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An extra trippy Merlin.

I'm not sure what you mean... The way I broke it, I put the glass toward the floor, put one end on a block & jumped up and down until it broke. I thought it would be most likely to pull away from the wood by bending in that direction. You think it would have been more prone to separation if bent to failure with the fiberglass layer up? (actually, I guess that's how a rock would bend it)

Yes
 
Your test panel was tested under tension, which is where fiberglass is the strongest. The results may or may not have been different if you'd flipped it so the fiberglass was under compression.

A rock would place the hull under both compression (outside of hull) and tension (inside of hull) since it's laminated on both sides (much stronger than your test panel).

If this hull was for running whitewater I might be concerned but for what this hull is likely to face I think it will endure just fine.

Alan
 
Interesting... I was primarily concerned with the ability of the epoxy to penetrate through the spit and attach firmly to the wood (which it seems to have done). I'll probably be over tomorrow evening. Maybe I'll see if I can rip the glass off the test panel with pliers.

If it's tearing the strips apart instead of separating from them, it should be just as strong as the glass layup will allow it to be, right?

As for color: I knew some would hate it and some might really like it... just the way things work. Personally, I like the look of wood (which is why my view will not include spit) but I thought the experiment was worth doing.

This one turned out to be a lot wilder than I thought it would and, in the future, I'd probably stick with fewer colors & larger spots. I really like red & white or blue & white w/ some grocery bag splotches mixed in. The white covers the strips really well and, with the splotches, it takes on an almost marble look. (I'll see if I can get pics tomorrow before I flip it over and see how much got past the tape but pics don't really give the 3D effect very well)

Upside of coloring this way is that the color coat can't scratch; downside is that the glass is not UV protected so I'll still need to varnish

The next hull is probably going to be Catalpa and the wood is way too pretty to paint or spit upon.
 
I'm not sure what you mean... The way I broke it, I put the glass toward the floor, put one end on a block & jumped up and down until it broke. I thought it would be most likely to pull away from the wood by bending in that direction. You think it would have been more prone to separation if bent to failure with the fiberglass layer up? (actually, I guess that's how a rock would bend it)
Flip the piece, glass side up, and test. That will test the bonding strength of the epoxy.
You want to test the bonding ability, more than say a rock, from the outside.
Another way to test, is take a pliers and pull the edge of the cloth away from the wood.
I've pulled delaminated cloth from several hulls.
A good bond will be hard to get the cloth, to release with pliers.
If the cloth doesn't pulloff ? You are good to go !
 
I've been way behind in keeping up with this thread, but I love the Agatha Christie plot twist.

I'll almost certainly do another (Maybe green, brown, yellow & a little orange)

The next time I'm in Pennsylvania I'll hire you to paint my Magic Bus van, which no longer looks as sharp as my avatar. You can have 30 minutes for color application with fast drying psychedelic paints, after which I'll buy you a Maynard G. Krebs burger.
 
...This one turned out to be a lot wilder than I thought it would and, in the future, I'd probably stick with fewer colors & larger spots...
I've made a few surfboards that has similar color swirls as you have on your canoe. I've always had the best result using only yellow and red. Here's a picture of a board I shaped a few years ago. This has five colors on it; white, seafoam green, teal, dioxine violett and red. It's a bit different technique than what you did with the unicorn spit but I would agree that in general, bigger and fewer areas is the way to go. It is of course a matter of preference. On this board I prefer the way the underside came out with the bigger areas. I added the small but powerful contrasting red blotch on the deck. This made the other colors pop and look bigger (in this picture the deck also has surf wax smeared on it).
.6_5 3w.JPG
 
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The quote of your brother-in-law “buncha hippies” tickled me this morning. Nobody is going to steal that one of kind canoe, nor the vehicle that is carrying it. All good man! As a teenager of the sixties, I can dig it!
In the Summer of Love, 1967, on my way to the war in Vietnam, I got to spend an evening at Haigt-Ashberry, in San Francisco, CA. I saw all the colors of the rainbow, plus some that the rainbows didn’t have. Also saw and heard Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane preforming on a street corner concert. I too, wanted to be in a group of a “buncha hippies” Uncle Sam had different plans, so I had to wait a bit then joined the back to the land movement, became a homesteader, spent some time at the Saum Farm commune, in Northern Minnesota.
My canoes have all been olive drab or forest green for creeping up on wildlife, stealth camping etc. but for your canoe tripping adventures, being seen in a distinctive canoe from the air could be a good thing.
 
Kaz has been making his Millbrook canoes in curly, swirly, enfurly psychedelic skin coat colors for decades. They are very popular color choices.

 
I fished some more Cherry out of the barn for gunwales, trim, more paddles, whatever and then stopped by the shop & flipped the canoe.

The tape & sawdust seem to have done a very good job of keeping the spit from seeping through and I am extremely pleased that there were very few areas inside that have color.

IMG_20250326_144216627.jpg

Out of curiosity, I also propped the test panel against one of the seat bending jigs (glass side up this time) & smacked it until it broke

IMG_20250326_144409116.jpg

It did break more easily in this direction but, like the glass side down breaks, it seemed to tear the strips themselves apart and remain (for the most part) securely attached to the wood. As can be seen in the above picture, there were some small places where the glass seemed to pull away and, as I worked at these a bit, I was able to pull the cloth away but it didn't separate between the spit and the epoxy as I would expect it to have done if the spit was causing adhesion issues.

It appears that the epoxy is still stuck to the spit and the cloth pulled out of the epoxy... might this be caused by over-working the epoxy / spreading it too thin? (remember that the test panel only has the wet-out coat) Try as I might to get separation between the epoxy & the spit, I could not get it to lift anywhere that I tried.

IMG_20250326_144746333.jpg

I think I'm done worrying about adhesion and I'll cut & soak some strips for the seats, start sanding down the inside and get this (and the Raven) done so I can get both into the sunlight & onto the water.
 
Good ! Thanks for putting my mind at ease !
I'd say you can relax about the bonding issues.

I've always said when in doubt ? Test.

Carry on !

Jim
 
Interesting concept canoe. Until recently I thought you were building a tippy canoe and wondered why. Having found and worn my reading glasses I see you're building a trippy canoe and still wondering why. But it could be fun so I'll hang around. Man. lol
I was born in the 50s so I was never really a flower child, and although as a young teen I just missed those hippy times, I lived thru enough of them to decide I never really missed them. I miss my paisley shirts but not the flares and bell bottoms. I miss the parties but not the pot. mostly
Now you're gonna have to think of an (in)appropriate truck makeover to match?
 
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