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.