Ilur way up north in the Boreal Forest

[Ian Fleming]

Over 4 years after I spent a week at the Wooden Boat school 5000 km away in Maine, and got my CNC-cut Ilur kit from Louis Ducharme in Quebec, I finally got started a few months ago. Life got in the way. And to be honest, I was a bit nervous about starting and messing it all up. But sometimes one just has to jump in with both feet and faff about as best one can!

My workmanship won't be great - I'm hoping for tolerable and functional. My heated workshop is at Delaronde Lake (53.9 degrees north) where I would spend most of my time in the Boreal Wilderness - if I could. Pesky things like work keep me in the city a lot. So this will be a slow process.

My purpose for starting this thread will be mostly and unabashedly self-serving! To call for help / advice as I've seen that there is loads of expertise on this forum, from reading the threads of Ilurs built in Vermont, Washington-state, Ontario and other places.

Below is a photo of the assembled frame waiting for the keel. While cutting out the centreboard slot, I had a "moment" with a handheld router with a flush-cutting bit. Bad things happen when the pilot bearing comes off. Cheap bit from the local co-op. From now on, all such items will be purchased from Lee Valley in the city. Where I bought all my Veritas hand tools (left handed skew rabbet plane is on back order). It turns out that adding wood back is a lot slower than uncontrolled removal.... Keel is on now, and when I get back to the lakefront woodshop I will post a photo. Next step will be to bevel the

I'm using WEST epoxy, even though East is supposedly just as good and cheaper. But one has to order it from Noah's back east in Ont. And a friend ordered some in the winter and it froze during shipping and was unuseable... And freezing is an ussue when winter lasts 5-6 months... It was -19C this morning, in late march. Out here in the west, East epoxy is hard to get. Lee Valley has all the West stuff usually in stock so I'll just shudder at the price and forge ahead.

In an effort to stiffen the frame, I did glue in the "sloping floor boards" between BH 4 & 7. Good advice from the build thread of David in Washington to stiffen and glass the underside of that panel while I can. I do hope it doesn't get in the way too much when it's time to fit those strakes. I have lots of #4 & #6 bronze screws, and the little composite brads and staples for my little Omer air-nailer. Helps with slip and perhaps to need fewer clamps?


Ian Fleming
Saskatoon & Delaronde Lake
Saskatchewan, Canada

ready for the keel.jpg

[WI-Tom]

Good to see another Ilur coming together--thanks for starting a thread. I made plenty of mistakes on my own boat (not an Ilur) and it still floats and tacks and sails and everything.

For what it's worth, I think epoxy can be reheated after freezing, and it works fine. Maybe that's brand-dependent, but I know it happened to a gallon of mine (System 3, I think). It froze, got all white-crystal-ish, and I put the jugs in a tub of hot water and it de-crystallized. And my boat has not fallen apart yet...

Good luck with your build!

Tom

[neil.henderson]

Must admit I only use routers for rounding off the edges of planks - I too have seen the damage they can do when they develop a mind of their own.

Good luck with the Ilur - lots are being/have been built.

Regards Neil

[John hartmann]

If you are planning on encapsulating the boat with epoxy before painting, you may want to epoxy/ prime and paint what will become the undersides of those sloping floorboards before planking, as it will become very difficult to reach those surfaces after the fact. You are off to a good start, carry on; thank you for the new build thread.

[Ian Fleming]

Thank you John! I very much enjoyed reading your extensive thread. And the photos of your acreage (farm? property?) in vermont made me re-think my (mis) perceptions of the eastern USA! Beautiful! And yes, I'm going to epoxy, glass and stiffen those panels before putting in strake 5 or 6 or 7 or whatever it is! My finger joints are very much like yours but exceptionally tight! The pairs of strakes come out within mm. I think it was in your thread where you had to take apart a few finger joints?

[John hartmann]

I did, due to careless alignment on my part, rather than sloppiness of fit regarding the finger joints. My kit was cut fairly shortly after Vivier redesigned the Ilur for CNC kit production, and my plans did not yet include a table of “offsets” to let me check for precise plank curvature during glue up. Vivier provided me with the info once I realized my error. I can check to see if that info is still with my plans, if you don’t have it available.

[pez_leon]

This will be fun to watch! Thanks for posting.

- James