Day 1: With hot weather predicted, I evicted the car from the carport and set up there. First I spent some quality time making sure everything was as straight and level as possible.
Then I did a final test fit of the parts.
I also spent some time fine tuning the bow and stern breasthooks, so that they really fit as perfectly as possible and provided maximum support.
Here's a shot of the components all ready for epoxying….
And another after epoxying.
Day 2: Each of the parts got a light sanding, and I also re-drilled all of the bolt holes.
It was time to tackle the many epoxy runs from when I glued the inner wale. I tried using this smaller Surform, but its crap for this job.
So I tried using this cheap kit for the drill.
The wire brush attachment ground it down quickly, but it did tend to burn the underlying epoxy a bit.
Then I went around and sanded the inner wale, ready for its soak coat of epoxy.
Another productive day and everything seems ready to roll.
Day 3: Finally installation day, and I was pretty excited. I was also a bit worried about clogging the bolt holes with epoxy runs, so after cleaning out the hull and wiping everything down, I tried to mask them off a bit.
Then time for a final dry fit, and its time to rock.
The tarp thing set up at the end of the carport in this shot is my old army hootchie, and shelters the stern of the canoe from the sun nicely. As predicted, it was getting bloody hot, but I'm on a bit of a mission at the moment so I pressed on. I did wait until the temperature peaked (at 35 celcius) and began falling, which wasn't until about 14:30. Then I was absorbed in an epoxying frenzy for the next five hours. This is the only photo from the session, which my son took while I was busily mixing another batch.
Day 4 (today): Its blisteringly hot today (40+), and despite actually heading out there with all good intentions, I ultimately went for the 'bugger this for a joke' option and piked out. Instead I just inspected my handiwork from yesterday and took some shots for this blog update.
There's a lot of cleaning up to do, but the results are mostly pleasing. Everything has cured nicely and feels quite solid.
There were a couple of disappointments though. The main one was this forward bulkhead, one side of which seems to have dropped somehow.
This really pissed me off. I've carefully cut the camber for the deck into this bulkhead, and now it's out. I'm not sure how I'm going to correct this one yet, but the thinking cap is on.
The other stuff-up has been the breasthooks. Both of them have dropped a bit. I thought I'd jammed them in quite well, but I guess the added slipperiness of the thickened epoxy must've allowed them to move.
Its not the end of the world, since they've only dropped a little bit and they still provide heaps of strength in the bow and stern. I think I'll try to fill fill the gap with epoxy later. Hopefully these are the only problems that I'll have from yesterday.
Anyway, tomorrow's another day and it sounds like being somewhat cooler than today (before ramping back up again on Sunday). I'm looking forward to getting everything cleaned up and sorted out, so I can get started on the decks.
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