Launch Day

We launched the canoe this morning down on the Bay. I'm pleased to announce it floated, handled well and was quite stable. Overall I and pleased with the results and very happy to be done....until the next one. Maybe a Kayak.

More pics

Complete

A lot has happened since my last post. I attempted to install the gunwales. none of them worked well. So I gave in an bought a 20' piece of ash and machined them from solid stock. This worked well and they bent much bettter then the scarf jointed cherry. I also like the colour contrast. In doing this I machine the scuppers and tapered the inwales and also tapered the outwales. The decks were made from cherry and I left them poud of the surface, rounding over the top edge. I like the look very much. Next came the seats. I caned them myself from prewoven cane. The turned out fairly nice for my first attempt.

The last piece I need was the yoke. I gave in an purchased a pre-fabricated one made from cherry and ash.

To hang the seat I went for a solid cover for the bolts rather then dowels. I think it is a more polished look.

Following 3 coats of varnish inside and out, she's ready for the water.

Saturday will be the day. I hope it goes better then my last outting. While in Algonquin Park last week our rented kevlar canoe developed a hole in the bootom, with 20km left to the take out site. My buddy and I spent some time racking our brains as to what we could use as a patch. We finally settled on a melted mixture of pine gum and chewing gum. it worked well and we made it out with our boots still dry.

inside and trim

This past weekend I glassed the inside hull. I'm reasonably satisfied with it. A couple of runs, but I will live with them. I've also stared getting the trim together. My intent is to have it all Cherry. I finished the seats tonight, the caning was surprising easy. I've also jointed the gunwales with scarf joints and cut and assembled the blanks for the decks.

the inside

Once the epoxy had cured on the outside of the hull, it was sanded and then scrapped with a cabinet scraper to even out the finish. It was a shame to scuff up the glassy shine. Hopefully it will come back with the varnish.

The hull was flipped and I began shapping the inside. The delay in my post was due to my frustration in this step. I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get this right. I am resonably happy now.

Since I am waiting for the weekend to glass the inside, I took the time to cut the blanks for the seats and gunnels. I was unable to find 16foot stock for the gunnels So I will be joining the planks with a scarf joint.

Glassing the hull

Now that the tempurature has warmed up I think it is safe to glass the hull. I started by cleaning the hull and with the help of my wife, stretched the fibreglas cloth overtop. The coats of epoxy seemed to go on reasonable well. Except for a few runs that I will clean up in the next step, I think it looks good.

Update

I've been negligent in my posts. I'll try to summarize what I've done since the last update.

First I cut the center line that runs from stem to stem. I wanted to highlight this so I added in a dark strip that runs the length where a keel would go. Next I filled the other half (completing the football). The next big step was to mortise out the area for the outside stems and install them. This was somewhat difficult but came to gether nicely with the epoxy. Subsequently I shaped the outside stems into the hull, fairing them to the overall shape. After cutting the sheer line ( top of the canoe) the building phase is pretty much complete. I spent the next 2 days fairing the hull with a block plane and spokeshave. This was very satisfying as the final shape of the canoe came out. I have now reached the point of sanding. Today I sanded one side, I am surprise how smoothly the hull curved. I am excited to get the fiberglass on but it will have to wait as the forcast is calling for a cold weekend. Look for the next update after a day 20 degrees C or higher.

The football

I completed one half of the football (the bottom) tonight. I was surprised how fast it went.

planking continues

I've made the turn at the bilge, and the strems are completely covered. I'm at the point where I'll continue only on one side. I like the shape so far.

planking the hull

Still planking the hull. Getting down to the sheerline seemed to take forever. This weekend I finished that part and could start moving up again. I made the turn as the sides change into the bottom today. The compound curves are interesting.

More planking

The hull planking is slow going. I decided to work down to the Sheer line to be sure I wouldn't run out of dark planks. It's almost starting to look like a canoe.

Easter weekend

Thanks to my unserstanding wife I was able to get a lot done this weekend. Especially since she hepled as I milled the bead and cove edges on the cedarstrips.

To Summarize: I attached and aligned the station molds to the strongback. Then I attached the inside stems and shaped them to accept the planking. We routed the edges on all the strips and lastly, I sorted, numbered and began attaching the strips to the molds. In the picture you can see the progress of the first 8 (4 per side) strips.

Bending the stems

I completed the steam bending of the stems tonight. I had a couple of problems. 1. The steam melted the initial tube I was using. 2. The outside lamination 0f the first stem cracked. Changing the pipe and changing the orientation of the grain solved these two problems.

Station Molds and Strong Back

I started this weekend by cutting and shaping the station molds and building the strong back. I tried to simplify things by creating tracings of the plans and applying them to the plywood with spray adhesive. This was not the best idea, the glue did not hold well and the tracing paper tended to tear in the saw.

However, after some frustration I managed to complete the molds and strongback.

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog. My intention is to maintian a step by step record of my attempt to build the Bear Mountain Boats "15' Prospector Ranger". Please feel freee to post any comments you may have.