Peterboro Canoe by Osmosis - FINISHED - Midwest Products - 1:12

[Osmosis]

Thanks for the kind words and likes. I am having a lot of fun with this build I hope you all are enjoying it too.

 

I did some initial sanding with 150 grit paper this afternoon. Being able to leave it on the building frame while I did this was a huge help. I was able to bear down a little more that I would have otherwise. It also acted as a handle sometimes. Allowing me to get the hull into positions like laying it on its side without fear of crushing the whole thing.  I think it is starting to look pretty good.

Then came to big moment. I was extra careful in slicing the stems off of the board in case I want to put it back on there for any reason.

Lots of globs of glue. But it literally popped right off. The glue marks that you see were not stuck to the frame at all I guess that couple coats of poly helped after all.

The building jig is completely intact. I will put it away and possibly build another one later on. After some sanding with 150 grit paper it cleaned up fairly well. I am satisfied with the actual planking. The extra time I spent aligning them as I went along seems to have paid off. However the glue blobs along the keel are a little annoying. This is just the first sanding though so we will see.

 

Thanks again and best regards.

[BobG]

Beautiful, Art.

[Osmosis]

Thanks Bob,

I decided to spend a little time before going to bed building up the "upper planks" so that they can set up over night and I will be able to shape them tomorrow.

That's it for tonight. Will pick it up here tomorrow.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Osmosis

[EricWilliamMarshall]

Sweet!!

[Osmosis]

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

 

Got an early start today. First a little repair work. After sanding the hull I noticed what seemed to be some gaps where some of the planks meet the keel. On closer inspection and probing with a razor blade only one was actually a thru and thru gap the rest were filled with glue. So I sliced a few slivers of wood.

Then glued one into the slit.

And before the glue was fully set I sanded it smooth again.

All Better. Then I moved on to shaping the upper planks.

I started out by sanding the edge where they meet the keel smooth with the rest of the curve.

Then I connected the dots to form a go no go line.

With saw and razor knife I trimmed to the line or there abouts. Then using my super high tech manually operated oscillating spindle sander.

I sanded a radius by eye until it looked ok to me.

Once I had a shape I liked I completed the rough sanding of the outside of the hull.

Now it is on to the ribs. I think I am going to try the curling iron method for bending them first. I already have the admirals permission to raid her vanity for one of her old curling irons. We will see how that goes.

 

Best Regards

 

 

[Osmosis]

Well as usual I can and will over complicate even the simplest of tasks. I have never been able to bend wood to my complete satisfaction. I have sought the advise of others and tried to follow their methods but it just never happens for me. I tried the curling iron and ruined half a length of the ribbing material I hope there is enough extra. I then tried the process outlined for me by member duanelaker (thanks very much David) in his build log of the same kit. I added a few tweaks of my own and I think I have come up with a sufficiently complex method. So sit back cause this is gonna take a while but it works and maybe it will help someone else.

 

I started out on the stove with the tea kettle boiling some water.

Then I filled my coffee travel cup with about 6" of the hot water.

In goes three pieces or ribbing.

Let soak for about 15 minutes.

After wrapping a piece of painters tape around the center of the hull I clamped one end of all three ribs to the hull aligning the ends with the gunwale.

Next I very gently and slowly (no need to rush the wood stays hot and wet for quite a while) bent them around the hull.

A

And clamped the other end. Then went away and let them cool and dry for about 30 minutes.

Then I unclamped them and was surprised how much they sprang back.

But they remained soft and pliable and kept their basic shape so I did not panic but moved them to the inside and reclamped them for another 30 minutes. I could also trim them to length at this point.

And after 30minutes they were pretty much dried and maintained their shape when removed. the smaller one was my prototype which I will use later.

As you can see most of my tick marks that were applied before assembly began were removed by the sanding of the inside of the hull. However I did actually think that would happen so just in case I drilled three very small holes where the keel and the first planks met the center frame of the building jig. These will obviously be filled later.

Using these for alignment I applied a very small amount of glue to the center portion of the rib where it meets the "bilge"and carefully got it clamped into place. After allowing the glue to dry I very gently pulled back the upper part of the rib on both sides and applied glue and clamped in place til dry.

 

I then measured on the plans the distance between the ribs at 5/16" and cut a few scraps of the planking material to that length.

Using the spacers as a guide I dry fitted the next rib.

Once I was satisfied I glued it in the same way as the first.

The third went in just like the second.

Again I know it seems like a lot of work, but what else have I got to do?

 

No really the most time is spent waiting for the wood to dry. I know I could probably speed that up with a blow dryer but I did not want to take a chance of melting the adhesive on the tape and making a big mess. Once they are made they go in rather quickly. Now that I know it will work I will most likely make them 6 at a time.

 

That is it for tonight.

 

Regards

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Osmosis

[BobG]

Very nicely done, Art.

[Osmosis]

And so the ribbing continues. 12 more done today 15 total not even half way done. 6 more soaking I will clamp them up to dry tonight and install them tomorrow.

Very time consuming but worth it.

 

Regards

[Osmosis]

Thanks for all the likes and comments.

 

Oh man today was a long one. And it does not look like I accomplished much but I sure feel like I worked my butt off. When I went to bed last night I decided that I was going to finish these dang ribs today no matter what.

 

Soooo..........I rolled out of bed, grabbed a cup of coffee and got after it.

Like I said in my previous post I wrapped 6 ribs before I quit last night so including my prototype that gave me a good start.

I decided to use the time waiting for glue to dry and wood to get soft by building some other parts. I got started on the floor boards as you can see one of my pieces of cherry has a little bit of sapwood hence the color change. Since I don't have any cherry laying around it will have to do.

The instructions would have you shape the planks individually then glue them to the ribs after. I decided to build the floor assembly out side the boat them install it later. First I cut the planks to length then cut some strong backs from some scraps of planking and some spacers from some leftover rib material.

Then I laid out the planks and spacers, clamped them and glued the strong backs into position.

By the way ribs are being installed and more are being made this whole time.

 

Then I roughed out the radius on both ends.

 

And then sanded it smooth.

 

One prefabbed set of floor boards.

 

Still more ribs going in.

Then I thought I would make a form for bending the hatch coamings by gluing some stiffeners made from plank scraps between the leftover pieces of the sheet that held the deck parts. I also glue the deck halves together.

So here it the sum total of my accomplishments for the day. Does not seem like much but at least the dang ribs are done.

 

That is it for tonight. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

 

Best Regards

 

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by Osmosis

[Osmosis]

Getting an early start this morning.

 

I did do a little research prior to starting this project. A simple google search of "peterboro canoe" is all that is needed to bring up tons of images and information. I believe the first picture above is the closest to the model canoe that the kit is based on.

However I see a few details in all of them that I would like to try to incorporate into my version.

 

 

 

[pythagoras]

A beautiful job Art. I hope all is well with you and yours.

   Pythagoras

[Voyageur]

Beautiful job. Nice project. I really enjoy your narrative too. I don’t know if you might have crossed a line from “dedicated” to “obsessive” when you get up and work through the night!
Did you notice the planking in that last photo is vertical? I’ve never seen that on a canoe.

[Osmosis]

Thanks Tom,

 

Yes all is well so far. My Wife has had some pulmonary issues since the beginning of the year so I am keeping a close eye on her but otherwise same old same old. How about you?

 

Voyager, Not much else to do lately considering the state of things. Until I started this project I never new there were so many different ways to build a canoe either.

 

Well my glue should be dry by now so back to work,

 

Regards.

[yvesvidal]

Your build log is truly inspirational. You are putting together a little marvel.

 

Yves

[ccoyle]

It's obvious that you are taking your time to get this project just right, and the result is extremely pleasing to the eye so far. Can't wait to see the finished product!

[Osmosis]

Thanks Yves and Chris for the kind words.

 

A little midday update. I had some grating slats left over from another project so I got started this morning gluing up a couple of small grates.

After giving them a bath in some thin CA I nipped off the excess.

Then I sanded the edges and thinned them down a bit.

The thinning is subtle unless viewed with a normal one.

Add a little mahogany framing.

And presto after a couple of hours you have two canoe seats.

The mounts are just more scrap planking bits. I obviously had no reference for this so I made them scale out at 9"x16" including the frame. That seemed about right for my butt anyway.

 

Still time to get more done so back at it after lunch.

 

Regards

 

[BobG]

Very nice thwarts. Well done!

[Duanelaker]

You are really creating a work of “Art” , can’t wait to see what you come up with next!  

[Osmosis]

Thanks David.

 

I am calling it an early night tonight since I am one of the lucky ones that can still go to work in the morning.

 

It took me a couple of tries but I finally got two good bends for my false keel.

Got this one on the first try.

 

This was the first attempt on the other end. Had to trash this one. Got it on the second try though.

Once they were glued on and trimmed up

They looked pretty good.

I deviated from the instructions by putting the false keel on now instead of very last. But I thought it would look better if the end grain of the false keel were covered by the decking. As you can see from the pictures I still have a lot of sanding to do.

 

Hopefully the decks go on tomorrow.

 

Best Regards

[BobG]

This going to be a stunning canoe, Art!

[Osmosis]

Thanks Bob, David and everyone else for all the encouraging and kind words and the likes. I just hope you can tell how much fun this build has been.

 

I got home from work and dove right into it. I started by trimming the false keel all the way down to the stem. Then I did the final refinement of the shape of the upturn at the bow and stern. Funny up until I put the seats in there was no bow or stern. At least now I know which way it is pointing.

Before .....

and after. Then I tried to come up with a clamping scheme to hold the fore and aft decks in place. No luck, the hull is so fragile I am afraid of squeezing to hard. I finally decided to soak the deck to soften it up a bit even though I used PVA to glue the two halves together.

I put some masking tape on to prevent the rest of the boat from absorbing too much water. Then I soaked the deck pieces in hot tap water for about 2-3 minutes.

Then I used rubber bands to hold them in place until dry about an hour.

And to my surprise they took the shape very well. Next it was a simple matter of gluing them up.

and rough sanding them to shape.

 

That's it for tonight. Coamings and gunwales are next.

 

Hooray! This is my 500th post.

 

Regards to all and stay safe out there.

Edited March 24, 2020 by Osmosis

[Jim Cricket]

Nice job bending the frames. The canoe looks great, and I'm sure you'll be anxious to varnish. Have you thought about an Adirondack guide boat? There are quite a few published lines in various books. Thanks for sharing your projects.

Cricket

[Osmosis]

Thanks Jim. I have not taken the plunge into scratch building yet. And while I work with Autodesk 3d modeling software every day as part of my real job the skills required to loft ship plans is not in my skill set.

 

Not much to report from last night. I did manage to do a little more bending. I got the gunwales and coamings all clamped up. Then I added one of the deck caps. The kit supplies basswood for this I decided on using some leftover mahogany for a little contrast. For some reason this turned out to be a real challenge to get clamped up. Then I realized I was feeling a little bit "off" so I thought I better call it a night before a real catastrophe happened.

I let the wood sit clamped up overnight and it looked pretty good this morning.

Hopefully I can get this all put together tonight but I am not going to rush it at this stage. I am coming down to the end of this build and I don't want to screw it up now.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by Osmosis

[Osmosis]

Thanks once again for all the likes. All I got done tonight is the other deck cap and the gunwales. I am going to have to sleep on the coamings. I have no idea how I an going to clamp them firmly enough in place to close all the gaps. They are without a doubt the most fiddly part of this build.

 

After that all that is left is the rub rail and final assembly.

 

That's it for tonight. Stay safe out there.

 

Best Regards,

 

[BobG]

1 hour ago, Osmosis said:

I am going to have to sleep on the coamings. I have no idea how I an going to clamp them firmly enough in place to close all the gaps.

I use CA more than a lot of people it seems especially for planking and places where clamping can be a big problem. I will place a tiny dot of medium viscosity CA and hold the piece firmly for a few seconds and then move along just a little and place another dot of CA and hold it and then move along etc, etc. If you are careful and use only tiny amounts of CA it can be very useful. At least it has been for me. I used it almost exclusively on my Indian Girl Canoe. I'd probably try that with those coamings if I was build the Peterboro Canoe. Just a thought...I'm no expert! 

[Justin P.]

Man, great work.  You and Duanelaker are really making me want to take another crack at this wonderful little kit!

[BobG]

4 hours ago, Justin P. said:

Man, great work.  You and Duanelaker are really making me want to take another crack at this wonderful little kit!

You should do it Justin. These little canoes are really beautiful when they are done well. I still love to look at my Indian Girl Canoe.

[Osmosis]

Good evening,

 

I got the coamings in without too much trouble. Just a matter of finding the right combination of clamps/clothes pins and positioning them properly.

The instructions would have you leave the decks and gunwales over hang the outside edge by 1/32" to simulate the rub rail. This would only scale up to 3/8" which seems small when you look at the pics I posted earlier. I have some 1/16" square bass wood stock that I think would look better so I think I will use that. Although I could just trim the deck caps and it would not look that bad without any rail at all.

 

Opinions anyone?

 

Best Regards

[Osmosis]

Thanks for the likes.  I just about have this one wrapped up.

 

I decided to go with the rub rails and started installing them last night.

 

There was a gap left at both pointy ends that needed to be filled in.

I was not too concerned about completely filling the void as most of this material is going to be sanded away anyway.

 

And here it is just a little final sanding. I thought I was done but the high res pictures really show the spots I missed.

 

Am I the only one who saves EVERY scrap of wood until a project is finished. This is just what was laying on my work bench the good stuff is still in the box.

 

I will get started on the paddles tonight and then do all the final sanding in the morning. Then the final assembly I still need to glue in the seats, deck and thwart. Hopefully if the weather cooperates I will be able to get a couple coats of wipe on poly applied tomorrow. I still need to decide on a display stand but I have a few ideas floating around in my head.

 

Best Regards

 

[Keith S]

I joined this forum to see ships, and now I'm in love with a canoe. What a work of art this is turning out to be. I can't wait to see it once the varnish coat goes on.