First time builder Ashes Solo Trip

[Roybrew]

Hello and welcome Bentpushrod. I used thickened epoxy on my gaps of my stemless build. I could've done better with the color match, but hey, If someone has to look that close to point it out it's time for them to leave.
You can see the little darker spots where I filled gaps. There were two spots where I had use a wood chisel and square up a few short pieces, so I could glue in and then epoxy a half inch long piece on the end. I'd have to look at it closely to find it now. Wife and I take it out frequently, no epic trips just day paddles, and I finished it 3 years ago. I've had no issues with any spot that I have used epoxy or pieces to fill in on, boo-boos. I've even had an air compressor blow up and the twin cylinder part tore a chunk of my gunwale.
Epoxied a new piece in, and no issues. I'd have to look to find it. It needs a fine sanding and a couple coats of poly, and it would look good as new. Wood strippers are tough. I used lots of staples and screws to.
I couldn't imagine building one with out staples and screws. Yours is looking great. It looks straight with a good shape.
Roy

 

[Bentpushrod]

What a great community! Thanks Stripperguy, Alan, and Roybrew. Not 100% sure how I’m going to deal with my mistakes yet, but love the advice given so far. Think I’ll just continue laying strips down, and deal with it at the end. I have thought about putting in a brass keel strip over the stems, but not sure yet.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Of no help now.
But I bead and coved my strips , and alternated courses side to side.
This interlocked the strips.

 

[Roybrew]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating sloppiness, but sometimes it's hard to get things to cooperate and wood can have a mind of it's own. Stuff Happens.
I am building my 2nd canoe now, and thought I would do some fancy strip pattern on the bow, and now I figured out I can't keep going with it. So I've got to figure out an exit strategy, and make it sound like I had it all planned. And hope it doesn't look like Frankenstein Canoe.
Roy

 

[Kliff]

I'm a little late to the party, but welcome bent rod. I built my first stripper last year, and this site was awesome as a resource. Post a question, thought, concern, and you'll get multiple ways to proceed from multiple experienced builders. Based on the comments I've received on the water, no one notices the flaws that are so obvious to the builder.

What I really like about building strippers is a novice can handle it, yet it will challenge even a master craftsman. You can do it with very minimal tools, or use every tool in an extensive shop. I had planned to start my second by now, but I've had some delays.

Great looking boat so far.

 

[Bentpushrod]

Really appreciate everyone’s help, a great community here! Spent some time looking at other builds here, lots of great info, and beautiful boats. Well I’ve slowly been plugging away, adding strips. Also, have been working on my ugly stems, I have them looking better, but not where I want them yet.

Ordered glass and epoxy from Raka today. Here’s a couple photos of the stems again.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Stems look fine !

 

[Bentpushrod]

Stems look fine !

Thanks!

 

[Bentpushrod]

Hoping it floats by spring, winter has set in here. Planning on a couple trips this spring, going to do the Little Missouri River, and Yellowstone.

 

[Gamma1214]

I have them looking better, but not where I want them yet.

Holy $#!+, they look great! Hammer some epoxy on there and throw it in the water!

Seriously, they look pretty good and I'm sure that, once it's done, nobody will ever see it but you. My first has runs, gaps, (now a broken gunwale) and all I hear at the gas station or on the water is "hey, that looks great" (there are a lot of Myopic people in the world and I'm thankful for them all).

 

[stevet]

I'm no builder, just an appreciator and they look great to me!

 

[JohnSand]

No one will notice the slight imperfections, but trying to achieve perfection will result in a long build, especially on your first attempt. I've built a few small boats, and repaired more. Also cars, bikes, appliances etc. Guys who fix stuff fix stuff.

 

[Bentpushrod]

Got the whiskey strip installed last night. Now I need to strip down to the top of the stems. I’m also kicking around the idea of removing the first strip on each side, and replacing with a strip that follows the sheer line, then filling in. Would avoid trimming the sheer line that way.

 

[Gamma1214]

Wow. I like the herringbone look of alternating the strips the whole way instead of doing one side & cutting the centerline. Looks line you switched to a cut centerline at the end... would you switch earlier next time or was the difficulty about the same?

 

[Bentpushrod]

Wow. I like the herringbone look of alternating the strips the whole way instead of doing one side & cutting the centerline. Looks line you switched to a cut centerline at the end... would you switch earlier next time or was the difficulty about the same?

I alternated strips the whole way, didn’t cut a centerline. Not sure if I’ll cut centerline, or do it the same next time, that is if there is a next time. Have to see if I survive the fiberglass stage first.

 

[Gamma1214]

Nice. (glass isn't bad... you're through the hard part. Make a small test panel if you like but I was scared of it too and it turned out to be no big deal)

PS: "if" there's a next time...

 

[Bentpushrod]

Nice. (glass isn't bad... you're through the hard part. Make a small test panel if you like but I was scared of it too and it turned out to be no big deal)

PS: "if" there's a next time...

Regarding the next time, I must admit it has been a learning process, but I’m really enjoying the process, and have been thinking about the next one. Just don’t want to get ahead of myself. Beating my head against the wall thinking about gunwales. Ash is hard to find around here, been reading a lot on what others use, and have done. Found a very interesting article:

Light but Strong - Building Cedar Strip Canoes for Wilderness Tripping

Take care of the ounces and the pounds will take care of themselves, is Jay Morrison's motto. Learn how Jay utilized this moto and developed new techniques to build a Wilderness-Tripping-Tough cedar strip canoe weighing 35 pounds.

www.paddlinglight.com

in the section about gunwales, he used cedar, cut a line down the middle and capped the hull and epoxied it in place. I don’t plan on running whitewater, think I may try that. A bonus, I can get 16’ WRC easily around here. Not planning on hanging my seat, want to go cleat mounted, so hopefully that will all work out.

 

[Jim Dodd]

I like to cap my shear. It protects the hull.
I I glue and screw the inwhale ( # 6 stainless screws ) and glue the outwhale. No screws, or plugs show. show.
Gluing ( epoxy with fillers ) seals out moisture that rots your gunnels in short order.
By gluing ? You get the maximum strength from your gunnels, not just screws holding every 6 or 8".

 

[Bentpushrod]

I like to cap my shear. It protects the hull.
I I glue and screw the inwhale ( # 6 stainless screws ) and glue the outwhale. No screws, or plugs show. show.
Gluing ( epoxy with fillers ) seals out moisture that rots your gunnels in short order.
By gluing ? You get the maximum strength from your gunnels, not just screws holding every 6 or 8".

Beautiful Jim! I really like that, and think m going in that direction. Thanks!

 

[stripperguy]

First things first.
Really nice job stripping, it looks great!!
Stems look good too, nice recovery.
Like Jim, I too like to cap my sheer line.
Gunnels can be nearly any material, just cut a deep groove…I prefer to use epoxy only, no screws.
I once used southern yellow pine for gunnels, they lasted for 25 years of my neglect.
Alan has wrapped some cedar gunnels with carbon, I think he was pleased with the results. Wrapping with glass would actually work even better, from an abrasion resistance point of view.
I also borrowed Alan’s technique of using a ziplock bag, with a corner snipped off, to squeeze thickened epoxy into the deep groove in the cap gunnel, sort of like a cake decorating thingie.

One thing to be careful of is the height and width of the cap gunnel. Depending on how much upsweep in your sheer line, too much gunnel section might make it difficult to bend the gunnel into place in all planes. Easy enough to figure out with a dry fit.