Cedar Stripping - Building a 15' Ranger Cedar Strip Canoe

51) Silver Springs

2008-03-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

Well, you can ignore the previous post, the canoe cart only made it a quarter of a mile before breaking. However it worked pretty well up until that point.
This is what it was supposed to look like.

The T-joint under the canoe was just too fragile and snapped with the weight of the boat bouncing on it. I will rebuild with a sturdier joint and try again - as always I'll report my findings here. Given that, I must say I am glad that one of my childhood heroes was MacGyver - I would have never made it to the canoe launch without the spirit of Richard Dean Anderson's character guiding me. I even considered canceling the outing, but with gas running around $3.30 per gallon, I would not drive back to Gainesville in shame. This is what I came up with, I simply duct taped the padding to the axle and jury rigged this to the canoe.

Once out on the water, there was a slight mist coming off of the river and I was immediately greeted by a river otter and a family of Rhesus monkeys hanging out at the waters edge, the river gods were smiling on me:) I made it up to the springs just as the theme park was opening (the land around the springs is a privately owned nature theme park, however the river and the springs are protected public property... as long as you stay in your boat you can hang out at the spring for as long as you like! = no admission) I saw tons of amazing wildlife including birds, gators, huge gar, alligator gar, and more, here are a few pics.

This shadowy gar was probably around 4 feet long, these torpedos can weigh up to 50 lbs!

Silver springs is the largest artesian spring formation in the world, and it is definitely worth fighting the current to get to the headwaters. I even got to see the sunken remains of an old native american dugout canoe, while I floated above in my modern day version...too cool. Here are some shots of some of the springs, the white around the opening is sand and shell fragments that are blown up from the depths by the strong flow.

This was a great day paddling, the canoe is a bit squirrelly heading upstream solo, a keel would help, but I want to do some more exploring before I decide to sacrifice the super shallow draft. On my way back to the launch, I paddled over a group of drift divers exploring the river from below, looks like fun.

50) Portage Cart

2008-03-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Some of the really good (and less traveled) canoe and kayak launches around north-central Florida require portages around a mile long. My back can take some of the shorter trips, but on the longer hikes, I can't imaging getting the canoe and gear in one trip by myself. I googled "canoe cart" and saw some cool commercial carts and some homemade varieties. Well, I made the canoe, so why not the cart. This was modeled after one I saw somewhere online (I did'nt bookmark the site). I cobbled it together with PVC pipe, a threaded rod, and some super-sized lawnmower wheels. All-in-all it cost nearly $60 from the local big box store.
Here is an overall look, note stand that will help single hand loading

This is a close-up of the wheel showing the wingnuts holding them on.

I set everything up so it could be disassembled for stashing in the canoe or in the bushes (maybe I will hit it with a camo paint job!)

49) Crystal River - Manatees!

2008-01-20T16:40:00.000-08:00

I apologize, it has been way too long since my last update, but I figured most people would be surfing this site while daydreaming about/ doing research on building a cedar strip canoe or kayak. I don't think people really care about my paddling trips (except for family and friends), but if you are in the process of building or thinking about a similar project, here is some inspiration from the finish line. I can tell you everywhere I go, I get great comments and questions from people about the canoe... it's a real head turner.

Today it was sunny, but a brisk and windy 53 degrees F in central Florida... a perfect day for manatee sightseeing. Erin and I decided to head down to Crystal River, specifically Kings Bay. We put in at a nice little public park called Hunters Spring Park, a 30 min paddle from Three Sisters Spring (a favorite hangout of the manatee this time of year... and the tourists). If you want to get to Three Sisters Spring from Hunters Spring Park, just head towards Pete's Pier and follow the flotilla of pontoon boats (If you go in January, you can't miss them!).
You can see all of the manatees in the "safe zone" on the left, while snorkelers try to coax them out.

Here's Erin

Here I am

Now I am touching an endangered species (its legal, but one hand only)!

Not captured for posterity, a manatee "farted" next to Erin... she can now cross inhaling endangered species fart off her life list.

48) Silver River

2007-06-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-05-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

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

36) Outwales

2007-03-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

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.

31) Inwales

2007-03-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

For the inwales, I scarfed together two 8" strips of cherry. I thought of about 10 different ways to make the scuppered slots on the inwales. I decided that the easiest method would be to cut 1/4" by 3/4" by 3.5" spacers and glue them onto the inwales. I was not too sure how well this would work, but after I put them on it looked great. At the ends of each inwale, I attached a 30" long spacer, this allowed me to cut a taper down to a half inch at the ends of the inwales. Tapering the inwales and outwales adds a nice touch to the canoe. Due to a limited number of clamps, I could only attach one inwale at a time.

Both inwales on.

30) Sanding the Inside

2007-03-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Ahh, more sanding.... enough said.

29) Painter Holes

2007-02-26T13:16:00.000-08:00

The painter is the rope attached to the front of the canoe, it serves mainly as a place to tie up the canoe. I plan on drilling the painter hole through the hull behind each stem. First I need something to drill into. I made a template of the angle of the hull behind the stems with some scrap cardboard. Next, I glued two scrap pieces of cherry together to make a solid block. Finally, I cut the angle of my template on the blocks and generously epoxied the blocks into the ends of the hull.

Next I measured and drilled the holes for the painter. I then coated the inside of the hole I drilled with epoxy - to prevent moisture from saturating the wood and starting to rot. This is where those sail grommets come in. I roughed up the "male" portion of the grommet with a file to promote epoxy adhesion. Then I coated the grommet with sanding dust thickened epoxy and hammered it into the hole....fits like a glove! It was such a simple process, but I am really pleased with the results.

28) Glasing the Inside

2007-02-25T16:25:00.001-08:00

Finally, the weather has broken and I have an opportunity to glass the inside of the hull. I setup my familiar glassing arrangement, lining the garage floor with plastic and setting up all my epoxy materials for easy access. Erin mixed epoxy while I wet out the glass and Elie spread the epoxy and cleaned up the massive ammount of bubbles with the auto body scraper. I only had to put on two coats of epoxy on the inside. If the inside of the hull was as smooth as the outside, we would be slipping all over the place as we entered and exited the canoe... not good. The only problem with the inside layup was the bubbles. I realize now that I should have done the epoxying while the temperature was dropping in the garage to reduce the chance of bubbling. Bubbles form as air in the wood expands (due to the heat of the epoxy). Oh well, I guess you live and learn, this is the first time I have built a boat. I will try to fill any remaining bubbles by drilling a hole and injecting epoxy into the bubble with a syringe.
Here is the layup crew.

This has to be my favorite picture (thanks Matt), the glass changing from white to clear as we wet it out.

All done.

27) Preparing to Glass the Inside

2007-02-25T15:50:00.000-08:00

In order to glass the inside, I first laid out the remaining 6oz fiberglass inside the boat. Next, I trimmed the glass around the stems. The book (Canoecraft) suggests that I cut the glass a couple of inches short of the stems. Apparently there is plenty of strength in that area and glassing all the way to the stem will just be a pain in the butt (due to the tight location). Well, they did write the book, so that is what I did.

Matt goes for a paddle.

Another milestone, I disassembled the strongback. My friend Elie has been waiting for the plans to be drawn up for a glades skiff he has wanted for years. Jacques Mertens over at Bateau.com has finally finished the plans and has dubbed the new boat the "Flats Stalker 18". I must say, I am not a flats fishing fanatic, but I do appreciate the style of this beauty. Anyways, Elie has the plans and materials in hand, so I offered him my strongback as a solid building platform. Check out Elie's build at flatsstalker18.blogspot.com or just click the link on the right side of this page (You may see some familiar faces in Elie's photos).

We knocked together some sawhorses to support the canoe (I got the sawhorse design somewhere online, it is strong and required no fancy angled cuts - we literally built them in 15 min).

Also, don't forget to check out Bateau.com, Jacques probably has designed a boat you would be interested in (I have my eye on the Vagabond 23 - especially with the offshore cockpit mod.). Jacques seems to have the philosophy of simplicity and functionality of design, something I appreciate.

26) Seats and Thwart Started

2007-02-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

I cut up all of that beautiful cherry and have started laying out my seats and shaping the thwart. The seats will be woven with 1/2" nylon webbing just like Chris Glad's (http://www.aracnet.com/~ncglad/canoe/canoe.htm). I also got the idea for the grommet lined painter holes from Chris.

25) Wood for Trim

2007-02-25T14:29:00.000-08:00

The next major phase of building, I went on a shopping spree. Let's see what I bought. 15 bdft. of clear cherry (planed down to 3/4").

Half-round strip of brass (I am not 100% sure I want a brass stem band, but I bought the brass just in case).

Sail grommets. This seems like an odd purchase, but I plan on using the grommets to trim out the painter holes. Trust me, it will be cool.

Silicon bronze seat and thwart bolts (Sorry, no pic.).
Thats it!

24) Wet Out and Finish Sand

2007-02-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

Next, I wet out the interior of the canoe (to raise the wood grain) and then I finish sanded with 120 grit. After I wet out the inside I took a bunch of pictures of the boat from different angles. the only thing holding the boat together is wood glue and the fiberglass on the outside. Although it is a bit wobbly, it is also very strong.

23) Sanding, Filling, and Sanding the Interior

2007-02-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

This is a familiar feeling... Sanding. Next time I take on a boat building project, I am going to invest in the ear protecting headphones that have an audio connection. The most boring thing about sanding is that you cannot hear anything but the sander. The only difference in sanding the inside is that I burn through sanding discs much faster than the outside. The only part of the sandpaper that is touching the hull is the outer edges of the disc. As on the outside, I filled any cracks with epoxy thickened with sanding dust (which I have plenty of). Then sanded again.
Thats my sanding buddy Bugsy in the background.

Here I am imagining a peaceful paddle in silver river.

22) Scraping the Inside

2007-02-25T06:31:00.000-08:00

In order to get the glue drops and excess epoxy off of the inside, I used a paint scraper that has been shaped in a curve on a bench grider. The paint scraper worked well, but is a pretty harsh tool. It takes off excess glue and wood, but not neatly. This process involved a lot of work, hunched over the boat. The thought of taking the canoe out camping along the Suwannee River keep me going at times like these.

Here is a pic of the bottom of the boat, look at that nice fair curve.

21) Flipping the boat

2007-02-25T06:19:00.000-08:00

The last couple of times that I worked on the boat, I forgot to take my camera. During that time, I sanded the outside of the hull. I also added some extra glass under the stems, I figured that this is the area that will take a beating when I am landing the canoe on the shore. Next, I started taking out the forms in order to flip the canoe. Luckily the care I took making sure to tape each form paid off. None of the molds got stuck in the boat. After flipping, I made a cradle with some of Matt's carpet scraps.

20) Glass

2007-02-25T05:34:00.000-08:00

Finally, time for some glass. This is a big moment in anyones canoe build, because mistakes are not easily corrected. You only have a limited work time and then the epoxy sets up and thats all she wrote. I first prepped the garage and laid out some plastic under the canoe. Next, I draped the 6oz glass over the canoe. Everyone that stopped by to look at the boat seemed concerned that I was covering up all of my nice woodwork with thtis white fabric. I assured everyone that the glass will be invisible when it is wet out. This is not a one person process. Luckily I had my girlfriend Erin and my friend Matt. Erin and Matt took turns mixing epoxy and keeping track of the time. After we got going Erin mixed epoxy and Matt was in charge of scraping the excess epoxy off of the hull. For this layer of glass, I need to put on three layers of epoxy. The first layer just wets out the fabric and bonds the glass to the hull.

The second layer fills the weave of the glass.

The third layer buries the glass, so when I sand the hull smooth I will not sand through the glass. Once this layer had set, I trimmed the excess glass off of the sheer.

19) Curious

2007-02-22T18:54:00.000-08:00

I laid down under the strongback just to see what it will look like when I am paddling this puppy. Can't wait to get some glass on her.

18) Finish Sanding

2007-02-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Before I finish sand with 120 grit, I wet the hull down. This raises the grain, so the fine grit can knock it down. Wetting the hull down is cool, you get to see what the finished product will look like. Try not to get the hull too wet, the wood glue is water soluble.

Check out the difference.

17) Fill and Fair

2007-02-22T18:41:00.000-08:00

There is not much to write about sanding. The canoe doesn't look any different, it just feels smoother. I made a bootleg fairing board with some thin MDF and a belt sander sandpaper roll. Then I filled remaining cracks and faired the hull. Well this is what she looks like after countless hours of sanding. I should mention that the rough sanding was with 80 grit, I will finish with 120 grit.

16) Shaping, Filling, Sanding

2007-02-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

Here is where the fun begins. With all of the staples out, I started rough shaping the hull with the block plane. This is where you begin to think..."I am taking off a lot of wood here, how thick is this hull?". Check out all of the wood shavings on the floor.

Next, I filled all of the larger cracks with epoxy thickened with sanding dust.

Now the sanding begins. I bought my Black and Decker random orbital sander for 15 bucks at a B&D outlet store, it came with a 2 year warranty and I might acturally need to use it. Anyone who builds wooden boats will tell you that the majority of your time is spent sanding. Before I figured out that I should hook the sander up to the wet dry vac this is what I looked like..... sanding, sanding, and more sanding to follow.

15) Removing Staples and Shaping the Stems

2007-02-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

I was half expecting the canoe to fly apart once all of the staples were removed... luckily nothing happened. I enlisted the help of Matt and Erin to help me pull the 2000ish staples out of the hull (they are still talking to me). This was fairly straightforward, next I tackled shaping the stems with the block plane, spokeshave, and finally the sander. Looks good.

14) Outer Stems

2007-02-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

I decided to use cherry for the gunnels, seats, thwart, decks, and outer stems. The reason is simply availability, the mill in town was only able to order large quantites of ash at a time, it was not worth their time to order 12-15 bdft. for my project. So cherry it is. Before mounting the outer stems I cut 1" off of the bottom of the stem. If you don't do this, when you make the mortise for the outer stem, it opens up a hole in your hull (leading to a potentially weaker joint. Personally, with the fiberglass and epoxy reinforcing the area, I don't think that it is too much of an issue, but I am not going to test the theory with my canoe.

I just ordered my epoxy to join the outer stem to the hull. If you are wondering what I used to glue up the stems... it was gorilla glue. Some people disagree with using this polyurethane glue on canoes, but if it is good enough for John Welsford (http://www.woodenboat.net.nz/Workshop/worksindex.html), it is certianly good enough for me (Side Note: if your a wooden boat junkie, check out John's site at http://www.jwboatdesigns.co.nz/).

As I mentioned above, I had to mortise out an area for the outer stem and then I glued the stem on with epoxy thickened with sanding dust. The outer stems were clamped in place with stainless steel screws. I wanted to remove the screws later, so I covered them with parafin wax. The wax did the trick, no problems.

13) Cutting the Sheer

2007-02-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

Cutting the sheer made this baby look more like a canoe. It is not a hard job, but it is immensely satisfying. I first marked the sheer on each station mold, then I clamped a batten (a scrap strip) onto the hull and traced the sheer line. Although the batten did not line up with each mark I made, I just let the wood find a fair curve and followed that. If the line is not fair, your eye will be immediately drawn to it (humans have an uncanny knack for picking out asymmetry). I left the line about 1/8" proud so I can even everything up when I put the gunnels on. Overall, knotty girl is shaping up!

12) Closing "the Football"

2007-02-21T17:16:00.000-08:00

Stripping the rest of the bottom, or "closing the football" was more time consuming than laying regular strips. Each strip had to be dry fit, cut, and dry fit again before gluing. I cut each strip with the chisel, the cuts were actually a compound miter. Admittedly, I messed up a few strips but I just tried to get as close as possible.

In order to fit last few strips, I made a template of the bend in the bottom on a scrap piece of wood (my trusty old infeed table). to make this template I measured the distance from the centerline to the last strip I placed (on the canoe) over each station mold. Next, I transferred these measurements to my piece of scrap wood and hammered nails into the scrap at the end of each measurement. Finally, I laid down some plastic wrap and bent the remaining strips around the nails. I am not sure if this description makes sense, hopefully you will get the idea from the pic. After this piece dried, I cut the cenerline and stapled the whole thing on the bottom of the canoe.

The final staple! I estimate that I put around 2300 staples in the hull (only one into my hand!). I think it is safe to say that I don't want to use that staple gun again for quite some time.

11) Cutting the Centerline

2007-02-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

After I rounded the bilge, stripping up to the centerline was no problem. The angle that the strips bend is a bit different, but progress is fast. After I passed the centerline (marked on each mold) I ran a stringline and drew on the centerline and cut down to it with the chisel. I never planned on using a chisel as much as I have for this project, but it is the perfect tool for cutting the 1/4" cedar (Note: Dad, I took your 1" chisel when I moved out, remind me to buy you a new one). I think I took 10 pictures of the freshly cut centerline it looked so good... I can't wait to cut the sheer.

10) Rounding the Bilge

2007-02-21T16:43:00.000-08:00

Once I got to the bilge (the round transition from the side of the canoe to the bottom) I could only continue stripping one side of the boat. The reason for this is that the strips start intersecting each other. Rounding the bilge forced the strips to contort into some pretty gnarley angles. More times than I would like, the stress of the strips pulled the staples out of the forms, forcing me to put 2 or 3 staples where I would normally put one. Oh well, this is the first time I have ever built a boat... I guess there has to be a learning curve.

9) Adding Strips

2007-02-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

The process of stripping the boat is very pleasing. Every day it feels like you have acomplished something and the boat is closer to completion. I worked in spurts only adding about 5 strips to each side per day. I worked up the sides of the canoe and down to fill in the sheer (I typically used scraps from the longer strips).

Starting to look like a boat

8) Time to Strip

2007-02-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

The long awaited day, my parents should be proud, I am officially a stripper. Placing the first strip requires some imagination. Anyone who is familiar with woodworking usually builds things with nice, easily measured angles (90, 45, 30, 60 degrees, etc.). Building a canoe is delving into new territory, the thing is one big continuous curve. When laying out the first strip, you want it to generally follow the waterline. If you bend the first strip around the sheer line (a tempting thing to do) the resulting canoe, although beautiful, looks a bit awkward on the water. Having the strips follow the waterline give the canoe a more sleek, natural appearance. In addition, if you follow the sheer, you will soon realize that you will need to persuade the strips to bend in the most unnatural of compound curves (= not fun). To achieve a nice line you need to attach the first strip to a few of the molds and let it gently wrap around the canoe. You need to try it to really understand it. Take your time with the first strip, because all of the other strips will be based off of this one.

The inner stems also need to be shaped at this time. To do this you need a spokeshave, getting used to this tool takes some time, but after a while the wood starts carving itself.

I only added about 5 strips the first time. Until the glue dries they are slightly flexible, even when stapled to the molds. I let the glue dry on the first strips to make a nice stable platform for mounting more strips. The strips are mounted cove side up so the glue can rest in the cove while you add another strip. The glue is simply yellow carpenters glue (IMPORTANT - before you start stripping, cover the edges of your molds with masking tape, otherwise you will glue your canoe to the mold and make more work for yourself).

7) Milling a Bead and Cove

2007-02-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

After cutting a ton of strips, passing each strip through a router table...twice did not really appeal to me. But it had to be done, luckily my girlfriend Erin was willing to help out and we milled the strips in a couple hours. Since I do not own a router or a router table, I had to borrow the router and make the table. The router table is made entirely out of scrap wood mounted on my B&D workmate. You can't see it well in the pic, but I wired up an on and off switch on the back of the table for safety. I was able to reuse my tablesaw infeed and outfeed tables. The bead and cove bit is a stacked bit, meaning the bead and cove shapers are on the same bit. First, Erin and I milled the bead, then I adjusted the bit and we milled the cove (which is more fragile). Apparently the bead and cove gives you about 50% more gluing surface area, which means a stronger canoe. They also serve an aesthetic purpose by reducing the chances that cracks will be visible between your strips. I'll take any help I can get.

6) Steam Bending the Stems

2007-02-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

I was a bit worried about this part, everything I read said it was no problem, but I was not sure if it would really be this simple. For the stems (the front and back edge of the canoe) I needed to wrap 1.5 inches of wood around a fairly tight radius. The stems are composed of two parts, the inner and outer stem. The inner stem is made up of 3 strips of white cedar while the outer stem is 3 strips of cherry.

In order to bend the strips I had to steam them for approx. 15 min., then I had about 45 seconds to bend them around the stem mold before they cooled off too much. Keeping with the bootleg theme, I used a borrowed laboratory hotplate (with permission), my tea kettle, a PVC pipe, and some rags to stuff the ends.

Much to my suprise, everything worked beautifully and the stems practically bent themselves around the forms. My friend Matt manned the clamps while I held the wood. If you are going to build your own stripper one day, my advice is to keep it simple, don't fall into the trap of overengineering things if you don't have too.

5) Cutting the Strips

2007-02-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

Cutting the strips seemed like an endless process. Shredding all 50 bdft. of lumber into thin strips took me about 4 hours. I made a completely bootleg infeed and outfeed system, but combined with my homemade finger boards, the strips turned out pretty good. You can order pre-milled strips from Bear Mountain for around $650.00. However, I got the cedar for $200 (including some cherry), and I picked up a new Craftsman tablesaw for $120, and a stacked bead and cove router bit was around $35 (I borrowed the router), overall not too bad. She's coming together!

4) The Wood

2007-02-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

I emailed Bill Logan over at http://www.canoe-suwannee.com/cedar_strip_canoe.htm about a good place to buy cedar for my project. He put me in touch with a small mill outside of Tallahassee. There I picked up 50 board feet of relatively clear (only small knots) Atlantic white cedar and some cherry for the outer stems. The great thing about the cedar is that they were 17 ft in length so no scarfing of strips was necessary. To get them back to Gainesville, I fabricated my own roof rack for my truck (sorry, I sold the truck and don't have any pictures of my handiwork).

3) The Forms

2007-02-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

Next, I cut the forms for the mold from particle board. I made half mold templates from the blueprints provided from Bear Mountain on poster board. This took some time but made laying out the forms on the particle board very easy. The molds are attached to the strongback with 2"x2" pine cleats. I laid out a level line on the side of the cleats to eliminate the effect of the crown on the strongback. After a few adjustments I had a semi-canoelike structure. This is a very pleasing part of the build because for the first time you get to examine the lines of your boat.

2) The Strongback

2007-02-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

Before I started anything, I needed to build the strongback. A strongback is just a straight, level platform for building a boat. If you own a copy of Canoecraft, this will look familiar. It is constructed from 2 sheets of 3/4" MDF and is 15' long. The strongback had a crown of about 1/4" in the middle, however this was negated when I attached the forms for the mold.

1) An Idea is Born

2007-02-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

I have been pondering building my own boat for a few years now. As I write this I have already made a lot of progress on my first "vessel", a 15 foot cedar strip canoe named "Knotty Girl". Prior to choosing this boat, I kicked around a lot of ideas regarding the type of boat and construction method. Although a 25' cruising sailboat would be ideal, it is hard to afford such an extravagance on a grad student salary. I guess I could build the boat and begin a new life as a pirate, but I doubt I have the skill or arsenal to take on the coast guard... oh well. So I settled on a canoe, I purchased the book Canoecraft by Ted Moores in March of 2006. I bought the book mainly for research since I am living in an apartment and don't have a garage to build in. One day I was talking with my friend Matt about my future boat plans when he suggested "Why don't you build it here ?" (referring to his beautiful 2 car garage). Well, I took him up on his offer and purchased my plans for the 15' Prospector Ranger from Bear Mountain Boat Shop, check it out http://www.bearmountainboats.com/15-0ProspectorRanger.htm. Here is the story of the "Knotty Girl".