Building a stitched lapstrake canoe - Sanding and more sanding

September 2, 2007
Sanding and more sanding

Today I thought I would finally get to varnishing, but when I took the boat outside to give it a "quick final sand" I saw that the surface was rougher than it had seemed. The sun light really pointed up the texture. So I spend over 5 hours sanding today. The first pass (above left) was with 80 grit foam sanding pads, followed by orbital sanding with 220 grit. It was a lovely day to be working outside.

As the book warned I did sand through the epoxy in a few spots, so I mixed up a final 2 oz batch of epoxy and painted the bare wood spots. I had enough to coat the decks and gunwhales and they really look nice now!

I still have more sanding to do inside, but it's mostly on the bottom 2 planks where the fiberglass is. Tomorrow will be just as nice, so I'm hoping to finish up and move on to the varnish by the afternoon.


Product Design	My Artwork	Living Sustainably
Art Engineering	Levitation Kit	Solar Power	Chevy Volt
About Me	Blog	Solar Heating	Thermal Windows
Contact	Twitter	Solar Hot Water	Solar Mower

HOME	1. laying out the planks	2. cutting planks	3. gluing planks	4. rabbeting edges	5. stitching seams	6. shaping hull	7. filleting stems	8. gluing seams
	9. removing stitches	10. filling holes	11. gluing inwhales	12. gluing outwhales	13. glassing outside	14. glassing inside	15. glassing keel	16. decks and seat mounts
	17. installing seats	18. epoxy coat	19. sanding	20. varnishing	21. finishing up	22. launching	storage	BILL OF MATERIALS
	This canoe was built from plans in the book "The Canoe Shop"