of a solid piece of white oak instead of doing 2 parts.



Yes, white oak. Now I know many won't agree with my reasoning for using oak in a glued boat, so I'll make my case.

-The store I want to deal with didn't have a 14'-6" piece of ash, that's what I wanted to use. The choice would be to scarf or build up ash or use something else.
-The second piece of oak I picked up was 6"x 15', air dried, clear, with a 3" smooth rocker built in, and the price was right. This piece wanted to be a plank keel, it was telling me that. In fact, when I roughed it out and set it on the moulds, it came within 1/4" of contacting every one of them without clamping.
-The design calls for #6 x 1/2" screws @ 4" OC built standard or glued, so the epoxy joint would only be a substitute for the Rule sealant that is call for in the standard plan. BTW the design also calls for screws at all the plank ends to stem either way too.
- The stem to keel connections were lenghtened by about 1 1/2" (right to each corresponding station) to allow for more bearing surface and 1 additional fastener. This was done also because I ganked the lofting and ended up 1/8" narrow at the keel ends. Bone head mistake, I knew the width of the danged stem, Ah well it'll be covered by a 3/4"x3/4" shoe anyhow.
-The Goo Bros say it'll work and I tested samples with the small amount of G-flex I bought for this joint. Ash to Oak, cannot break it at the epoxy joint when glued parrellel to the grain (like the stem to keel connection will be), no matter how you try. Oak rabbit to ply, ply literally shreds if you try to get it off.
-I realize that the G-flex hasn't been around long and others have had failures with the standard goops, but I have confidence in what I've decided to go ahead and do. Long term, we'll see.


Ok, Both Stems setup, leveled, OC, fastened and glued. Had to stick that liniing batten at the shear on the other side, couldn't wait.



The lights were clamped on there as a heat source.

[Vernon]

Thinking about planking. Built a down an dirty scarfing jig out of some scraps. I want to try this and also with just a chisel.



I ordered the pair of toggle clamps from Amazon. You put your planking on there, line it up, put a scrap of 1/2' ply on top to get you as close as possible to the end of the scarph, and clamp. The whole deal slides across the saw table between the fence and the scrap ply in front.
The saw has a dado blade installed so you can do a 12/1 scarph in about 5-6 passes. I've since added a stop block to the right to make sure you can't hit the clamp with the guard of the saw and start and stop lines to make layout easy.

[Rich Jones]

I've no experience with it, but some here might suggest resconal (spelling?) glue for the oak to stem,ply joints. Then again, maybe it's just oak to oak that shouldn't be epoxied and from the sound of it, you're not doing that anyway.

Back to the shop, again. You must be married to a saint, letting you spend time and money on a really nice shop.
The trailer inside a shop idea was great. How long did you have to live in that while the house was going up? Again, she must be a saint.
In my neck of the woods, a mobilehome/house combo is called a trouse, half trailer half house. Usually a mobile home with a roof built overhead. Sometimes a new room tacked on the side with old building materials. The main difference is that they are permanent residences. You find them on the back roads. They go hand-in-hand with Jeff Foxworthy "redneck" humor.

[Vernon]

Richard,

I've been reading the forum for a year or so, I know that there are different opinions on the oak. I talked about it to make sure that others who read and learn here like I, get that the choice may not be ideal, and maybe to mitigate the anticipated beating.

Oh the wife, my favorite topic, forget the canoe - this is now an all about Vern's wife thread!!! Where's the pirate smily? Oh Wrong view -
here <pirate> <:[ arrrrgh </pirate> little IT humor there, very little....

No really, I'll limit it to a few posts.

All the equipment I have is mostly pretty old stuff, nothing really to valuable. I was ower/operater of a constuction company for 12 years, so I have alot of portable equipment, not to much shop equipment. The Delta sawbuck, 10" miter, and 12" planer are all stuff from probably 15-20 years ago. My Milwaukee equipment is 25 years old, Porter Cable stuff 15-20 years old. I bought some battery operated stuff when we were building the house and fill out here and there. My 2 table saws are my dads and her dads. The radial arm and band saw are a friends, they were rusting away in storage. All my hand tools are a collection started 35 years ago. And so on and so on.. Point is, it wouldn't make any sense not to set up a shop with all the stuff piled up.

I look at it as extending my own capabilities. I was a road warrior and never a fine woodworker. Now I can do furniture, cabinates, etc. The canoe project may be a bit extravagant with the few tools I have purchased and the cost of materials. This especially considering that I'm not even hopped up about owing a canoe! I think of this way; I'm honing my most important tool - stop it now, I'm talking about my mind! Heck I already know how to laminate curves and scaph longer pieces - this is not knowlegde limited to boat building. All that and the wife just may be a saint, don't tell her I said so.

The shop is bigger than one needs at home, no doubt about that, but it just kinda grew up.
You got me looking though our building pictures. -meeeeah-mer-ieeees

Check the pic below, you'll see what I mean. I sold my previous boat to pay for going back to school., sometime after I graduated We started building the barn, it was a matter of the best deal at the time and we were able to do it without borrowing money. The trailer was free, just a bit of cash for the remodel. The size of the barn then was to fit the trailer, get ready for another boat, 2 cars. You may be able to see that.



Long section to the right - trailer: section to the left - anticipated boat project: section left of that - 2 cars.
I'm behind what's left of the trailer now.

On the trailer, I'd say we lived in there a little under 4 years, it was actually very cozy -bright -wildly energy efficient -rent or payment free -just to small, around 1200 ft/sq. We've been in the house 2 years now, more than twice the size.

Looking at that picture reminds me that we built all those trusses by hand. I built the templates on the slab that was poured at the time and cut all the pieces. The wife and son carried, placed the parts, and nailed all them suckers together. Man I heard about that - Alright, she's a saint. I didn't even try when we built the house, I bought the trusses for that Anyway the barn and house weren't to costly, our labor was free. We built the house in 18 months, 7 days a week for me on weekends, evenings and vacations. Looking back, all the time we spent together though these projects were good times, I mean in between the suffering

Anyhow, might as well show a pic of the house, not done in this one, but nearing completion on the outside. Both the house and barn are configured the way they are partly because I didn't want to cut any of the trees. I drew them up to circle around what was there and miss the ones behind.




Here's one during the framing, showing the relation between the 2.

[Vernon]

While were off topic a bit, a further intro. This is me, oddly in all the building pics I've just been browsing there aren't any pictures of me. I suppose I was the one holding the camera. Best in this set, but not to good - have to dig something out later.



And my wife, Beth. I'll likely find trouble if she reads this and see's a picture of her in her work cloths and without makeup.
So be it, chicks doing constuction work are looking good to my eye, especially painting or sanding.

Break Time! We must have been getting ready to set the tub and lay the lino.

[Vernon]

Now where did I leave off?

Ok, I made myself a spiling batten. The one laying there at the back of the bench was made out of cheap luan because I had it and it would be easy. Mistake, to wobbly and I didn't trust that I could do a good job with it. Back to the drawing board. The next one was cut up out of a 2x8 cutoff of of pine I had laying around that had enough clear stuff. 1/4"x3"x20'



Wrapped it around the canoe, worked up and down, to and fro. I like this one, moving on.
This will be used to lay out the planks, I suppose most here already know that.

[Vernon]

I made up some lap clamps. These are made from scrap pine ripped up and milled to 7/16" and glued with TB.



I made 30 of these, won't be enough unless I do 1 strake at a time.




Close up. The idea is to put the beveled side to the back so it will slip over the lap and not gouge the inside.
For the cost of some glue and my time, this is how I'll be holding the laps in place while the pox dries.
They're like a giant cloths pin, these have a 5" reach and will only be useful for 1/4" planking stock.

[Vernon]

Here's a look at the lining batten, beveled in and faired off at the shear marks.
At this point everything is lining up nicely and I'm liking the shape of this canoe.



I'm beveling the stems at this point. BTW I parted company with the designer on cutting the keel.
Rather than chiseling at the bench, I installed the keel and cut what was left from the routering with the rabbet plane.
New tool and all - boy did I get to use it.

[Rich Jones]

Interesting parallels to my own life. Also been collecting my tools for over 35 years. Also a past owner of a small home improvement company. Also built my own house, a log home here in Vermont. Instead of 18 months, it took me 18 years of weekends and vacations (it was a second home at that time). With a seven year dry spell in there while I educated my two children. We just added a big extension on this summer (now that we're here full time) which freed up the basement garage as my new 12'X36' shop. New double garage will house my wife's car plus as many small boats as I can jam in there.

Once you've finished the canoe, you'll love it. Nothing like a lapstrake canoe for relaxed paddling.

[Vernon]

Off topic 1 more time, well not so OT in wooden boat forum on a thread I started.

I mentioned my old Chris and how it was my only other experience working on wooden boats.
I thought I share a few images, Richard got me going through some old pictures.
No harm, This epoxy - it's like, well... waiting on glue to dry.

This one was repaired, not restored, more of a work boat like finish - all paint.
Darn, I want another - still a few years away from that project yet.
The date on the photo says this was the summer of 2000, man I've been out of the water a long time.







We got some fishing done on that one.
My other boats were all bobbers, er tupperware, no - fiberglass, thats what they were.

Vern

[Vernon]

Interesting parallels to my own life. Also been collecting my tools for over 35 years. Also a past owner of a small home improvement company. Also built my own house, a log home here in Vermont. Instead of 18 months, it took me 18 years of weekends and vacations (it was a second home at that time). With a seven year dry spell in there while I educated my two children. We just added a big extension on this summer (now that we're here full time) which freed up the basement garage as my new 12'X36' shop. New double garage will house my wife's car plus as many small boats as I can jam in there.

Once you've finished the canoe, you'll love it. Nothing like a lapstrake canoe for relaxed paddling.

I didn't see your post pop in there earlier when I was out in the shop, Thanks for stopping in again. Looks like you may be one of very few with any interest in my efforts. No matter though, this could be called an appreciation thread. Reading here this last year has been quite an inspiration, the folks who take the time to post their projects, answer questions, and offer critisism or advice really contribute to making this web of ours the valuable resource it should be. I hope my project, mistakes and all, encourages someone else to jump in.

Building something yourself really makes you appreciate these things in a special way. Sounds like you know that though, having followed a similar path as I.

On the canoe, my wife is a big fan of them, I'm sure it'll get some use.

Vern

[Rich Jones]

Keep the updates coming. Plenty of people looking in but if you're not asking for a bunch of advice (and you seem to know what you're doing), they keep quiet. We all just enjoy watching the boat go together.

My build threads were short and sweet, pretty much because I usually just showed the end product. I never got a whole lot of feedback, either.
Some threads take on a life of their own, usually because the person is (1) an excellent builder and (2) has been on the forum for many years. Jim Ledger's catboat thread is a good example.

If you realize your dream of getting another big cruiser, a restoration thread would be welcomed by many big boat owners here.

[Vernon]

I suppose you're right there Richard, I haven't had many questions, I'm mostly following the advice in the literature I purchased. As far as knowing what I'm doing, well, in theory that's correct. I've done my homework, but here in the doing phase there's been a few newbie missteps. Nothing to serious I'm glad to say and I haven't wasted any good material, so I'm OK with that.

I started fitting the Garboard strakes this weekend, and was a bit frustrated for the first time. Poor setup on my part, but I stopped and watched a couple of movies with the wife. That was good too.

Right now I'm kinda hooked on building a few small boats. I have a parking spot open for a cruiser though....

[Vernon]

Fitting the garboards.
I just cut a single piece to start (and a bit wide at that), not quite trusting my spiling, fit it to the keel side, re-cut the upper edge. I wasn't to far off. The lap clamps I made were quite handy.




I used a jig saw with the GP blade that happened to be in it, and found the meranti to be a bit splintery. I cut wide of my lines by quite a bit and quickly brought it back to kiss the lines with a belt sander, very quick and accurate, but very dusty. That's some dirty plywood. Trying another tactic, I tried a 5 1/2" saw boss with a plywood blade, still to dusty. In the end, I went to the store a got very fine metal blades, cut tight to the lines and just used a small plane followed by a sanding block to clean up. I have dust masks to use, but wasn't relishing the thought working in a dust cloud the whole time.

I did overlay and clamp down this first set of planks (cut one at a time) and belt sand the edges to make sure they were identical but for the rest, it'll be tack 2 sheets together, jig saw with metal blade, plane, and sanding block. Goes quickly, easy on the old arms, no dust cloud.



The planks were all fitted and then placed on the canoe to scarph in place to make sure the glue joint was right. My scarphing jig worked out OK I suppose, but as I said the ply is a little splintery and I got a few jagged edges. This canoe wil be painted, but I'd still like to do a little better. I guess they don't look to bad in the picture, must be the one covered by plastic that I didn't like.

[Vernon]

Scarphs glued and clamped in place for the night.



I removed them to the bench to clean them up. I'm using to much glue I think. I suppose that's better than the alternative. These were wet out 2x with neat epoxy, then with a good bit of thickener mixed in, 404 I think. I thought I'd clean up the glue from the edges with an old chisel, cleaned it off alright - along with a bit of wood. Glue sticks, that's good new at least.




Anyway, I sanded and faired the edges of the planks real nice on the bench to get ready to glue them in place. The 2 planks overlayed proved to be identical after in place glueing, proving out good symmetry to start the planking. One thing I will note however, The designer, had an image of the general plank shapes, and if spiled correctly, the planks are nearly straight. These have about a 2' curve in them and I was worried about that. (later turned out to be OK)

[Vernon]

This is how I set up the garboard for glueing. It was handy to work that way, but I gashed my arm on the end of one of those clamps, no blood on the plank though.





The G-flex epoxy I'm using for this piece was thick, The heated area where I keep it is only kept at 55 degrees F most of the time. This warms it up and makes mixing quicker. The epoxy goes on and soaks up much better too.



The rabbit was roughed with 50 grit and washed with acetone. Neat epoxy was applied to both surfaces and then thickened epoxy applied to the rabbit side only.

Just wetted out in this pic.

[Vernon]

1st plank is installed! It fits nice and is fair from any angle that it's possible to look at it.

Just a few notes, I goofed a few more times. I read all my material about 6 weeks ago and I don't really reference them as much as I should, I've been mostly just going from memory.

-the plank is not beveled for the lap nor are the gains cut, to eager to get one on I suppose. I only did one side because the plank ends are in the way of the other side. I didn't want to remove the clamps to trim, especially the one at the very tip, there is no screw there to hold it while the epoxy cures. I don't know what made me think of it today, it was last Saturday when I worked on the canoe, but I was driving past the barn while returning to work from dinner at home. That's when it popped in my head that the recommended method was to bevel at the bench and install the last screw right on the gain near the tip and just flush with the surface. Funny how things just pop in your head when you're not even thinking about it. Had I done it that way, I could have had both planks on and beveled. Oh well, bumbling along is one way to get it done, I'll do the rest with a chisel at the bench and in the right sequence. This one I'll plane right in place.

-I mentioned that the plank may have a bit too much curve. I think this is confirmed, because the plank stands off the #4 station (center) just under 1/8". I need to be more careful with the spiling. It could be better, but it should be mirrored on the other side, I don't think I'll bother trying to get it tighter. I remember reading that you might try to over straighten the next set of planks to pull in an error on the one above.

[Vernon]

This is up to date now. I'll slow way down posting from this point, especially if the weather turns cold. We've been lucky here so far. I've posted about 5 weeks progress. Reading and studying the plans a bit sometime before that. I would take a wild guess and say I have 80 or more hours in the lofting and build, including battens and clamps and whatnot. I think I remember reading that the estimate for a professional build would be around 90 hrs. My guess for myself was twice that, just the build part and not the study. I'll take another guess and say at least 3 times that! No hurry though. So the professionals can put out a much cleaner project and in less than 1/3rd the time it's likely to take me. Hmmmm, has me wondering if they're goofing off to much!!

Thanks for reading to this point.
Vern

[James McMullen]

Vern, just checking back in. . .are you seriously using white oak for your keel plank? Really? Better leave some fasteners in, amigo.

That way when the inevitable sheer failure happens when you leave your boat upside down on the car rack in the hot sun some afternoon, it will at least be held to a hairline crack that you can jam some 5200 into with a putty knife. Now that you know how to use epoxy to make scarph joints, there's never a reason to settle for sub-optimum species or boards just because they are already the length you want.

[Vernon]

Hey James, Thanks for popping in again.

I certainly respect your opinion, but I'd be very surprised if the G-flex didn't hold up. The stuff is so flexible, that I cannot even get it off the plastic mixing stick that came with it. The screws are staying in both along the keel and at the stems; as I remember it, this was the recommendation either trad or epoxied.

Vern

[Vernon]

Skip ahead to the 3rd set of planks done.

[Vernon]

I didn't take any pictures of the 2nd and 3rd sets of planks in progress, but I did take about 30 pictures of the steps to install the 4th set. It's a bit late to post the series tonight, but I may get a chance tommorow night.

Thanks for looking,
Vern