Pete's Progress 1

[Slowhand]

Pete being the S/F Peterborough 16 featured in this Blog

Materials to be used
Hull - 4mmm Marine Ply
Gunwales & Inwales Iroko
Thwarts -Ash & Iroko
Keel & Bilge runners - Iroko
Seat framing -Ash
Seat webbing - Car Seat Belts
Breast hooks - TBC, probably 4mm ply with something decorative over it

Here We Go Then.......

Having drawn out all the ply Strips, I used a biro type pen as it shows up better than pencil on the ply, it was a simple, if not a little time consuming task, to cut and trim them to size and shape.




Once cut, I planed the edges with my trusty, well used (abused) Block plane, this little plane features a lot in the build, it is so handy.
I did not do as some have done and clamped the sets of boards together to shape them, I figured that my cutting and planing are pretty accurate, 34 years as a joiner must count for something, besides it would mean that any inaccuracies would appear on five boards instead of one, therefore requiring five lots of adjustment at the stitching stage, Time will tell I’m sure.,

Deep Concentration



Not so much a dodgy blurred photo - more speed of the hand is faster than the camera



The boards laid out - I wanted to get stage by stage shots, so although there is no detail in this shot it’s in the blog cos I want it there



I made this little jig to aid drilling holes for the stitches, it is predrilled with 100mm 150mmm and 200mm spacing, there is a 4mm dia. short bolt in the end, this locates in the hole just drilled and then gets moved along creating even spacing without the faff of measuring Keeping it flush with the edge of the ply it set the holes about 6-7mm in from the edge of the board, I have read the debate about the distance from the edge, I don’t think it makes too much difference, obviously they don’t want to be 25mm from the edge But if the distance is consistent and more importantly the hole spacing lines up all should be well, yes it is a 4mm hole, easier to get the wire through and they get filled in, it might even help key the epoxy in, so again 2,3,4mm holes - pretty academic I think,
All the holes were set out from the butt joint line and drilled before I taped the joints together, This was more forward thinking than I anticipated as you will see later.



Stay tuned

[Hobgoblin]

looks great so far!

Im looking forward to seeing the project develop.

[Marcus2]

Excellant,looking forward to the rest.

[travellas]

Nice work!

It's great to see hand tools being used for the cutting

Looking forward to reading more

[Slowhand]

Thanks Trevallas

I guess I am a bit Old School, I was taught my trade skills as an apprentice using hand tools. I don't get to use them very often in my current occupation so choosing to use them and keeping my 'hand in' is quite satisfying,

Power toys ( tools ) and machines are great and I use them too, but I'm definately in my element with the simpler tools.


Mistakes happen slower with hand tools

Trust me I'm a pro

[travellas]

Power toys ( tools ) and machines are great and I use them too, but I'm definately in my element with the simpler tools.


Mistakes happen slower with hand tools

Couldn't agree more (and much less noisy/stressful)

[Pezz]

Good to see ol' skills put to a good use.....

[Brandon]

slowhand, please consider something more aesthetically pleasing than ply for the breasthook, a man of your calibre could make somat lovely.

[Voyager]

I know as a joiner you'll have got the materials at 'cost' but it would help (be of interest) if you could tell us what the build cost so far. I, for one, would be very interested.
Cheers, Peter.

[Slowhand]

Well so far it has been
4mm ply about £ 10 a sheet ( 3 sheets) from W.Edens, based in Liskeard,
Because I have access to 'off cuts' of timber for Thwartes and other short sections they don't actually carry a cost.
But what I will do is cost the nmaterials out as if our company were supplying them and post them a later date if that would help,


My plans for using Ply will not be as obviously ply as you might think watch this space.

[Voyager]

Thanks for that, It's always helpful to know what others spend on a build to ensure you don't get ripped off!

(Not sure what that last sentence you posted meant?)

[Slowhand]

slowhand, please consider something more aesthetically pleasing than ply for the breasthook, a man of your calibre could make somat lovely.

Sorry Peter
The last sentence was about the ply breasthooks in response to the quote here from Brandon

[tmcox]

How is the build going?

BTW, What made you pick a peterborough? I've not really heard much about them - there's no review on the site...

[Slowhand]

I chose the Pete because a friend had some templates from one he'd made years ago,

Very busy today stitching etc more tomorrow and Monday then I'll bring blog up to date

[Slowhand]

Epoxy the butt joints

The next step was to epoxy the butt joints together. I had thought about this step for sometime as the weather was too chilly to use epoxy, even so when it came to it I made changes to the master plan as I went.
So I ended up with 2400mm x 600mm chipboard flooring sheet as a baseboard and a piece of 18mm ply about 800mm x 400mm screwed across it. I marked it with a centre line, then set out all the ply strips for one side,



I used 16mm x 3.5g screws in the stitching holes to locate the ply in the final position, All fitted dry - I then dis-assembled and lay polythene over the ply and taped it in place. This is to stop the epoxy sticking to the ply and gives a nice smooth finish which is easily sanded. A word of advice here - use a thick piece of poly and you’ll get fewer wrinkles. Mine was thin doh!
Pretty pattern don't you think

Having pre-cut the 50mm tape for the joints, leaving it short on the top board to allow for less faffing when fitting the inwales/gunwales. I then set about mixing the epoxy,
Now having no experience with the product I was not sure how much to mix. No-one on SOTP EVER gives a straight answer to this, so read on …….
I chose to weigh the epoxy & hardener, as it seems more accurate and I can’t justify £ 20 for West Systems Pumps! I used cheap digital scales (£4.50 Lidl’s )

and I can give them to the good lady wife afterwards.
The scales are excellent and the resin etc pours quite easily to be able to control how much goes in. I used these little pots They are from Morrisons and used to contain microwavable Chocy sponge puddings just the right size so we had to eat loads of them

I started with 25g resin & 5g hardener, the recommended ratio 5:1, that didn't actually go very far - I just managed 2no. butt joints - so I tried another 50g & 10g and that gave me enough to do the other 3no. butt joints and enough to pre-coat the pointy bits at the ends of the ply, just to help when stitching the hull together as it is awkward to get into anyway.
Next mix was 75g + 15g and that was ample for all the butts and pointy bits.
So in a nutshell, 85g of mixed epoxy will do 5no. Butt joints easily. About half a teacup (If you’re old enough to remember Jimmy Young’s Recipe of the Day)
Coating the polythene with epoxy on the joint line and then laying the tape on that, making sure it was well wetted out, placing the ply over the top, the previously made screw holes locating it perfectly, I did check it though, then put the epoxy and tape on the upper face and lay poly over that.
With the first set I clamped everything, but it was so heavy to move I changed the next set to screwing a piece of MDF about 800mm x 300mm, over the joints with screws between the boards, this was definitely an easier method and one I would recommend.

This a piece of MDF over the joints screwed between the boards. It worked well


I also screwed the ends of the ply one screw in each strip is sufficient, near to the end of the chipboard as this prevented the ply ends that were over-hanging form being moved.
Clamping board off and all looks well.






Part two
Clean up time, the edges were really quite nasty and sharp where the epoxy had spewed out, I used a block plane to get most of it off, then sanded the edges and the taped joint. You can see in the pic above where using thin poly on the joints was not such a clever idea - beautifully textured- the fairing filler coat will sort it though. Because I’m using 4mm marine ply I will need to put stiffeners across the bottom of the hull anyway so it will all be OK
Starting to get a little excited about the next stage This will happen in THREE WEEKENDS time! So far off, but I aimed to do the stitching over the first May Bank Holiday anyway

This is a pot of Stitches - I needed 350 or there abouts.

A mix of 1.5mm & 2.5mm copper wire cos that was what was available, I don’t think it’s very important about the gauge, but I will use the thicker ones at the bow - stern to hopefully hold it all together whilst taping and the thinner ones along the sides where there is less pressure / strain, well that’s my assumption anyway. I stripped it out of it’s PVC outer casing and it’s inner insulation with a Stanley knife, I developed a method which is too difficult to describe so I’ll post the pics later.

So all the prep work over I'm going stitching

So this w/e I was up and out to the Cave, as my beloved call it,
(Dave's Cave you see) at 7.30am
I was getting quite excited about the prospect of seeing Pete take shape So these are the stages
From this:-


To this :-



To this :-



To this




It was at this stage that My Good Lady popped her head in the door to say something about my being obsessed.
I don't know what she means. Her only comment was to the effect that it will never float with all those holes in it
An hour later she looked in againg when it looked like this



and said "it's looking really good" High Praise indeed,
Thoughts about the stitching process:
I had to try very hard not to rush this operation as is my normal way
The centre joint was twisted together inside the hull as was the next joint as the hull was laying on flat boards,

Incidentally a work collegue of mine put his hull together on a ladder over two chairs which gave him easy access underneath.
The advice about leaving the stitches loose is very good as you will be tempted to twist them to get the shape together as you go but WAIT until all the stitches are in and you will be able to 'adjust' the positions of the boards fore & aft so much easier. I only used internal moulds and put a temporary screw in the top board to locate them, the Gunwales will cover any holes here anyway.
I had one little mishap and would recommend being very careful moving the jointed ply around as I managed to break one side of a joint whilst moving the strip. I put this weaker / broken jointbinside so it was in compression. then screwed a little 'splint' across it until I could re tape it later


Making sure all the boards are equally matched in length will mean the there is little or no 'twist' in the hull
Before any tape or filler is applied I pulled a string line from Bow to Stern and checked the hull for true against the vertical setting out line on each mould.
Standing back and looking to see all is smooth lines and a 'fair' shape.
As I had chosen to use 4mm ply and spent time at the cutting stage I did not need to 'ease' any of the boards joints, the widest being 1mm or so which then got filled anyway.
I used a two part wood filler for this as it was easier and quicker setting ( 10mins) and I wanted to achieve as much as possible this w/e



In the stems I used a length of Polypropylene rope 6mm or 8mm I brushed it with copious amounts of epoxy and pushed it firmly into the tight space.

I did put a tape inside at the very top though. I think I will probably do the same with a thicker rope later as it seems to get in where it is difficult to tape properly



The stem with stitches in place



Such a lovely shape



I chose to use 50mm 'patches' of tape instaed of relying on the fillet mix to hold the hull in shape for several reasons:
I had to be able to move the hull about a lot, it only fits in the garage diagonally, before I could get to tape either inside or out side and having used 4mm ply it was all very flexi and I didnot want to risk breaking just a fillet type joint.
It also allows me to tape the outside first as I need to get the hull weather / water proof ASAP cos I nowhere to store it inside





Blocks just to help with the little rocker the Pete has. The ends of the boards before they were planed back. I guess if they were pulled upwards they would all meet and the canoe would have more rocker - maybe next time



I like this pic it makes the Pete look like its flopped



That's mine that is




It looks like the trolley may be a little tall but it is adjustable with a hacksaw

So all in all I spent about 12 hours in total to get from Boards to Boat this w/e and throughly enjoyed every minute of it.
Next week will see some evening work on it sading and generally consolidating what I have just done.
Taping next w/e weather permitting

[SHAJE]

Hi, I am enjoying seeing your progress, You are at about the same stage as me, I also have been doing the stitching on my Selway Fisher Christine today. It was a relief to see it all come together and look like a canoe already.

[woodenkayakguy]

looking good slowhand. i can now speak from experience these are great boats both to look at on the water and paddle,I just took mine out for the first time this evening after a year and half(its tough to find time when you have to go 2 mile to the shop where your building)I am really happy with the end result and will post pics and more blog after the weekend

[zeb]

Great job there Slowhand,beautiful lines

[tmcox]

That looks fantastic.

[joe.ford]

hello. I just need to ask a little question. I'm currently stitching my 14' pete together.

And I'm just wondering when you start stitching does it go strait into shape, or like mine and stay dead flat?

I'm using cable ties if that makes any difference

Joe Ford

[epoxymanuk]

hello. I just need to ask a little question. I'm currently stitching my 14' pete together.

And I'm just wondering when you start stitching does it go strait into shape, or like mine and stay dead flat?

I'm using cable ties if that makes any difference

Joe Ford

Hi Joe
when you start to stitch the panels together the shape should be immediately apparent have you got your ties pulled up so that the edges of the ply are together ?

[joe.ford]

not at the moment, my engineer farther and neibour have convinced me to do it up lose and seem to want me to build it like a clinker build.

Am I as I suspect doing it the hardest way possible?

[TGB]

Looking good, keep it coming. You'll have a great first paddle in that.

TGB

[SHAJE]

not done a peterborough but when i stitched mine a couple of weeks ago i kept all the stitches loose until the panels were assembled then with the moulds in place starting from the centre outwards tightened up the stitches. I'm sure it will take take shape as the stitches are tightened

[Slowhand]

hello. I just need to ask a little question. I'm currently stitching my 14' pete together.

And I'm just wondering when you start stitching does it go strait into shape, or like mine and stay dead flat?

I'm using cable ties if that makes any difference

Joe Ford

Joe
Having just done the stitching and tightened the wire ties too much to start with I then had to loosen them to ease the boards into final position. The moral is leave them loose

.......and in answer to your query YES it does take it's shape 'naturally' and more so as you get to the top boards - and then a strange phenomina occurs ...as you put more stitches (cable ties) in the bigger the smile on your face I promise, I was chuckling to myself as I was doing it

[Brandon]

Slowhand is right, it does make you chuckle, it all just comes together

[joe.ford]

Good news the boat is coming into shape now.

I done the cable ties up as tight as I could, and it just lay there flat again, I'm only on plank set number 2. So I cheated!

I've attached a g clamp to each end and it seems to be working a bit better.

I'm also wishing I'd listened to a friend who said its easier to drill the holes as you go, as I'm having a little bit of missalignment with the holes

[Slowhand]

Good news the boat is coming into shape now.

I done the cable ties up as tight as I could, and it just lay there flat again, I'm only on plank set number 2. So I cheated!

I've attached a g clamp to each end and it seems to be working a bit better.

I'm also wishing I'd listened to a friend who said its easier to drill the holes as you go, as I'm having a little bit of missalignment with the holes

I would disagree with drilling as you go because :
A) It's a second operation - when all you want to be doing is getting it together and you need two people to hold it in the 'right' place and drill with no real certainty it is correct, possibly creating more problems than it's solving

B) If you look at the pics above you will see I made a simple template / jig to set out the holes. I started from the centre/butt joint line and spaced out in both directions and never had any mis-alignment issues.
Basically it's all in the setting out

What I did notice putting mine together was that the setting out lines for the shape of the ply strips do not line up which I thought would, but, that is because of the curves and twist of the ply. However it's OK cos the hull came together fine as you can see above

Persevere as it will come together I'm sure.
I can't believe how all consuming ( thought - wise ) this canoe building caper is, always so many things to think about.

[joe.ford]

I would disagree with drilling as you go because :
A) It's a second operation - when all you want to be doing is getting it together and you need two people to hold it in the 'right' place and drill with no real certainty it is correct, possibly creating more problems than it's solving

B) If you look at the pics above you will see I made a simple template / jig to set out the holes. I started from the centre/butt joint line and spaced out in both directions and never had any mis-alignment issues.
Basically it's all in the setting out [/

I was very impressed with this, So I made one too thats why I'm confused that the holes don't line up, I measured from the centre line each time.

I probably should mention the holes arn't a couple of mm's out they are constly the same distance apart, so I must of done something right, but they are closer to 2cm out and making the plank not join quite right, so I've re drilled them, and the whole thing fit better now.

What I did notice putting mine together was that the setting out lines for the shape of the ply strips do not line up which I thought would, but, that is because of the curves and twist of the ply. However it's OK cos the hull came together fine as you can see above

Persevere as it will come together I'm sure.
I can't believe how all consuming ( thought - wise ) this canoe building caper is, always so many things to think about. [/

I'm Persevering with it, and only got the plank sets 6 & 7 to do then I get to play with the epoxy again I'm on a deadline and must finish it for second week in June

Joe

[tmcox]

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[joe.ford]

I can see what you mean by the grin altho I kept muttering "it's a boat, its a boat.

Its all stiched up now, just a bit more tinkering needed as the front and back seem to look like its of clinker design.

just have a last question, does it matter which order I do the next bit?

Is it better to fill in the gaps with the filler or tape the inside first?

[epoxymanuk]

I can see what you mean by the grin altho I kept muttering "it's a boat, its a boat.

Its all stiched up now, just a bit more tinkering needed as the front and back seem to look like its of clinker design.

just have a last question, does it matter which order I do the next bit?

Is it better to fill in the gaps with the filler or tape the inside first?

Hi Joe
if all else fails read the instructions ! or ring me.
The next stage of your build is to get all your planks edge on to each other ( not clinker looking ) then you can get some brown parcel tape and seal all the seams on the outside this way you can seal any gaps whilst applying the fillets.
Your next job is to either fillet over your stitches or smaller fillets in between the stitches if you are going to remove the stitches before you tape the inside of the hull. If you are going to remove the stitches make sure your fillets are a reasonable low profile as you will need to apply another fillet bridging the gaps where the stitches where and overcoating the original fillets to get a smooth line. Once your fillets have reached "Nail hard" approximately 4 hours at 20 deg C you can overcoat with resin/hardener mix and lay your tape into the wet resin. The next stage is to wet out the tape ( don't over do it as you will want to see how it wets out after 2 hours before applying any more resin/hardener ) once the two hours have elapsed smooth down the tape making sure that there are no resin starved areas or air bubbles ( these will show up as white patches )and finally apply a final or fill coat to the tape and your joint is complete.
Once the joints are set approx 24 hours you can remove the parcel tape from the outside of the hull and most of your gaps will be sealed by the resin/hardener/ filleting mix you applied on the inside, fill any gaps that need it and you are ready to either fit out the inside or finish and sheath the outside of your hull. All these stages are shown on my website if you follow this link http://www.epoxy-resins.co.uk/Gallery/Newburgh.htm if you get stuck or need any further advice give me a ring you have my number

[Slowhand]

Space around the Canoe
There is some advice written somewhere about needing 1metre either side and 2 metres longer than your canoe to build it. don't you believe it



Having got patches on and stitches out, the next step was to get the hull a bit stiffer. So inwales it is then. I pondered over the pro’s & cons of Scuppered inwales - I really like the look of them and they are relatively easy to do. But I am also keen to get the canoe finished so should I just do plain inwales and gunwales, I also realise they are a bit of a ‘fashion’ thing. And One doesn’t want to end up with a shiny new canoe that is SO Last Year, does One.
So to fly in the face of all things sensible I now have some lovely Scuppered Inwales. They are Ash blocks 12mm thick and 100 mm long 35mm deep stuck to the inside of the hull with Cascamite and held (temporarily) with 2no. 3.5 x 15 screws from the outside.









These will be replaced with longer screws when I fit the gunwales. So the make up is 15 x 15 gunwales in Iroko 4mm marine ply 12mm Ash spacers 12 x 35 inwales also Iroko. The inwales & the gunwales will have Ash ‘pellets’ over the fixing screws in the Iroko. A lovely contrast in colour. I nearly put some in but thought better of it - at least until I am sure I don’t need to remove the screws !
Deciding on how to finish the breasthooks was also another set of ‘sleepless’ nights.


This is not the finished article it's cahnged since I took this pic


I want them a decent size so I can sit on it if I want when paddling tandem, also enough space to do some nice woodwork. Of course it never just stops with a simple decision on size but where and how do I stop the Ash spacers on the inwales. Hopefully this will all become clear. Suffice to say there will be Ash & Iroko involved.
Sanding & Much More Sanding not much you can say about sanding except sanding is what sanding is ... sanding. Remember folks wear a dusk mask you just don't want to be inhaling this stuff

Any way this weekend I got the time to fillet the inside joints and get them all taped, that took over 8 hours which was way longer than I anticipated, but it all looks so much smarter inside now.
Now I have cut strips of ply to make ‘ribs’ to help stiffen the bottom of the hull, I would have liked to put one in under every spacer block as I do like thing even and symmetrical, but not wishing to be too predictable I settled for this arrangement. Maybe with a strip along the keel line, don’t know ( see yet another choice where does it end?)





More to come soon

[SHAJE]

Looking good.

I too was torn between the quicker to do plain inwhales or scuppered inwhales. my main reason for wanting them apart from looks was to have some tie in points along the length of the boat and they didn't take very long to do. Good choice I reckon.

[fatherfay]

Great blog - loving the detailed pictures, very inspiring. Thanks.

[TGB]

Still looking good. Sanding stuff is soul destroying at the time. The end result is great. But the actual process is a sd.

TGB

[Slowhand]

I had a little time this evening to get the 3 tapes on the outside of the keel joint, which is good cos I need the epoxy to dry ready for tomorrow when I want to set the Stem strips in place, which means I can then tape the rest of the outside of the hull on Saturday and hopefully get the gunwales on Sunday
Pics to follow

Thanks for all the positive comments, I hope it encourages others to have a go at canoe building, it's fun ...........honest

[Slowhand]

Taped the hull outside and it is all filled now with Tesco's finest flour - 15 hrs on Saturday ....only a little woodwork and paint well, I say ONLY cos this is where I am most at home - working with wood
Pics tomorrow promise

[Voyager]

it is all filled now with Tesco's finest flour

Would love to hear more about that?

Peter.

[Neil]

You can use wood flour as a filler mixed with the resin or you can cut straight to the chase and just use flour.
Personally I'm using the wood flour collected in the bag of my sander.

[Voyager]

Heard of folk using talc and so on but not Tesco's finest self-raising! I use the stuff from the belt sander (It's cheaper!)

[Slowhand]

Taping the hull
An early start to get all this done in one day.!
Having set my Stem strips, (two 4mm x 20mm bent around the stem to get the right shape and stuck together with Cascamite ) in place during the week, same stitch and glue process, although I have since read that I should have thickened the resin a little for this but I didn’t and all seems ok.








I pinned the end to prevent slippage when tensioning the straps the tape is to prevent the epoxy sticking too much as I wanted to trim this back later



I laid three tapes overlapping along the keel line, This was to make an easy start on Saturday - I still needed to trim them to a more reasonable width about 10mm looked right.


The ends of the ply have already been taped around and I will probably run a single tape down the hardwood to finish it and give a little protection. I cut these back to receive the keel strip later.
I am by now getting confident with epoxy but I wanted to achieve a neat finish to the outside so I ran some masking tape 25mm down from each joint to give me a line to work to,


also served the purpose of collecting the runs ( excuse me! )



I also taped over the butt joints again



So I taped a full length on one side then went to the other side and taped a joint, coming back to the first to remove the masking tape leaving a clean even line of tape along the hull, very satisfying, so much neater than inside.
With all the tapes on I then left it for about an hour and then smoothed out all the imperfections ( well most anyway) I rollered on a coat of epoxy to even the wetness all over the hull.


All taped Finally

I came back to it about 3hrs later and with the epoxy just a little tacky I started the filling process, with a good deal of trepidation. However it was so much easier than I thought!
I mixed a small amount of epoxy - 50gms and added 2 heaped desert spoons of Tesco’s finest flour and applied the mix to the hull. It did not go very far! 50 grams of epoxy had been enough to lay out one tape from stem to stem this filler mix did less than half that
So I was mixing about 90gms of epoxy with 5 heaped dessert spoons of flour which gave a good consistency. Although around the stems I made it a little stiffer so it wouldn’t sag


Sorry that photo is sideways




This is the level of resin left after taping everything, I started with 5kgs resin & 1kg hardener. After fairing/ filling the outside I had used this much. Filler consumes resin in scary quantities.

As the ends were a little uneven I filled them out to flair in the hardwood stems. It all sanded back a lot easier than just the resin, I am not sure why but the filler doesn’t clog the sanding belt/paper in the same way.
Because I had ‘fixed’ the temp thwarts with screws through the side of the hull I needed to remove them and had to do this sort of clamping arrangement to be able to lift and move it around, it nearly worked!.




Gunwales on ( dry for the moment) & looking so much more finished.
Task this week is to get the gunwales fixed properly and the outside sanded, Thwarts, yoke and seat frames are underway, as they are easily picked up and put down, unlike the canoe, which has to be retrieved from my lovely neighbours garage (thanks Andy you’re a Star) every time I want to work on it.

Paint scheme is sorted and a suitable name chosen - watch this space

[Voyager]

You've got the makings of a superb looking boat there!
Can't wait to see it finished and on the water with big smiles all round!

[joe.ford]

Good afternoon

I was just wondering how big are those little ash blocks on the gunwhale. I only ask as I'll be at that stage in the next week if all goes to plan.

I've only got 2 weeks to finnish it

[Slowhand]

Good afternoon

I was just wondering how big are those little ash blocks on the gunwhale. I only ask as I'll be at that stage in the next week if all goes to plan.

I've only got 2 weeks to finnish it

Joe
The gunwales are 35mm x 15mm and the Ash packers are 35mm x 100mm x 12mm
A word of warning here

As I have not got to this bit yet BUT doing Scuppered gunwales obviously reduces the width of the canoe inside and I have yet to check to see if the seat frames I have made will actually fit between the gunwales

I have a contingency plan but I will try it for size this w/e and let you know

[joe.ford]

Joe
The gunwales are 35mm x 15mm and the Ash packers are 35mm x 100mm x 12mm
A word of warning here

As I have not got to this bit yet BUT doing Scuppered gunwales obviously reduces the width of the canoe inside and I have yet to check to see if the seat frames I have made will actually fit between the gunwales

I have a contingency plan but I will try it for size this w/e and let you know

I was thinking of suspending the seat from the gunwhale as I've seen on some plastic canoes.

http://www.bournemouthcanoes.co.uk/p...s/web-seat.jpg

[Slowhand]

I've had a look and a measure and there does not seem to be a problem with the width of the seat frames between the inwales . So it is onwards with seat bearers and oiling the seat frames and getting them webbed.
Pics to follow later - way too busy to stop and blog
Filling and sanding ..................................

[Slowhand]

This is the ribs all stuck and filled probably a little over kill from what I have seen elsewhere but at least I know I can't put my foot through it


I have also set the mini thwarts in, these will be supporting the end of the breasthook which should be a compound curve in both directions. as it will curve up with the gunwales and arch over between them. Not totally sure how I will achieve it but I enjoy a challenge











These are the seat frames Ash with little Iroko wedges for a little interest. I did consider stub mortices but thought this looked better

Cutting the ends of the wedges




Nice and neat

Putting a radius on the rails so they are more hand friendly



The keel is now on and notched over the stem stripsIwill shape these up later when the bilge runners are on





Seat frames and bearers next

[Marcus2]

It just gets better and better mate.

[Slowhand]

The timber pellets in the gunwales





The end of the keel where it meets the Stem timber strips



The bilge runners




The seat bearers in place - this was a very fidldy job as I was working to get the bearer to sit:

a ) Flat against the hull
b ) Level when canoe in sitting flat itself.



So four hours later and all is fine epoxied in place with temporary screws through the hull





The seat frames are just resting there, webbing to do once I have applied a few more coats of Danish Oil,
Sanding again next w/e and a final coat of epoxy to even out the inside and the paint inside a nice green

[Marcus2]

GREEN??

You know RED'S faster.

[Slowhand]

Green - Just in case I get sea - sick

Although The colour for the outside will be different

[Slowhand]

So little time this w/e so I just managed to finish shaping the very ends of the gunwales



such a little job but made the whole hull look so much more finished ( which it isn't )
I managed to get the pellets in the gunwales sanded off and there is just a coat or two of epoxy to finish them off.

I made a centre thwart / yoke that can be seen in some of the earlier pics but I am convinced it was not Ash but Oak so I made another one - this is just roughly spokeshaved to shape



..just one of the many coats of Danish Oil I have lavished on the seat frames, Oiled Ash looks so good



Next I sanded the inside of the hull and washed it out ready for the paint
and that's about it so far
Big plans for w/e ......... WTS

[Slowhand]

As someone once said 'The best laid plans of married men....'
So I got a little done over the w/e
a bit of painting and decorating - well painting anyway


This is called Leaf Green and it comes from International - it is from their Floor Paint range, so hopefully it will have a bit of wear resistance.

This is the start of something I am not quite sure will turn out as well as I would like If you look at the stem in the photo above you can just see the beginnings of the Master Plan underway



I have arched the brace here with the intention of bending a piece of 4mm ply over it & up to the stem like this



or maybe a better perspective



A beautiful example of a compound curve I think

I was taking no chances with it springing out so it is epoxied in place with some very paste-like epoxy to make sure where it didn't actually touch the supports it would have some gap filling goo in there.

Anyway with the screws out it has stayed in place



All sanded down now and ready for the paint on the outside, just a little sanding and fitting the yoke and seats - when I get them webbed anyway.

A little epoxy to put around the gunwales etc and hey ho here we go

[zeb]

Work of art Slowhand,I love it

[Slowhand]

Work of art Slowhand,I love it

Thanks for the encouragement Zeb much appreciated

[Voyager]

I've tried to put a lot of 'love' and care into building mine but the craftsmanship in yours beats mine hands down! Well done mate! Especially like the painted inside, a novel idea.

[Slowhand]

So the woodstrip Breasthooks are underway…… a few clamps, wedges and a ratchet strap and we ‘re off....





Halfway




This was quite fiddly as it curves side to side in a convex and to the end its concave, I could only glue down a strip either side each evening, but with some patience the result is looking ok.








I have just got to cut a cover strip across the end grain, this will be cut by band saw as the two attempts I’ve tried at bending 4mm thick Iroko strip have failed
This detail on the very end was needed to cover what was a disappointing marrying up of the ends of the ply, still it looks fine All sanded and a coat of epoxy on and it probably looks more finished than it is.



Seats
Having glued up the frames a while ago I have given them numerous coats of Danish Oil along with the Yoke and thwart which all look and feel lovely
This is my first attempt at any sort of webbing but having seen the web tensioning tool available I thought that’s so easy to make, well a simplified version without the dowel. Just a stick with an un-equal vee cut in the end.







Works like this :
Fix one end of webbing with stainless staples,
Wrap webbing across frame stand tool upright and fold web over the top end
Grip web both sides of tool
Position vee on edge of frame
Push down and staple easy peasy
When going in the other direction interweaving don’t forget to weave first (not like me getting so carried away ) otherwise you will need to pull 16metres of webbing through…………… or de-staple what you’ve just fixed




All webbed up
I left the end long by about 50mm to fold back and staple against the inside of the frame for neatness and to stop fraying.. You may not be able to see it but I know it looks tidy.
from this



to this



So 30mins 350 staples and muscle pain from using the stapler here we have them…







The tension is very good - My daughter came in and started playing with them like drums such was the tightness of the webbing

This is my Upholsterers tool kit the most important bit being in the back





Fix them in tomorrow along with thwarts and yoke and the inside is done.
Painting hull tomorrow as well Yippee

[Marcus2]

Brilliant job mate.

[Slowhand]

I've tried to put a lot of 'love' and care into building mine but the craftsmanship in yours beats mine hands down! Well done mate! Especially like the painted inside, a novel idea.

Voyager I've been following your thread with interest, I know EXACTLY how you felt when that wind blew but you made a good recovery and I'm sure yuo'll be the only one to know ( other than 2500 other forum watchers)
Looking good Too
I painted the inside cos of the UV althoiugh I'm not quite sure how UV problems manifest themselves anyway