Movement at the Station

Well, I can't believe it but I've finally finished fixing up my old cat & sold it. This means that I can actually get on with the canoe build. I didn't get what I'd have liked for it, but I'm not too upset. I opted for a quick sale and achieved a reasonable price. It should be enough to keep me going for a while.

I haven't been completely idle. My cedar situation has resolved itself, thanks to a good friend (Rick Boylan) who owns a local business (Shapes Shading Solutions) that manufactures high quality plantation shutters (including cedar shutters). He also happens to be an exceptionally good boatbuilder, and has offered his valuable guidance and help if needed (which I'm sure it will be). Apparently, the blades for the ceadr plantation shutters are 4mm wide, whilst the planking is specified as 6mm. Yet again I emailed Gary (the designer), who patiently informed me that 4mm is fine & that I could put an extra layer of fiberglass inside if I was worried. Rick's stock is about 40mm wide (plans specifiy 19mm), with a rounded "bead" at each edge. He gave me a sample, which I tried against the molds, and found the wider width to be too much. So my plan is to rip the planks in half & use a trimmer with a 4mm "cove" bit, to mill the new cut edges, giving me pretty much exactly what I need. As a bonus, Rick has generously offered me the use of his machinery in his factory to do the work. He hasn't yet given me a price for the cedar, but he assures me that it'll be "cheap as chips". I now hope to source the trimmer bit over the next few days and drop into his factory this Thursday & get the job done.

Further, upon further sussing out of my next steps, I discovered a stuff up on my part. The instructions say to use 12mm ply for the molds. This I did, including both of the stem molds. Unfortunately, I neglected to notice that the stem molds are each supposed to accept a 25mm x 25mm permanent inner stem. In short, both of my stem molds were too narrow.



No big deal really. Today I simply removed each stem mold assembly & doubled up the central parts with more 12mm ply. They are now 24mm wide, which is still 1mm too narrow, but I'm not very concerned about 1mm. This seems to have also firmed up the ends of the set up significantly, which is a relief because it did feel a bit flimsy before. Anyway, they're now both all ready for the inner stems.



So there we are. Not earth shattering progress, but at least things should get moving again at last. I have leave comming up in another 6 or 7 weeks time & I've decided that it'd be pretty cool if I could get this canoe built & in the water by then.

I guess we see........