ART TEC - Guy Marsden
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 > canoe

Building a Sassafras 14 ft. stitched lapstrake canoe
Bookmark and Share

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"

 

July 20, 2007
Gluing the planks -- 1:15 hours

I began by attaching 2 sheets of 1/2" MDF together to form a 4X16 foot work surface on the floor.  Then using the layout in the book, I pulled chalk lines for reference and placed each set of planks according to the measurements given and anchored them in place with brads so they won't shift during gluing.  I looked at the lines carefully to see that they flowed nicely across the glue break.  At one point I went back and pushed some planks slightly closer together so that the scarf would overlap perfectly.
After preparing pieces of plastic, I made up glue blocks from 1/2" MDF and set them ready with screw all in place.  I mixed up my first batch of epoxy and thickened it to the consistency of jam with thickener.  It was a bit nerve wracking to spread the glue on the joints and set them all in place, finally clamping each set in place with the glue blocks, but it all went quite smoothly.
After leaving it all to set-up overnight I removed the clamps.  Then I sanded off the epoxy, just enough to knock off the rough parts while leaving extra glue on the surface.
There was a bunch of glue squeeze out on the sides that I knocked off with a chisel, and then sanded smooth with my small belt sander.  This little 3 X18" sander is one of my favorite tools and I have worn out 3 of them over 20 years!

Here's a movie made from images taken every minute as I worked, time invested 1:15

next >>


visits since 7/20/07
Hit Counter