48) Silver River

It has been a long time since I have updated, and of course life has gotten in the way of paddling. Baby showers, birthdays, work, and marathon training have been taking a lot of time (marathon training knocks out one day every weekend - Sunday is my long run day). This past weekend Erin and I went out to the silver river. We put in at Ray Wayside park and paddled upstream to the silver river state park where we had lunch at their canoe launch. It was a 3 mile journey upstream with beautiful views and amazing river scenes. There is no fishing allowed on silver river, and the water is crystal clear, we saw gators, lots of gar and other fish, ducks, turtles, and lots of turtle grass (and a few too many prop scars). Silver springs has an extremely high flow rate, providing a healthy flow in the river. This makes the river about 20 feet deep, and you can see all the way to the bottom. The river just swallows up whole cypress trees when they fall.
Getting out on the river early is key because there is a lot of motorboat traffic as the day creeps on. We decided to turn around at the silver river state park, because it was getting very busy and we still had 2 miles to go to the spring. In fact, launching at the silver river state park would be perfect, you could get up to the spring and relax relatively quickly. Unfortunately there is a 1.5 mile portage from the parking lot to the launch, carrying a canoe, paddles, life vests, recreational stuff, and water is out of the question. That gives me an idea... I need to make a canoe cart, Hmm that would make a good project, stay tuned.
Here are some pics.
A tree in the river.

Cormorants in a tree.

Little gator.

Ducks.

Here is my birthday gift from Erin, a Eagles Nest Outfitters hammock... thanks sweetie.

47) Splashed - Ichetucknee River

I have lived in Gainesville for a few years now, but I have never made it up to the Ichetucknee river before. Wow, what a perfect place to launch the canoe. The launch was pretty unceremonious we just put the canoe in the water and took off upstream. This river is a very popular attraction, during the summer thousands of people rent inner tubes and float lazily down the river. The river is crystal clear and lined with all sorts of beautiful Florida vegetation. The canoe paddles perfectly. I have read that this design was stable and could carry a decent load, my main concern was the seat placement, I wanted to make sure the canoe was balanced with the difference between Erin's weight and my own. I also wanted to make sure that the seats were not too high, which would make it feel too tippy. Fortunately, all of my calculations were perfect, the canoe was perfectly balanced with both of us, and was not tippy at all, I was even able to stand up in the canoe! The seat design is perfect, both of us were very comfortable. The current in the river is strong, so it was sometimes difficult to dodge all of the floating people when we were headed up river, the current made tracking a bit squirrely. A small keel would help the boat track better, but I did'nt want to sacrifice turning ability on some of the more challenging runs (i.e. Juniper Springs). Overall, I am very pleased with this design and would readily recommend it to anyone.
Here is the canoe on my Jeep.

Erin proves that there are no leaks.


The beautiful Ichetucknee - the haze in the air is not fog, it is from one of the two hundred wildfires currently burning in the state.

46) Holy Crap! I'm Done!

Well, I just realized that there is nothing left to do. I am done! I feel kind of wierd, I actually looked forward to taking a mental break to work on the boat. What am I going to do now? What is Matt going to do with all of the garage space? I guess I need to start planning some camping trips. Luckily I am in the midst of some of the most beautiful canoe runs in the United States, time to go explore them. I took the canoe out of the garage so I could clean up a bit. I snapped some pictures under Matt's magnolia and was pleased to see some people slowing down to check out my craft as they drove by.

45) Brass Stem Bands

I decided to go with the brass stem bands. They were created by cutting a 6ft half round brass trim piece in half. I then drilled and countersunk holes in the band every 6-8in or so. The band is held in place with #4 3/4in phillips head brass screws. I also ran a bead of silicone under the band and in the screw holes. Overall, I am really pleased with the look and functionality of the bands.

44) Final Varnish Touch Up

My new paddles came, 40 bucks each, old town canoe, rock on.

I knew that Z Spar flagship varnish was prone to dripping and sagging when I boutght it, so I was not upset when I found drips and sags. Although it is really hard to see any flaws until you get it in the right light, this makes fixing drips and sags difficult. Last night I wet sanded the last of the drips and then I marked the spots with blue painters tape before I revarnished them. This is the last coat of varnish... period.

I tipped the canoe up to see what the final product looks like.

The only thing left to do is to install the brass stem bands. To prepare for this, I pre-screwed #4 stainless screws into the pre-drilled holes in the stem. Brass screws are notorious for breaking and I wanted to cut the threads in the wood so I did not have to deal with a bunch of broken screws. Guess what happened.... I broke a damn stainless screw off in my nice shiny stem. One last curse from the canoe gods, I need to come up with a game plan to remove the screw... and then I will put on my stem bands.

Next time, stem bands and sea trials (or stream trials)!

43) Flip and Rip

Tonight, I bolted on the thwart and flipped the canoe over. The first coat on the outside has been thinned by 10%. This allows for easier spreading on the sanded epoxy. It is nice to finally see the what the finished canoe looks like. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.... only 5 or 6 more coats of varnish and a lot of wet sanding! Woohoo!
Here are my helpers/ audience tonight.

Thats a good lookin thwart. The brass bolt heads look nice with the varnished cherry.

At the beginning.

At the end.

42) Varnish Inside

Varnishing the inside is not really difficult, just time consuming. Wet sand drips (Zspar Flagship varnish produces a lot of drips), tack rag dust, wipe down with acetone, varnish, repeat. Once you have one coat of varnish on, it is hard to see where the next coat is, good light is important. Ultimately, I wish the inside looked better than it does, but I do intend to use this canoe, hopefully a lot. I have come to the point where I have accepted that I need to get this thing finished and I can't keep worrying about small details. Here are some pics of the canoe so far.

41) Seats Finished

This weekend, I put the first coat of varnish on the inside of the canoe. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera so I do not have any pics. I did finish the seats and wove both of them. I must say the varnished cherry with the dark red webbing looks pretty cool. I will try to get some pictures of the hull later this week.

40) Beginning the Finishing

This past week I filled all remaining voids and cracks, and finally finished sanding. This weekend I began the varnishing. The first coats of varnish are fill coats designed to seal any unfinished wood (wood not sealed with epoxy). The unfinished wood is basically all of the trim, seats, and thwart. The varnish I chose was Z-Spar Flagship marine varnish by Petit. I chose this varnish becase I live in Florida and I wanted the maximum UV protection. First, I thinned the varnish 30% with Petit brand thinner (It is always a good idea to use the same manufacturer on things like this). Then I simply brushed the thinned varnish on with a foam brush. Not all foam brushes are created equal - the ones made in China are crap, they flake and "chatter" when you pull them over marine varnish. I got my brushes at Ace hardware, be sure to get the ones that say JEN MFG USA on the handle (I got this tip on the Bear Mountain Boat Shop forum). I plan on doing 3 coats with the thinned varnish and 3 or 4 with regular varnish.
Here are my weapons of choice for this weekend.

Taped of and varnished decks and gunnels, the cherry looks beautiful.


I can't wait to varnish the hull.

39) Final Sanding

I spent a good part of Saturday doing a final sand of 120 grit on the entire hull. I found a couple of small places I still need to fill. I also need to dry fit the brass stem bands and seal the stems with one last coat of epoxy. Then it is time to varinish!

38) Sand, Plug, Fill - Repeat

Today I cut out over 70 plugs in scrap pieces of cherry. These were used to fill the countersunk holes in the outwales, sealing the brass screws inside the wood.

Before I filled the holes, I disassembled everything and sanded the decks, inwales and tops of the gunwales with 60 grit paper. This gave me an idea of all the places that needed filler (I wanted to use the leftover epoxy from gluing the plugs to fill any gaps). Then I epoxied the plugs in place and used the leftover goop to fill some cracks. Next time... sand the gunwales and plugs smooth.

37) Last Dry Fit

This weekend I dry fitted the seats and got my first glimpse of the finished canoe.

36) Outwales

The outwales were scarfed and tapered similar to the inwales. The outwales are attached with thickened epoxy and brass screws. Like most cedar strip canoes you see, I countersunk all of the screws. The holes will then be filled with plugs cut from scrap cherry. Because the outwales are screwed on, I was able to attach both at the same time. I did leave some clamps on for 1 day (to add a little extra pressure while the epoxy set). Overall this step was very easy and quite satisfying. Although, if you decide to go this route and countersink the screws, make sure that you buy a couple of replacement bits for your countersink (I have broken 6 or 7 bits throughout the build, including 3 on the outwales). Matt provided an extra hand holding the outwales in place while I screwed them in.

35) Deck Install

I installed the decks according to the instructions in Canoecraft (using epoxy and brass screws). I drew the pleasing curve you see on the bottom of the deck with the help of an empty flower pot in Matt's driveway. I then used Elie's new Bosch jigsaw to cut the curve. On a side note, I am now a Bosch convert, this jigsaw was smoother than any other I have ever used. The cut was so nice, I did not even sand the cut before I installed the decks... Awesome. Finally, I used thickened epoxy to fill any gaps.

34) Decks

I had plenty of cherry for the decks, but I wanted to spice it up a bit. I needed some contrasting hardwood to accentuate the deck (maybe some walnut or ash). Unfortunately, the Friday before I wanted to glue up my decks, I stopped by the local cabinet shop only to find that they were closed! I couldn't bring myself to just have plain cherry decks, so I headed off to Home Depot to see what I could find. All I found was poor grade softwood.... until I wandered into the hardwood flooring section. I finally settled on bamboo (trust me). I bought a little transition strip (the kind that helps you transition from a wood floor to carpet or tile) and was able to rip enough hardwood out of it for my decks. I decided to go with a bamboo racing stripe, flanked by two thinner accent strips on the sides. Here are some pictures of the glue up.

33) Thwart Dry Fitting

My seat and thwart bolts are silicon bronze (ordered from Newfound Woodworks). I just got the shipment, so I decided to dry fit the thward. Drilling holes in my new inwales took some courage. I spent a long time scarfing, cutting, gluing and measuring these inwales. I would hate to screw it up with a misplaced hole. So I measured 3 times and took the plunge. Installation was actually very uneventful, but the thwart adds a lot of visual appeal to the canoe.
Don't worry mom, here is proof that I wear my safety goggles.

32) Working on Seats

Erin has luckily volunteered to make headway on the seats. I marked out all of the mortises needed on the seat frames and Erin drilled the mortises out with a 1/4" brad point bit in the drill guide. I followed up with a chisel and file to clean up the holes. After I had the pieces finished I clamped the seat together and did a test weave. I ordered this 1/2" nylon webbing from the web (Erin picked out the color). Chris Glad emailed me some great instructions on how to weave the seats, I am also showing a picture from the back of the seats so you can get an idea how it is woven (it is very sloppy, but this is a test weave). I think it looks really cool. Next I glued the seats up with dowels and gorilla glue. I did a test glue of the joint with gorilla glue, as I suspected, the wood failed before the glue joint (sorry no pic). So gorilla glue will work just fine.