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| This will be a developing page on boat construction
that will eventually cover such topics as lofting, scarfing panels,
stitching, gluing, making seats and other such items.
I choose the Waterman 13 Canoe to start with as it has bulkheads & decking that we can have a look at. Other designs may not have these but the basic construction is the same. If I haven't covered a subject that you may need help with just email me & I will try to answer your questions. Click on a thumbnail to view a larger image. |
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Panels cut & joined. May be scarfed, taped or plated. |
Hull stitched around
spacers.Hand tight wires. |
Stitches tightened. |
Check for twisting
by sighting along 2 straight edges. |
Tack with epoxy between
all wires and next day remove wires. |
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Tack welding. Most of my hulls are painted so I am not worried about glue colour for filling. |
Tacking complete, ready
to turn hull over and tape seams. |
Seams coved & taped More detail on this to follow. |
3 ways to deal with
stem. #1 Bog stem with thickened glue, sand to shape. |
#2 Nail a tape covered
batten over stem area & fill to suit...this can help to fair
a stem. |
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#3 Laminate thin strips
of wood for stem & glue in place. Sand to shape. |
Tools used for coving
& glassing...coving rounds are ground from putty knives. |
Respirator, gloves,
save those ice cream containers and tins. |
Lay fiberglass cloth
on dry hull.Cloth comes in different widths, you may use only one
piece. |
Cut darts in cloth
to go around stem. |
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If using a double layer
on bottom lay next piece on dry also. |
Roll on first coat
epoxy to 1/2 canoe only. Start early to finish all 3 coats in one
session. |
Then squeegee the whole
area to remove excess epoxy before doing next 1/2. |
Another type of squeegee
made from hard rubber. Draw from top to bottom of area & don't
reuse excess epoxy. |
Area in centre has
too much 1st coat epoxy and the cloth is "floating". Go
over this area again |
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Stem darts nearly disappear
under epoxy |
2nd coat rolls on after
a few hours and may be squeegeed or tipped off with a brush |
3rd coat is rolled
on and tipped off with brush at the end of the day |
This area has a rough
overlap of cloth. Overlaps & cloth joins are not hard to deal
with. |
Next day scrape all
joins and overlaps.A lot of epoxy work may be done with scrapers. |
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Then sand with 80 grit.
Seams & overlaps can dissapear for bright work. |
While the epoxy is
drying scarf gunnels. |
Use weights to hold
while glue is drying. |
Pin any bulkheads in
place and tack weld overnight. |
Start coving by getting
the thickened glue out of the tin & onto the area. Don't be
shy with this. |
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Run coving tool right
around seam. The trick with coving is not to "play" with
it too much. |
Clean up edges with
putty knife. Any areas you are not happy with can be dealt with
by using the next step..... |
Finished cove-for "no
sanding" use gloved finger with thinners to run around cove
as it starts to set up. |
Attach all gunnels,
inside first. These can be glued and temporary screwed through hull. |
Outside gunnels can
also be glued and temporary screwed.Fill plug holes with contrasting
timber if you wish. |
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Deck area can just
be a piece of ply or timber attached to the gunnels or.... |
we can rebate our ply
in the gunnels to take an inlay. |
Dry fit your decorative
pieces first. |
Clamp with epoxy. best
to do this in a couple of stages. |
Anything goes with
clamping. |
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Do both ends at same
time. |
Finished Inlay |
Runners installed by
gluing & screwing from inside hull. |
Time for 2-pot exterior
paint |
Notice from earlier
photos that a light weight fairing compound was used around bow
to blend in chines. |
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Making a simple nylon
taped seat.using a standard canoe seat frame. |
With seat top- side
up start by tacking the "warp" to left hand side of frame-
copper tacks are good. |
Stretch the tape under
then back over the rear stretcher. |
Continue to do this
until both the front & back stretcher are covered. Tack and
cut off excess tape. |
Next we weave the "woof"
tape. Turn seat over and insert the end of roll between the warps. |
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Temporarily spread
the warps on the back stretcher & tack the woof tape to the
back stretcher. |
Turn seat to the top
side & begin weaving the tape over & under the warps to
achieve the pattern. |
Carry on doing this
by alternating the weave at the beginning of each row. |
Remember that each
row on the bottom of the seat must also be woven at the same time
as the top side. The bottom will look a little strange as the tape
is on a slight angle. |
When both top &
bottom are covered, cut & tack the tape on the bottom of the
seat. The weave will get tighter as you finish & the end of
a spoon will assist in pushing the tape through. |
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Finished seat |
Prospector seat using
2 colours of tape |
Ready to install With
stitch & tape boats the seat brackets are glued & screwed
to the hull sides. |
Seat frames are bolted
to brackets. |
Next we install the
hatches to the bulkheads. Use a sealant before screwing hatch in
place to insure water tightness. |
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One more hatch plate
to go & we are finished. |
Only thing to do now.... |
...is add water! |
(c)
2006 Randall Haines "The Workshop" | Contact