Canoe update
Hola amigos, it’s been a while since I rapped at ya. Your square amigo is out there riding those untamed currents. Anyway, I’ve got a boatbuilding update for you. For one, the tarp I use to cover the canoes when it rains was getting kinda threadbare so I slapped on a coat of primer to protect the hulls from the sun and rain. I don’t think these will end up white but who can say? Mrs. Somesquares and I are brainstorming names and thinking about a launch date in the month of May.
The full bulkheads are in, the centerboard cases have been attached the accompanying holes cut in the bottoms (always a fraught moment!)
One thing about the way the Quick Canoe is designed: using epoxy fillets saves a ton o time over measuring and cutting out stringers for a more traditional construction. Making eight semi-frames for each boat, measuring, cutting out, and gluing the stringers seemed to take forever. Now they’re complete and going into the hulls. These photos show the first five, which I’ve just glued in place.
Once all these semi-frames are in place, I have a stringer that goes between bulkheads three and four (touching the top corner of each semi-frame). Together with a top deck and a side deck, these will create sealed flotation along each side of the cockpit, as well as stiffening the boat. Here is another perspective:
Update
The semi-frames were made from the last of the 6mm ply that I bought for the bottom. Two sheets of ply were exactly enough to build the bottom and the semi-frames. In fact, I cut one semi-frame slightly too short but there’s not enough scrap left to make a replacement, so that’s gonna end up in the final boat.
Oops
When I measured everything out, I totally forgot to account for the sheer line. When I first dropped the fore-and-aft stringer in between bulkheads three and four, it stood about three or four inches proud of the sheer line at its midpoint. So now I’m bending the stringer using pretty basic methods: loading it up with all the weight I can find and letting it sit for days.
Comments
Wesley Brooks
So, once I finished these I just gave the away because we were moving and downsizing and these were heavyier than I’d thought.