First build 17' Freedom

[Cruiser]

No Title

Hi Ben,

I used 3/8" x 7/8" cherry on the gunnels and it turned out stiff/strong enough. If you chamfer the bottom of each strip, the water won't collect on the inside and it saves a little weight.

If you are going to epoxy them on ( I prefer this) with thickened epoxy, I usually saturate both joint areas with unthickened epoxy first ... then lightly butter one side with thickened before clamping. Speaking of clamping, make sure you have enough clamps ... (see Photo 1 )

If the cap is being considered to hide the hull/gunnel interface, an alternative thought would be to forego the cap, colour the thickened epoxy to actually accent the joint ... this can add interest to the final product ... in photo 2 a white cedar hull, contrasts nicely with cherry gunnels, using a dark cherry thickened epoxy. You can vary the tint to suit your materials.

I also like to finish the gunnels with epoxy, makes them more ding/scratch resistant and makes varnishing much easier and gives much nicer final finish (IMO).

Brian

 

[Ben Mahaffey]

No Title

So i have been rather busy on the boat but rather lazy in regards to picture posting. The boat is sanded and just got a cheat coat for glassing, hopefully tonight/tomorrow . I decided to go with 6 oz e glass and 6 oz s glass, the piece of mind to not swim back was worth a few pounds. I just have to tell myself that on those long portages!

Have thought about seats and going to try my hand at building my own carbon seats, a la alan. Got a wenonah bucket seat that I am going to be able to PVA and lay up the glass. Thinking about a lay up of s glass carbon carbon sglass, any ideas would be greatly appreciated

On a side note my buddy and i are going to do a carbon composite off of the freedom when glassing is done. So you guys get two noats to watch for the price of one, what a deal.

Ok so not much with pictures but here it all wetted out with the cheat coat,enjoy

 

[Jim Dodd]

AWESOME !
A fine choice for glass lay up on the hull !
Alan has the seat construction down ! Even for my Slightly larger frame
The beauty of two hulls ! One for Eye candy, and the other to use and abuse. ! Not to mention Portaging !

I love my carbon fiber Nokomis (Vader) ! It will be my canoe of choice in the BWCA in October, and has been since this Spring.

Looks great Ben ! And good luck glassing !

Jim

 

[Ben Mahaffey]

Thanks Jim sadly the carbon boat will be for my buddy, the wife is not too keen on having two of the exact same boat

Also has anyone ever peel plyed their boat. I bought some thinking that it would work well for smoothing the hull and maybe dropping a bit of work and weight. All the videos that i have seen are just little sections being done not a full boat. Wondering if i will have enough time before the resin kicks and if i will scrape off too much if i use a plastic scraper (usually my weapon of choice when i am glassing)

 

[Jim Dodd]

Hi Ben

I had my share of problems with Peel Ply. My idea was to use it for weight reduction, but it didn't happen.
One, the Peel Ply didn't conform to the hull shape, like E-glass does, and so I had a lot of wrinkles to deal with !

Some that have used it, experienced tiny air specs in the resin, caused, in my opinion by entrapping air in the fiberglass cloth, by the Peel Ply..

I won't use it on a hull again, but maybe on a small patch, or something relatively flat.

All my problems, could have been a result of inexperience working with Peel Ply. But for now I've given up on it .

Jim

 

[Jim Dodd]

Thanks Jim sadly the carbon boat will be for my buddy, the wife is not too keen on having two of the exact same boat

I can see you need to be schooled in the ART of Deception ! Oh but Dear ! They are not the same boat ! And if friends or relatives show up ! What will they paddle ? I better quit ! Next thing I know, I'll be dragged into divorce court !

Just make sure you have your buddy SIGN a paper saying you can use the Carbon Copy, when ever you want !

Jim

 

[Ben Mahaffey]

No Title

So I have not posted any updates on the boat for a while so i figure i should show off all my hard work. Truthfully I haven't done anything to the boat! My wife and I welcomed a baby girl, Hazel, into the world august 11th. Those things are a lot of work! Needless to say the boat has taken a back seat to hanging out with the family. My wife and I were able to get the fiberglass on the night that she went into labor. The glassing went fairly well, tried out peel ply for the first time and did not account for it to "suck up" some of the resin so instead of having a nice surface that i can put my hot coat over i am left with a bunch of holes, not quite pinhole size but a bit bigger. I tried a small section to see if the hot coat would go on well but i am left with air bubbles stuck in resin layer. My plan is to hit it with a torch and see if i can tease the bubbles out on my next sample section. I tried to sand and it seems like that just gets resin dust in the holes and does not really work. Any suggestions on how to make it look nice are always welcome!

Also working on some carbon seats and thinking about layup...layer of carbon then s glass then carbon? Any thoughts

Ben

 

[Jim Dodd]

Congrats on the Family addition ! It's much better to spend time with her, than any old canoe !

Wish I had some good advise on air bubbles, Sanding would be detrimental for sure. A blow drier, to warm or thin the resin during application, might help fill those holes.

I've not mastered Peel Ply yet, for now I use it for small things, like a patch, or stem skid plates.

Good Luck ! And enjoy the little one, before you know it they are gone !

Jim

 

[Ben Mahaffey]

So i have been sneaking out and SLOWLY working on the boat, got the fill coat on the hull and i am ready to take it off the strongback. Two questions, one does anyone just do a fiberglass layer and not a fill coat on the inside of the boat? Wondering if the will give a bit more from a traction stand point. Also my buddy is making a carbon boat off my plug...should we cut down the excess material to the gunnel height or does it not matter?

 

[Canotrouge]

As for the fill coat cans the other topic I can't help you, our Hellman composite canoe, as a pretty rough inside and I really don't like that that much, it does give a bit more traction, but it seams quite abrasive on the gear and one self in the hot summer days when paddling bare feet!!

 

[Jim Dodd]

Hi Ben !

You mean you are Sneaking out between Diaper changings ? Good for you !

Traction is over rated ! Smooth finish the inside with enough fill coats, so you won't sand into the weave later. A smooth finish is easier to clean, It is more UV resistant, as it reflects the Sunlight. It's definitely prettier !

I would trim the excess cloth, as it will make it easier to make the carbon copy, and get the correct shearline !

What are going to use for a realease between your hull and the carbon copy ?

Jim

 

[stripperguy]

Ben,
By now your little bundle must be showing some signs of a personality...such an exciting time and they change so quickly. I would go back to those days in a heartbeat!

Don't put fill coats on the inside. All that will do is make your hull more slippery and HEAVIER!!! It won't make it any stronger. It will make the inside more slippery. If you're using 4 or 6 oz cloth, the texture is just right, not too rough at all.
As far as cleaning the inside? Who cares! Give it a good swamping twice a year and your done.

Lastly, just as Jim said, trim your excess to make a carbon copy easier to produce. Be sure you have plenty of mold release...

 

[Canotrouge]

Ben, don't listen to them boat builders obviously they can't agree... Do what I say, do the front half with fill coat and de back half w/o, that way when you want grippy you use the back half and when you want the ease of cleaning you use the front half... That make sense right... right??

 

[Jim Dodd]

The Ball is in your Court Ben !

After all it's your canoe !

I haven't slipped in my canoes, I must have better shoes !

Maybe skip Varnish, as it adds weight, adds expense, and makes your canoe slippery ! If you built a pretty strip canoe, (Staple less) Why worry about how it looks ? Paint it !

 

[Cruiser]

Ben,

I followed CanoeCraft for my first build, the thoughts there was to lay down the fiberglass and 1 fill coat. The fill coat buries the fiberglass enough that you don't have worries of sanding into the fiberglass and you still have enough surface texture to give some grip.

A light sand followed by your varnish regime ... which I suggest you top with a flat varnish, sun reflecting up from that fabulous gloss finish on the inside on a bright sunny day is brutal.

It makes sense and worked so well, that is just the way I do boats now.

My $0.02

Brian

 

[Jim Dodd]

just a few pics to show how a smooth finish looks. By the way I use staples.

OK I got carried away !

Maybe others will post pics and you can make an informed decision !

Jim

PS. the one lying on the ground is my first canoe.

 

[Cruiser]

This my Freedom 17 interior in Epiphanes low sheen .... stapleless

Brian

 

[stripperguy]

I have few good photos that show the inside...this one boat was 28 years old in the photo. 17 ft tandem weighing 38 lbs

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[alsg]

I agonized on this question about whether to put epoxy fill coats over the interior fiberglass when I built mine. Which looks better is subjective. The advantages of not adding the fill coats: less epoxy = less time, less money and less weight and maybe less slippery. Advantages of adding fill coats: a little more depth to protect against interior scratches (from gear) that might otherwise get down into the weave (which would compromise the fiberglass strength), or even get down into the wood. Everything is a trade off. What's more important to you?

 

[Ben Mahaffey]

Oh boy now i dont kow what to do about the indside. I kind of like the idea of no fill coat, just cause its a bit liless weight and work. My epoxy is uv resistant so not too much to worry about that, although i will probably varnish the outside so it looks nice.

I am going to cut my boat to the gunnels before we lay on the carbon copy. The plan is to use boat shrink wrap and some partal mold release wax. Likely two layers of carbon the two 6oz layers of glass on the outside with a s glass football. Any thoughts?