Observations after Filleting

I did not actually work on the canoe last night but I went to see how things held together.

The boat is very solid now. I took the forms out and it only had about 1” of spring back when I released the clamps. I thought that seemed pretty good.  What I did see is that there is a lot of clean up to do and that I need to be way more careful with clean up when I do the epoxy. Basically I am lazy and this is not a lazy mans game. I like to do the fun part of things and when clean up comes I usually put it off. Well I am going to have a lot of sanding to do as a result of that.  I think something more pliable and wider will be the way to go maybe I will try to use a piece of Formica. It will bend with the shape of the boat and should pick up more excess epoxy.  Judging by how things look so far this may end up being a painted canoe inside and out.  Nice thing is that decision can wait until very late. I have a hunch that when I try to sand everything smooth I will go through the top layer of the plywood in several places and it won’t be attractive. I will try to be very careful and avoid that.  If it looks nice no paint, if it looks like crap I paint it and nobody will know.

 

If you decide to build one of these boats. I suggest you buy the instructional video because I can say for sure that the farther I go on the more I realize that I don’t know what the hell I am doing.  But now I am on a mission.  I’ll figure this thing out eventually it just may weigh 800 lbs when I am done.  It will float though.

 

I will be out of town this weekend so no progress will be made over the weekend. I may get to it today or Thursday but that will be all.