It Floats, No leaks

I happen to have the good fortune of having a pool in my yard so it was pretty simple to go set the canoe in the pool on Saturday to see if it floats.

And it does.

I still needed to put on the varnish but no harm in seeing it float before that is done.

I had no problem finding volunteers to get in the boat.  Some even bothered to put on pants first!

 

There were no leaks which was nice and in general it did what you expect a big bucket to do when you put it in water. Float.

I was quite surprised how much the front end lifted up when I sat in the back seat.  Not at all like a rental canoe.

When I moved to the other end and sat in the “Front” seat everything leveled out just fine. As I was told it would.

If I canoe with one of the boys I guess I will have to carry a lot of beer to get the boat to ride level. The sacrifices I make.

 

All that is left is to put on some varnish and to buy two more bolts for the seats and put a bottom on the “Cup” holder and I will be finished.

I would rate the boat about a 4 to a 6 on quality because the finish just looks awful. As you can see in the pictures it is very spotty which I was not worried about during construction since I had planned to paint the outside. That was until I found out how much paint cost.  But the big problem you can not see in the pictures. The finish is just not smooth. You want it to look like glass and mine just looks runny and rippled.  I don’t know what I did wrong but it just is not something I will brag about.  I suppose I could spend 6 months and about $400 dollars getting it perfect but I am so sick of boat making that this will do.