Sassafras 12 by ccoyle - Chesapeake Light Craft - FINISHED - 1:1 scale canoe - you read that right

[Jack12477]

Looking good, Chris. 

[ccoyle]

Ugh. Tightening the stitches has so far been much easier said than done. First of all, I have broken a fair number of stitches during the process and had to replace them. Second is the issue with getting panels to seat into their rabbets properly. Here's one side of the canoe showing properly seated and stitched panels.

 

 

The exact opposite side of the boat refused to cooperate. I eventually hit upon a solution, but it involves removing about a half-dozen stitches and re-doing them. The unstitched panels want to create a roughly 1" wide gaping maw between them. I can squeeze the panels together -- I just can't stitch them at the same time! Which is what I attempted the first time around, and of course it didn't go to plan.

 

 

To finish this correction, I'm going to have to wait until an extra pair of hands becomes available this evening. Much of the problem with the bending is due, I believe, to the stiff 1x1 rub rails. In retrospect, I think it may have been better to stitch the panels first, then install the rails, but hey -- I followed the directions.

 

Cheers!

[Jim Lad]

That stitching looks like real fun, Chris! 

 

John

[HardeeHarHar]

Hang in there CC!  Just wondering (not wanting to continue the painful memory) if the stitches with the provided kit, or your purchased material, broke more or less.  I have no idea why that seems so important when the more important point is that you are doing a great job, and have done well considering having only two hands (and two feet, just saying....).  😃 Good luck soon to be paddler.....

[mtaylor]

Too late now, but using safety wire pliers would be a good answer to tying off all those "stitches".   

[Bedford]

I probably should have said this earlier but a lot of stitch and glue builds use cable ties. Easier to tighten than twisting wire.

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Bedford said:

I probably should have said this earlier but a lot of stitch and glue builds use cable ties.

 

Yep, this I knew -- we call them "zip ties" in these parts. I thought about these many times while twisting various wires. Of course, using them would have required drilling out all of the holes larger.

[popeye the sailor]

nice progress Chris...will you have to calk in the seams?   

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

will you have to calk in the seams?

 

The seams will be epoxied inside and out. The entire hull also gets coated with unthickened epoxy resin inside and out, and the bottom panels will also be fiberglassed inside and out.

[ccoyle]

So, I made further progress, but you don't get any pictures -- because I botched it. 🤨 I thought I had the consistency of a batch of epoxy correct, but in reality it was too thin. Made a bit of a mess, and I have to re-do part of the task. Pics later ... maybe.

[Landlubber Mike]

Hang in there Chris, hope it all works out.  So far looking very good!

[Old Collingwood]

Not gonna like it  Chris, but you will sort it.

 

OC.

[ccoyle]

Been epoxying seams -- first step is to "tack weld" between the stitches. Instructions said to make the epoxy the consistency of hollandaise sauce -- big help. 🙄  First batch was too thick, second was too thin. Still have about a third of the tack welding left to do, but I ran out of steam for the evening.

 

[druxey]

Just stumbled across your log again, Chris. Nice progress!

Edited November 6, 2020 by druxey

[MEDDO]

It looks great.  When I was building the Pygmy kayak I usually made the thickened epoxy about the consistency of peanut butter.  The problem is the bigger the globs the more you have to sand/carve the extra off.  With a clinker hull that would be harder to do.  I ended up using one of these things and it worked out pretty well.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking good  - The "Pointy" end is looking  well - Pointy     - you are doing fine work  Not easy at  Full Scale   all your hard work will be worth it in the end.

 

As an example of a "Not"  very good project  - my late farther once built me a square wooden  paddling pool  -  it didn't work  fell apart  but the good news  - atleast  it watered the plants in the garden.

 

OC.

[ccoyle]

I forgot to edit my post last night -- I got up a second wind and whipped up a last batch of resin. It was like a Goldilocks moment -- it came out just right. Let me just say that getting the right consistency made a BIG difference in both the speed of finishing the task and its neatness. So tonight I get to have a clip-n-pull party for all those stitches, oh boy! Then we'll get to see what it looks like without the "porcupine" visual effect (or "cactus," as someone at work called it).

[ccoyle]

Stitches and temporary bulkheads out now -- kinda looks like a real boat. Next step: prep for fiberglass -- say hello to Mr. Sandpaper.

 

 

[Bedford]

Sand paper is your friend, for now but you'll come to hate it.

One tip I learned part way through sanding epoxy is use wet&dry with a little water and once the "dust" becomes paste it really starts cutting well

[Jim Lad]

She does look like a real boat now, Chris.  Just a thought - considering the time of year, are you going to be able to take her out for a paddle when you finish?  You could always ship it over here as we're just coming into summer! 

 

John

[Keith Black]

It's a neat little boat, Chris. You're doing a bang-up job. How did you overcome the gap issue? 

[ccoyle]

24 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

How did you overcome the gap issue?

 

Extra hands!

[popeye the sailor]

looks great Chris.......inside looks really good    must have been fun plugg'in all those holes   

[ccoyle]

Progress continues, but it's not terribly exciting. The next step of the build is to prepare for fiberglassing the inside of the hull. The major component of this prep is to sand smooth the fillets around the bulkheads and to clean up the messy spots.

 

This is one end of the hull finished up. I did about five hours of sanding last weekend, but I didn't keep track of how much total time the job required.

 

The other end of the hull is about half done. Here's one side, on which sanding has barely started. You can see it looks pretty rough and there's a lot of slop to clean up.

 

And here's the other half, which was today's task and is about 95% done. Lots of fine dust all around. I had to stop for the day because the sandpaper was wearing my fingertips raw.

 

That's all for now!

 

[ccoyle]

Milestone: Yesterday I finished sanding all of the interior fillets and assorted oopsies. I also cleaned up the puzzle joints. Ridding the hull of all the fine dust posed an interesting problem, because I do not have a suitable vacuum for the task. However, I hit upon a nifty solution. After using a whisk to get most of the dust out, I took the canoe outside and blew the remainder out with my leaf blower. It worked a treat, too! Now, unless I missed something in the instructions (I will double-check, of course), we should be all set for interior fiberglassing.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Chris,  Very Nice work!

 

A suggestion-  I assume that the bulkheaded ends are for flotation.  A number of years ago I built a similar canoe from Tom Hill plans using the glued lapstrake method,  the same idea as your stitch and glue but a different process.  Anyhow, I filled the chambers at each end with urethane foam; the same stuff used for weatherproofing buildings.  If the canoe ever swamps, you don’t want to find out that a pin hole leak has allowed the flotation chambers to flood.

[GuntherMT]

Coming along nicely and looking good.  If I lived anywhere even close to a lake I would definitely want to build something like this.  Would be a great way to get some exercise paddling around a lake!

[Jim Lad]

You'll be out paddling before you know it! 

 

John

[Keithbrad80]

This is so cool! The leaf blower was a really good idea, I wouldn’t recommend it on smaller models though lol!

 

Bradley

[Keith Black]

 I quit vacuuming the inside of my truck years ago, no carpet, just a rubber mat sill to sill. I use the leaf blower, much simpler. 

 Nice job on the canoe, Chris. You have many leisurely days out on the water to look forward to.  

Edited December 22, 2020 by Keith Black