Floors & Knees

Floors and knees now in place. As the weight increases with each component, thoughts of car top transport are now being replaced by trailer designs. Not part of the original plan!



A watertight boxing is formed around the mast positions in the forward and aft deck. Copper tube is then set in place to drain any water which will come through the mast holes and take it back into the cockpit. Hopefully this leaves us with watertight bouyancy (and storage) areas forward and aft.

I even get to start bulding the folding rudder - progress indeed. Now to find the bronze fittings to match.

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Cockpit Coaming

Two 3.5mm Ash boards are laminated around the curved carlin to start to form the cockpit coaming. A third plank will be added (and a top lipping) once the deck is in place. Four knees support the carlin each side. The whole structure quickly starts to gain further strength.

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Bulkheads

Bulkheads fitted and making a former to laminate the curved carlin around

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Deck Beams

Setting out the positions for the masts and deck beams.




A breasthook forward and aft. Not strictly necessary I guess in the decked version, but for the small extra weight will add much strength and will also nicely pick up the deck above.

'Canoe Builder Senior', starts to fit deck beams

A small rebate plane helps with cleaning up the inside of the hull

The inside of the hull looking somewhat more finished

Caulking the planks (with epoxy), should add some further strength (and will require even more sanding).

You don�t need to own a green boiler suit to build a canoe! but it might keep you warm.

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Keel strip

Finally planking is complete and we feel as though we are moving forward again. Keel and outer Stems are glued in place ready for some further shaping.

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Start again!

Correction!

So the two offending planks have now been removed (with a hot air gun as suggested by Chris). No chances are being taken second time around, with each mould removed one at a time and slots cut to receive two ribbands running the length of each side of the hull. One ribband to define a fair curve for the top of the sheer plank and one to pick up the lap between this and the lower plank.

Like so many new jobs one learns from experience, and if we were starting off again I would follow the method recently described very well by Chris Perkins in Water Craft magazine (no. 73 Jan/Feb 09). Chris reduces all the mould sizes by the thickness of the ribbands and fits these along the course of the �lands� between each plank overlap. Whether or not this would be different in thicker ply I�m not sure but with 4mm it is well advised.

The photos show we are just about ready to fit the final planks. We have also fitted false decks at both bow and stern to further ensure we end up with some symmetry about the hull.

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Turning the Hull

Another few weekends have passed and we had thought planking the hull was completed. Neither of us is happy with the sheer planks, stupidly glued up in a rush and the end of a long day. More haste ............... When we turned the hull over we found these two top planks are away from several the moulds and in a couple of places have developed a fold, as they have been forced around the compound curves. The next available weekend will see us cutting away several days� hard work and trying again. Frustrating, especially when other priorities are preventing us from getting straight on with sorting this out and moving forward.

Turning the hull, finally get to see the inside.

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