great progress! It's good to see a first-time build coming along. I appreciate you sharing the mistakes along with the victories! Best of luck with the next steps.
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Happy Final Career Hit, Ty Cobb (1928)!⚾4️⃣1️⃣8️⃣9️⃣
Questions and requests for advice as I'm starting out
- Thread starter JohnNevets
- Start date
Well, the last strip is in. And it felt good to get it there. Took a lot of finessing to get those last few strips in, and having to start over on a strip because it ended up just a tad to short. But was worth it. I had intended to glue up those last few up as one and then put it in, but it worked out better to just do them one at a time. Including that last really small one. I did wait to glue the last 3 in until I had them all fit. I used some brad nails not pounded all the way in to hold the last two boards in until I could get that last little strip test fit. And than used the same holes to hold the boards in place for glue up as well. Along with a couple of bungee cords. And of course as tradition dictates, I had to have a glass of whiskey once that whiskey strip was in. I figured I deserved it. The whiskey is aged and bottled at a local brewery I love, but is distilled in KY (they won't say by whom). But I also thought the name seemed appropriate.
Now it is on to fairing things out, sanding, patching the holes, and getting ready for fiberglass and epoxy. I just ordered that stuff yesterday, and should be here by the end of the week. I was originally thinking of going system 3 for epoxy and filler, but ended up going with total boat to save a decent amount of money. I hope it works out in the end. I ordered 42' of 50" 6oz e glass. Should be enough for the full 15' boat plus some. I know I have a lot of work left to do, but hitting this milestone felt like a big one for me. Unless I hit some major road blocks, I'd like to have this on the water in about a month or so. But I'm also not putting any pressure on myself to do it in a set amount of time, it takes what it takes.
Now it is on to fairing things out, sanding, patching the holes, and getting ready for fiberglass and epoxy. I just ordered that stuff yesterday, and should be here by the end of the week. I was originally thinking of going system 3 for epoxy and filler, but ended up going with total boat to save a decent amount of money. I hope it works out in the end. I ordered 42' of 50" 6oz e glass. Should be enough for the full 15' boat plus some. I know I have a lot of work left to do, but hitting this milestone felt like a big one for me. Unless I hit some major road blocks, I'd like to have this on the water in about a month or so. But I'm also not putting any pressure on myself to do it in a set amount of time, it takes what it takes.
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Perfect. It's looking great and you're making good progress. Slow & steady works just fine.
Been a while. I've made progress, but not as quickly as I had hoped. Oh well. The chance of it seeing water this season, here in WI is getting slimmer, but still a possibility. More likely if I put it in before 100% completion.
Things I've done since getting it fully stripped. I've sanded and scraped it down, and made it as fair as I could. I than went in and patched some holes with thickened epoxy. While doing that, I realized it was darkening just those areas, and I might as well do a sealer/ fairing thin coat of epoxy as well, so did that. Sanded and scraped it down. Added the fillet of thickened epoxy to the tight bend near the top of canoe, sanded (actually mostly scraped) it to profile. And this whole time stayed fairly nervous about actually fiber glassing, so took my time, and just sat on it for a while. Also had some other non canoe things that took up a few weeks worth of time.
So on Monday I finally bit the bullet, and laid the fiberglass. And while it didn't go perfect, it went well enough, and I'm happy with that. I was working by myself, and from when I started mixing the first batch, to when I finished scraping off the excess of that first coat, took me almost 2 hours. I now know why people say to get help with this part. I could say it cutting that in about 1/2 with someone mixing full time. Waited about 2 hours (this was with Total boat and a medium hardener). It was warm, almost 80F, but higher humidity than I would have liked close to 70%. Than applied the first fill coat. This only took about 1/2 an hour, and two batches of epoxy. The first took about 8 batches. Waited another 2 hours, and did a final fill coat that also took about 1/2 an hour, and about 1 1/2 batches of epoxy. My batch size was about 10 pumps of each. It hardened over night, and I've been letting it cure for the last few days.
Things I've noticed. The stem's need some work. I left each about an inch to 1.5" stick out past the stem, cut the fiberglass to the canoe at the tip, and folded one end under the fiberglass on the other, and than left the other 1/2 run long. But it left a little air gap between the layers near the tip that I did not notice. I also after things hardened realized that there are still a few places I can still feel the texture of the glass, through the epoxy, most of the canoe is glass smooth. These locations are mostly near the lip where it was harder to get the epoxy to not drip off as much. I'm not sure If I need to put another fill coat on these areas before sanding, or If I can sand first and than see?
Also have another process question. I know sanding is next, and than eventually varnishing. Do folks usually varnish the bottom while it is still on the forms and before glassing the inside? or wait until the very end and do it at that point? I'm also looking at Epifines for varnish and thinner, if that matters. And now the pics.
Thanks again for all the help and inspiration.
Things I've done since getting it fully stripped. I've sanded and scraped it down, and made it as fair as I could. I than went in and patched some holes with thickened epoxy. While doing that, I realized it was darkening just those areas, and I might as well do a sealer/ fairing thin coat of epoxy as well, so did that. Sanded and scraped it down. Added the fillet of thickened epoxy to the tight bend near the top of canoe, sanded (actually mostly scraped) it to profile. And this whole time stayed fairly nervous about actually fiber glassing, so took my time, and just sat on it for a while. Also had some other non canoe things that took up a few weeks worth of time.
So on Monday I finally bit the bullet, and laid the fiberglass. And while it didn't go perfect, it went well enough, and I'm happy with that. I was working by myself, and from when I started mixing the first batch, to when I finished scraping off the excess of that first coat, took me almost 2 hours. I now know why people say to get help with this part. I could say it cutting that in about 1/2 with someone mixing full time. Waited about 2 hours (this was with Total boat and a medium hardener). It was warm, almost 80F, but higher humidity than I would have liked close to 70%. Than applied the first fill coat. This only took about 1/2 an hour, and two batches of epoxy. The first took about 8 batches. Waited another 2 hours, and did a final fill coat that also took about 1/2 an hour, and about 1 1/2 batches of epoxy. My batch size was about 10 pumps of each. It hardened over night, and I've been letting it cure for the last few days.
Things I've noticed. The stem's need some work. I left each about an inch to 1.5" stick out past the stem, cut the fiberglass to the canoe at the tip, and folded one end under the fiberglass on the other, and than left the other 1/2 run long. But it left a little air gap between the layers near the tip that I did not notice. I also after things hardened realized that there are still a few places I can still feel the texture of the glass, through the epoxy, most of the canoe is glass smooth. These locations are mostly near the lip where it was harder to get the epoxy to not drip off as much. I'm not sure If I need to put another fill coat on these areas before sanding, or If I can sand first and than see?
Also have another process question. I know sanding is next, and than eventually varnishing. Do folks usually varnish the bottom while it is still on the forms and before glassing the inside? or wait until the very end and do it at that point? I'm also looking at Epifines for varnish and thinner, if that matters. And now the pics.
Thanks again for all the help and inspiration.
Looking great! Some people varnish the exterior before removing it from the forms but I never have patience for that. I flip it the day after full coats and let the resin fully cure while I work on the inside
Ha, I hadn't even considered flipping before fully curing, or sanding. But it does make sense, especially if making for others. Since it has been 3 days. I may get out today and see how it sands. But might wait a day as well. It has been humid, and I know that can effect cure time. TB medium says 3-5 days for full cure.
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Lookin' good.
As for varnish, that varies for me. I'm under the impression that the epoxy should harden a few (like 5ish) days before varnishing so, if I'm into other things, I'll let it sit & then sand and (sometimes) varnish before flipping. If I'm reasonably free and pushing ahead, I'll flip right away & start sanding the inside.
I"ve even paddled all summer (this summer in fact) before varnishing.
I'm curious about your stems... did you wrap the glass around from either side or pull both sides in & epoxy them together with intention to cut off while green? (If the latter, you probably want to add an extra layer on there for strength & waterproofing)
IME, that's the best way- "just do it"
As for varnish, that varies for me. I'm under the impression that the epoxy should harden a few (like 5ish) days before varnishing so, if I'm into other things, I'll let it sit & then sand and (sometimes) varnish before flipping. If I'm reasonably free and pushing ahead, I'll flip right away & start sanding the inside.
I"ve even paddled all summer (this summer in fact) before varnishing.
I'm curious about your stems... did you wrap the glass around from either side or pull both sides in & epoxy them together with intention to cut off while green? (If the latter, you probably want to add an extra layer on there for strength & waterproofing)
Gotta be careful doing that. I have a hull that's going on 12 years that way. Once out of the shop is hard for me to bring them back in.
Alan
I did a poor job describing that area. What I intended to do (and mostly did) was leave a few inches off the front and back of the stems, put a slit in the fiberglass up to the boat at the peak, creating two flaps. Than overlap those so that there was a double layer of glass across each stem. What happened was after I got the one layer folded under the other, the one on top wouldn't hold down to the other surface tight enough and would float away from the boat. So I let it just hang out and trimmed it. So the stem still has one layer overlapping it, and one side of the stem has two layers on it.
Since I'm planning on going stemless, I agree that I should consider putting on a second layer. In fact I wasn't 100% thrilled with how my wood work came out at the stems, and had considered covering them with something opaque anyway. But I currently don't have anything.
Below is a picture of how it stands now. You can sort of see the little bit of a bubble at the top, and how i trimmed off the excess from one side of the fiberglass. You can also see why I wasn't thrilled with my trimming ability of all the ceder strips, and had to use filler to make it smooth, hence why I was considering covering it.
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