29) Painter Holes

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.