Jcubero's Merrimac

[Oldsparkey]

Guy's ...

He has it made, his wife jumps right in there and helps to build the canoe so he can paint the porch, she is a sweetheart and one of a kind, I'm green with jealously

My wife would want to paint the porch and couldn't care less about the canoe or any boat that I make. I think the only thing she likes about them is that she knows when they are done I go camping for a week to try them out.

Chuck.

[jem]

Questions:
1) How the heck do I figure out where to put the thwarts? We're car-topping and will have three people in canoe, so I'm thinking two thwarts. But how do I place them so they won't be in the way?

I'd place one about 5' forward of the back end, and then another 4-5' in front of that.

Once you get it all glassed inside and out, you can put it in the grass and sit in it. That how I sized mine up. Grab a couple paint cans to sit on. That's a nice height for comfort, easy paddling, and keeping center of gravity at a reasonable height. Then you can judge where the thwarts will be the most useful and out of the way so not to whack your knees.

2) Paint - is "porch paint" just exterior quality paint, or is there a special thing called porch paint?

It is specifically called porch paint. At the Lowes here, they stick it at the end of the isle.

[dangermouse01]

He has it made, his wife jumps right in there and helps to build the canoe so he can paint the porch, she is a sweetheart and one of a kind,

And since his wife "suggested" that he buy a belt sander, I am betting that painting that porch includes a bunch of sanding. At least she is letting him use a power sander.

DM

[Kayak Jack]

... I think the only thing she likes about them is that she knows when they are done I go camping for a week to try them out.

I expect that the neighbors are glad too. Much quieter neighborhood while you're gone.

[jcubero]

Hang on, guys! I'm not going to literally paint the porch! Geez. Porch paint was recommended (I think on this very site) for painting a canoe I was asking in case we decide to paint it.

Anyhow, back to the regularly scheduled program! Today I finished sanding the seams. After lunch we rolled on a saturation coat to prep for glassing. That is some thirsty wood:


I picked that wood on purpose, I loved the spalting on it but wasn't sure how it would turn out as a canoe. Right now I'm liking it a lot. Here's a few more views:




I'm really pleased with the way the seams turned out. Good plans followed closely yield spot-on results!
After that dried up to the touch, we applied a strip of fiberglass tape to the whole center seam, stern-bow to bow-stern.
Hey, it's a canoe! It doesn't have a front and back yet!

In between I continued to work on the paddles. I got out the ol' spokeshave and began doing some rounding:


I just love seeing those nice curls of wood all over the ground!
I have now put handles on both paddles, finished one side of Kym's paddle scoop and both sides of mine. I then started shaping the handle for Kym's paddle. The initial handle was too big for her hand so I took it down a bit and put a scoop into it for more comfortable holding. I also cut about three inches off the end of the shaft as it was too tall for her.
Here's the progress at the end of the evening:


My paddle is on the left. Bird's-eye maple scoop and handle with walnut pinstripes, cherry shaft with a walnut stripe. I'm afraid the cherry and walnut may not give enough contrast. Oh well. On mine I chose to end the shaft part-way into the scoop part. Largely because I only had a 4' length of cherry.
Kym's paddle is on the right. It's a mahogany shaft and scoop, with handle and a dovetail design on the scoop done in tulipwood. You can see it's shorter than mine, plus she likes a wider, shorter paddle scoop. On hers I took the shaft all the way through.

The two different designs should give me a good idea of what I like better, so I can use it on future paddles.

[Kayak Jack]

You are really going to town, Javier. Nice work.

[jcubero]

You know, I just realized that since I received the plans, not one day has passed that I didn't work on the boat. I've got it bad!

So - tonight was the big night. As soon as I got home I changed. Kym gave the whole hull a good sanding to remove burrs and high spots while I worked on the paddles. Then I did a little extra work on the edges of the tape, feathering it smooth.

WARNING: Feathering the edges is not just for pretties, or for a smoother hull. (Matt, you should stress this in your instructions)! I missed a couple spots, and it turns out if there's a bump the cloth has a hard time comforming to the surface. It tends to leave a bubble and requires extra work and epoxy to smooth down. Moral of the story - feather the edges, make sure you don't miss any, get a nice smooth gradient.

After sanding, we applied packing tape 1" all around the outside top edge. This is so we don't glass where the gunwales will go. We did a test fit of the cloth, cut roughly to shape, and began glassing!!

For the bottom I just poured epoxy out of the mixing cup, letting Kym smooth everything down and squeegee away the excess. Worked great!


Here's the bottom all done (That's Alex's hand in the picture).


As we started working around the sides, we started from the middle of the canoe and went to the ends. Every once in a while we had to make a cut in the cloth to get a "V" and prevent lumps, but there were relatively few - about 4 cuts per side. I used an X-acto knife, which I kept misplacing.

And the final result:


Remember how I kept losing the x-acto? About halfway through I grabbed a cord, looped it to the knife and around my waist so it would stay with me. Kym found this very amusing and decided it merited a picture:


Next step, should I lightly sand to even everything, or just apply another layer of epoxy to seal in the cloth before sanding? How many coats of epoxy should I add to the outside? Keep in mind I'll be doing 1-2 coats with graphite on the bottom.

[jem]

If you do another coat within 48 hours, no sanding needed. In fact, you can jump back on it once the resin gets past the "liquidy" feel and is just tacky.

You should have at least 2 coats over the cured fiberglass.

And man I don't know....sharp object suspend between your legs? That's an internet fable waiting to happen.

[jcubero]

Yeah, it IS hanging at my knees, I have to be careful
I learned early on to always retract the blade on a boxcutter when I'm done using it!
I can do more epoxy tomorrow! (Jumping for Joy)! I can't wait to see how pretty that looks with two more coats on.

[jem]

hey slacker...the night is young. Get back out there!