Getting Somewhere at Last (in one sense at least)

Ok, I was pretty stunned when I went to update my other blog about my yacht restoration and realised it'd been two years since I'd done anything on it. This poor canoe build is even worse, its been idle for nearly three years now!

I wish I could say I'd at least done something to move the ball forward in that time, but I'm ashamed to say that I've done bugger all on it. Well, at least on the canoe that is. I have been busy with life stuff.

Went on a couple amazing holidays to the northern USA and Hawaii (where I drooled over some proper outriggers being used in their natural habitat as well as watching enthralled as authentic crab claw rigged boats sailed past on the horizon) … (sigh) …

I also found/bought a dream acreage in the upper Hunter Valley, sold our house in Umina Beach and we moved to a rental on the outskirts of Newcastle whilst preparing to build our new home and set up our farm (you can read about some of the details on my other blog if you're curious, I'm not going to redo it all here).

The canoe came out of her hibernation (she'd lain wrapped up in tarps for the last couple years), and was unceremoniously tied to the top of our camper trailer and whisked away to be stored temporarily at a friend's caravan park.

The exciting part about all this is that within a couple months I should finally have a decent shed in which I will be able to work on special projects like this long-awaited canoe, well out of the weather (which is often the main de-motivator for me - trying to work on boats in the open sucks). I've purpose designed the shed to have a proper sized work area for this canoe (plus the yacht), so I won't have any excuses not to plough ahead when things settle down again.

And the canoe will get all the attention first because it's mostly finished already. I just need to clean up the hull and paint/varnish it, and build the other components (iakos, amas, steering box, rudder/leeboard and mast/sail). Then it'll be splash time, thereby ending the longest canoe build of all time.

Anyway, enough rambling. How about a few photos of the move?

This is the stage she's up to now. Hull nearly completed. 

How she was stored for way too long

When I unwrapped her, she was exactly as I'd left her. No distortion at all. 

Off to a new (temporary) home

Viola

And this is how she (and the yacht) are for the time being. Their next move will be into the shed. 

Hilarious Steaming Attempt and Another Slight Pause

I've had a little fiddle here and there with the canoe over the last couple months, with no spectacular results achieved (usual heat, bad weather and sometimes just sheer bloody laziness having accounted the bulk of my time so far). 

One funny activity was a hare-brained idea I had, regarding the steaming of a couple teak trim parts for the decks. Because these parts were really only a couple short sticks, I was reluctant to build a proper steam box for the job. Instead I hatched a 'cunning plan' which proposed the utilisation of an old vacuum pipe. Can you see the potential problem yet? Yeah, well, so did I, but hope sprang eternal and I decided to press on regardless just in case it actually worked. If you can't see it yet, you soon will…...

Here's a shot of the components:

Brilliant in its simplicity I thought.

And here's the teak trim bits destined for 'bendage':

Here's the final set up. I was quite proud and pleased. Well, for a little while at least. My confidence started to wane quickly though when the steam finally reached a useful volume and the vacuum pipe immediately softened, and began drooping into a very graceful 'U' shape. 

With a sigh (and a laugh), I shut the experiment down mentally patted myself on the back for having steadfastly refused to back down to rational thought and common sense. Oh well, back to the drawing board. A properly constructed steaming box it will be then. 

But alas, this next 'steaming-stage' is not to be for a little while yet. Due to a rather fortuitous development at my place of employment, in the form of an impending pregnancy of a co-worker which will necessitate my engagement in a temporary (12 month?) full-time role later this year. 

Hello cash-flow. You've been sorely missed. 

Excellent news indeed, except that I will really have to address the need for some sort of accommodation closer to work (about an hour & half commute otherwise). After much research I concluded that the very best option will be for me to resurrect my small yacht (see link to the blog about this other 'little' project), park it in the marina in Newcastle harbour and use it as a crash pad when working. 

I've certainly got my work cut out, it'll be a mammoth task. But if I can develop something approaching a proper work ethic, then I should be able to make some good progress by Christmas. I don't feel too bad about delaying my canoe's completion/launching yet again, since I'm pretty much at the point where I need more money for her anyway. 

So this morning I packed my poor old canoe up again and moved it around to the back yard. My wife is very excited at being able to park underneath the carport again. 

And so here she is again. At least I've achieved a lot in the period that I've been active on her. The hull is almost done and dusted, with only some relatively straight-forward jobs to be completed (i.e. bit of grinding and reinforcement, fill & fairing and painting/varnish). When I do get to work on her again, I should have the cash-flow to actually complete her properly. It'll be good to not have to worry about buying the foam/glass/etc for the amas, as well as the teak and other bits for the iakos, mast, sails, etc. 

Keep an eye on my other yacht restoration blog if you're curious as to how I'm progressing with it all. Fingers crossed that it won't take as long as it seems before I can bounce back over here and get this boat finished and launched as well. Please stay tuned. 

More Internal Clean Up & Decks

 

 Well, it's been another productive month, despite the pre-Christmas preparations, crap weather and various other distractions. I'm happy to say that my goal of getting the canoe completed to fill/fairing stage before Christamas is almost on track.

 

Here's a quick run-down on the fun and games so far:

 

 

Firstly I resolved to fill the cavities in the bow and stern, around the new breasthooks. I plugged underneath with masking tape and filled with epoxy/glue filler.

 

Then I cleaned out the dill holes for my adjustable rear seat. I couldn't fit the drill here (the chuck hit the inner gunnel), so I patiently turned the drill bit with a pair of pliers.

 

A bit tight in places but all seems good now.

 

Next I had a go at clearing out the epoxy runs underneath the foot brace rails. Bloody awkward to get to, and I have to be carefull not to damage the hull (can't see what I'm doing under there). I messed around with this for ages, but eventually decided to finish it off later. Other tasks were beckoning.

 

My main urge was to get the decks built anyway. I elected to strip plank these, and leave them varnished if possible. They're to have a slight camber, which I carefully measured and marked off. With the temporary deck beams roughly cut to size and shape, I went to sand them down accurately on my trusty sanding machine. But disaster awaited. The machine, which has has served me so well during this whole build, had died. I pulled it apart with the hope that it might be a minor problem, but alas it seems terminal. I think its a transformer winding, and I don't have the time nor money to sort it out. Bugger!

 

So it was down to laborius hand sanding. This took ages, and the result turned out nowhere near as perfect as I'd hoped, but I've adopted the mentality that finished is much better than perfect.

 

Then I climbed underneath our house and dragged out the last of my cut and edged red cedar strips, which were left over from planking the hull a few years ago (kindly donated by my mate Rick - top bloke). They're a bit grubby, but they fared surprisingly well.

 

The quantity of cedar was spot on too, with exactly the right amount to plank both decks.

 

In Gary's build instructions, he says to cut the hull/inner gunnel to receive the decks, so that they sit flush. I was reluctant to do this because: 1. I  didn't think the decks would be very thick, and 2. I was worried about stuffing it up. So I took the chicken-shit option of just bevelling the outside edges all round.

 

Then I got stuck into the fun part - strip planking.

 

And they sanded up nicely too.

 

Then it was time to grapple with my nemisis - fiberglassing. Its important to get it right this time too, because I really want to be able to leave it clear. Its a shame to cover up the beautiful timber in the hull because of my frankensteinish glassing earlier. At least the surfaces would be horizontal this time, which was half the problem with glassing the hull. I even figured I'd try that seemingly evil stuff - peel ply.

 

I'm stoked to say that this time everything went really well. I got a nice, even lamination all over both decks and the peel ply was very well behaved. Phew!

 

Removing the peel ply left a predictably rough surface, which should come up fine with a fill coat of epoxy, and should look unreal after a coat of polyurethane and varnish. Happy days.

 

Time to do the under sides of the decks. After a quick sand/clean up, I made up some rudimentary braces to cradle the upturned decks and glassed in the same way.

 

Once again, it proved to be a textbook fiberglassing operation and I'm happy with the results.

 

After the deks had properly cured, I roughly trimmed and got them ready to fit.

 

My cowardly hopes of getting away with just a slight bevelling of the hull edges turned out to be misplaced. The hull definitly needs to be trimmed to receive the decks, otherwise they'll look crap.

 

I very carefully measured out the appropriate line and marked it up.

 

I clamped a batten along the cut line for a guide, then I attacked my nice hull with a Japanese Pull Saw

*Tip for Newbies: don't hold this batten with your unprotected fingers/thumb just in front of the saw blade whilst cutting (I won't tell you how I learned this, but suffice to say that a bit more of my blood has now been added to the sweat and tears already infused into this boat).

 

It took a while but its all done, and the decks now fit nicely.

 

The dropped breasthooks even sit properly now.

 

Before I can attach the decks permanently, I had to fit the inspection ports and bungs into the water-tight bulkheads. I used a small tube of Sika bedding compound/adhesive for this. Its pretty thick stuff and sticks like shit to a blanket, but looks like it should block any water from getting in.

 

So now the decks are ready for mounting and final trimming. Unfortunately I've run out of time before the Christmas/New Year's madness, but I'm happy to have largely acheived my goal. I don't want to rush the fitting of these decks, in case I botch it. Another couple weeks won't matter that much after all this time, LOL.

 

Anyway, here's a few shots to show how she's coming along. I think she's starting to look like an actual boat now.

 

Don't worry about those little stick things laying accross the hull. They're for a little experiment I'm planning. Hopefully more on that later.

 

So there you go. I'm looking forward to making loads more progress in the new year, and am eager to perhaps finally launch her before Autumn kicks in (fingers crossed).

 

Anyway, thanks for checking this blog out and I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year. Catch you in 2015.