We had a great foundation class last week, with 13 student for 6 days. It was the first foundation class of the year, and a wonderful way to start the new school year.
Here is the last post about the canoe I built last year, it does’t have much written information, but I at least wanted to show some pictures of the finished product.
It’s funny how writing about a project can sometimes take longer then building it. 🙂
After sanding the epoxy on the inside and outside for the last time, I began making the gunnels. The gunnels add a nice touch to a canoe, but the main purpose is to strengthen the thin 1/4” sides. For the inside gunnels, I glued ash and mahogany strips together and spliced them to get the 17’ I needed. I used a router to create the scuppers, before gluing them in place. After I glued and clamped the inside gunnels I made the outwales and decks using mahogany and ash. I ordered the seats from a company in Canada.
When the finish-out was complete; gunnels, decks, thwart, seats, and brass wear strips I began the final step of varnishing. One thing I learned when varnishing, was make sure you wipe down the epoxy with a wet cloth before varnishing. Apparently the epoxy leaves a residue which doesn’t allow the varnish to dry properly and must be wiped away before applying the vanish. (I leaned that the hard way).
The splice for the inside gunnel.
The decks after being glued up.
About to glue the decks in-place.
Shaping the outside gunnels. For some reason the shavings would stick to the side of the canoe. . .
The inside of the canoe finished out!
Trimming plugs.
The brass strip on the bow and stern.
A few professional pictures.
All done!!
About to deliver the canoe, it was a little scary.
Happy customers.
Beautiful work Jonathan!
Besides using the plans, were there any other info/books/resources you used to help you learn along the way? I want to build one!!