Today got off to a great start with an early morning swim before brekky (got to get back in training, so I'll be able to fit in this canoe when it's finished). Then, after a relaxing few coffees, the rest of the morning got absorbed with fixing a folding machine for my wife's business. Once that was done, it was time for a quick early lunch and I finally got stuck into the boat in the early arvo.
I'd come to the conclusion that I've been stressing needlessly over this whole planking business. This boat will be "born" when it's ready & striving to "induce the birth" will only lead to defects & a crap finish. I've now resolved to just focus on the next few steps at a time & let the boat dictate when it get finished. I think I was getting impatient partly because of the magnificent weather we've had lately & I can't stop imagining being out there in my canoe.
Firstly, I sussed out a solution to a potential stuff up I'd made on the newly widened stem molds. When initially setting up the molds at Stations 1 and 17 (the first ones at each end, mounted on each side of the stem molds), they had to have a strip cut out of the middle, exactly the width of the stem molds, then attached to either side. Back then these stem molds were 12mm but they are obviously double that now, meaning that the strip I'd cut is only half as wide as it should be. I'd just thought of it yesterday. I was about to remove them again and cut a 6mm strip off each side, re-affix, re-tape and re-shape the permanent stems to the new angle. But after pondering for a while & fidgeting with battens, I decided to leave it. It will marginally increase the volume in the bow & stern, which may slightly increase resistance when paddling, but couldn't hurt when sliding down a wave out at Box Head. Plus I intend to carry loads from time to time (camping, diving, fishing gear, etc), so it could actually come in handy. Besides, if I wanted a boat solely based on paddling performance, then I'd have gone for an OC1. I doubt I'll be able to notice the difference anyway.
That decided, I got on with finishing off the permanent stems. I removed the bow stem & gave it the sanding treatment. In short time it was all done & ready for planking.
When I removed the bow stem, I noticed that it had stuck a little to the stem mold, where I had re-glued the short vertical bit. Not much, but I did have to use just a little bit of force to get it off, even though there was hardly any glue overflow there. This had me wondering about the task of removing the fully planked/fiber glassed hull from the assembly.
I think I'm going to put a layer of sheet plastic over the whole mold assembly before planking now. At least then I should be sure to be able to remove the hull without damage and swearing.
I think I'm now pretty much at the point where I can finally starting planking (no hurry). Since it was getting a bit late in the day, I thought my time would be best spent working on my test panel. I'm keen to see what this Bote-Cote stuff is like to work with. It's supposed to be easier to use & less hazardous for incompetents like me.
I took the panel out onto the lawn & merrily sanded the rough side. I'm so glad I did this, because it brought to light a potentially horrible problem. It seems the glue I've been using might not be so good for my purpose. It foams up in the joints (which is great) but where there are biggish gaps, it can leave big voids (which sucks).
I think that the stems should be ok, because so far I haven't found any gaps or voids in them. Because my planking stock edges all have bead & cove finishes, there shouldn't be any gaps there either but I reckon it'll be cheap insurance to use something more appropriate. Pacific Boatcraft, who supplied all the glassing stuff, also sell some glue that is supposed to be good for strip planking, so I'm going to splurge out on that instead.
Anyway, I set up in the shed & let the fun begin. The blue stuff in the photo is "peel ply". I've heard the name of this before, but I'd no idea how it works. Only that it apparently helps leave a very smooth finish.
Stepping through the instruction booklet, I mixed up a small batch of epoxy & proceeded with the sheathing. I'm something of a fiber-glassing virgin but this epoxy seems so different to the polyester resin that I've been playing with lately. I hope I mixed it right. It was much thicker than I expected, sort of the same colour & consistency of.......well.....shall we say certain gentlemanly fluids.
Once I'd wet out the fiberglass with a thickish coat of epoxy, I used a small consolidating roller over the sheet of peel ply. It went pretty smooth, except for a bit of a wrinkle that I just couldn't seem to get rid of. Apparently now I've got to wait till it all cures, and then peel the peel ply off again, to reveal a smooth surface that requires relatively little sanding.
You can see the wrinkle a bit better in this photo (going across the grain).
Since I had some left over epoxy, I decided to give a scrap piece of ply a good coat, to see how it goes too. I've got my eye on a particular boat design that I'm thinking about building in the future (a Tahitian double canoe), which is constructed of stitch & tape ply (see James Wharram site for 21 ft Wayfarer design).
So, there you go. Only a half day, but pretty constructive none-the-less I think. I've got to wait until the weekend now, before I can play some more. Maybe even.......a spot of planking?
No comments:
Post a Comment