Solo expedition build

[Alan Gage]

I'm itching to get back to mine, but for now, I'll have to keep hanging out in your warm shop. I can almost smell the cedar aroma.

You're all welcome to hang out as long as you'd like, that is if you can stand my singing.

Get back to work Alan, what are you doing slacking off?

Don't worry, I had a good excuse, I was at work.

But now I'm home so it's back to work on the boat again! I already had to stop and rip more 3/16" strips once during this build and now that I'm filling in the last gaps I ran out again! I really didn't want to rip more strips and set up the router for the bead and cove so instead I grabbed my six left over 1/4" strips, measured and setup my planer carefully, and took 1/32" off each side to give me 3/16" strips with the bead and cove already cut. Then I finished her up:


20150303_001 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

Sure is a lot of flare in the bow, should look "interesting" when it's flipped over:


20150303_002 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

The stern is a little more restrained but still plenty wide at the gunwales:


20150303_005 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

I pulled a few staples and planed down those overhanging knuckle strips on one side. It's a hard thing to get a good picture of. See that little dip in the shear line up front a ways? It's not really a dip, the shear line keeps the same curve. What's really happening, and it doesn't show up well, is that the gunwales are tucked in just a little farther at that spot. It should be right where my blade comes down past the gunwales on each forward stroke. Something to hopefully make paddling just a little more pleasant with fewer whacks on the gunwales.


20150303_006 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

From the closeup pictures you can also see my stripping philosophy: Mo' staples is mo' better.

Alan

 

[Canotrouge]

She should be able to carry a load nicely!!

 

[memaquay]

Looks like a lot of flare! I was trying to find a comparable pic of the Raven, but Couldn't find one in my archive, but I would say there is more flare there than on the J. Winters solos.

 

[Alan Gage]

When you're up and hobbling around again, and if it's not too much trouble, I'd be interested to know the gunwale width of the Raven 1' and 2' back from the bow. I'm curious to know if mine is really any wider at the gunwales or if it just appears that way because the entry was kept fairly narrow at the water line.

Alan

 

[Jim Dodd]

The flare should be fine, you'll appreciate it in rough water with a canoe full of gear !

I get carried away with staples too ! I always have a big jar full of pulled staples when I'm done.

The wave in the shear is evident in my tumblehomed canoes too. Once you have the hull off the forms, and right side up, it should look better.

I need to get up and see your creation ! Wondering if you'd consider, computer reducing the size of the plans, to say a 15'6"-16' hull ? Might make an awesome day tripper.

Lovin the pics !!!


Jim

PS. Like how you have the clamps HANDY on your strongback !

 

[memaquay]

When you're up and hobbling around again, and if it's not too much trouble, I'd be interested to know the gunwale width of the Raven 1' and 2' back from the bow

Probably be at least three weeks, things aren't progressing quite as quickly as I had anticipated.

 

[Alan Gage]

Probably be at least three weeks, things aren't progressing quite as quickly as I had anticipated.

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you're finding some way to keep yourself entertained while you're laid up. At least it's not sunny and 65 degrees outside.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

Through the course of a build I probably say this 30 times at different steps, but this is my favorite part of the build. The staples are pulled and the first course of rough sanding is done. Everything is pretty close to the shape it's going to be for the rest of its life and I can finally run my hands over the smooth hull. Feels great!


20150304_002 by Alan Gage, on Flickr


20150304_003 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

Some shots showing the internal/single stem and how it's defining the shape of the stem with the strips sanded back flush. It will be rounded over to the final profile later.


20150304_001 by Alan Gage, on Flickr


20150304_005 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

So far it seems to have worked out well. I'll know for sure after I finish sanding and shaping. You can see a hole that will need to be filled where a strip wasn't laying in quite like I thought and after planing it off was left with that gap. That hole is right at the first form. The first and last forms seemed fair to the rest of the mold until I attached the two stem forms. They goofed things up a bit as the hull approaches the water line and in hindsight I probably should have done some shaping to the stem forms to get things a little better. But by then the stems were already steam bent and glued up and I probably would have had to scrap them. Instead I built up the first and last forms a little with extra layers of tape and some very thin strips of cedar. That seemed to fair things up fine and left me with a slightly wider hull at the water line entry, but probably only 1/4-3/8". After shaping I think the hull will be quite thin along the keel line where the stems butt into the first and last forms so there will be plenty of extra reinforcement there.

I'm finding the stems are difficult to get right in the transition from computer to real life. I suppose the computer sees the ends of the boat as 0" thickness but then I go and put a 3/4" piece of plywood in there for the form and suddenly I've got a concave surface. Maybe if I make a point of putting a little extra flare between the first forms and the stem in the design it will even out. Or else reduce the leading edge of the form more than I have been when transferring from paper to actual forms. On this one I took off .75" to account for the .75" thick laminated stems that would be attached. If I'd taken off 1.5" instead and kept the laminated stems to .75" it probably would have been about right.

I hope there's something good on TV tomorrow night, Memaquay, as I'll be taking the evening off so you'll have to find something else to watch.

Alan

 

[memaquay]

Ha ha, thanks a bunch! You know, all of your stem ditherings would have been negated with an external stem. And it would have added a few more hours to your build too. I guess I'll just have to read a few more books over the next few days while your cedar grows old. I think I read somewhere that if you ignore your stripper, it will run off and find someone else. Those strippers are temperamental, and demanding of constant attention!

 

[Jim Dodd]

That's terrible Alan ! I'd tear it all apart and fix those stems !
The great things about builders, they think on the fly to fix little things, and it all works out !


You deserve a break !! But I guarantee you'll be thinking about that canoe !

Jim

 

[Alan Gage]

I need to get up and see your creation ! Wondering if you'd consider, computer reducing the size of the plans, to say a 15'6"-16' hull ? Might make an awesome day tripper.

I wouldn't be opposed to that although the few times I've wanted to change one of my designs by adding or subtracting 6" or 1' it's been about as easy to just start over from scratch. While my intention with this boat is to paddle it heavily loaded in light whitewater I'm curious to see how it performs empty on the local river. I'd like to come up with a shorter moving water hull to be paddled with a light load for day tripping or short duration trips. Probably not going to happen until next winter.....that's if I haven't moved onto something else by then.

You know, all of your stem ditherings would have been negated with an external stem.

Or no stems at all!

Another thing I had troubles with, and you can see the resulting gaps between the strips and the stem, was that many of the strips hit the stem at such a shallow angle that I was having to sand away at the stem form itself to get them to lay in as good as I could. Even then many didn't make full contact at the very tip. I'm having a hard time putting it into words coherently but I think I can see why this wouldn't have happened if I'd been using external stems.

But it's all good. Every boat is a learning process and I understand how stems work, and don't work, much more now than I did before. I learn a lot more by trying things my own way and making some mistakes. And none of these little gaps and holes are the end of the world. They'll be virtually unnoticeable once filled and, most importantly, they won't affect how the boat actually performs, which is what I really care about.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

You deserve a break !! But I guarantee you'll be thinking about that canoe !

Jim

Believe me, it was hard to pull away. Tonight I told my friend that if she ever thought I didn't care about her to just know that I had a stripper in my shop just begging to be rubbed down but I decided to spend the evening with her instead. True friendship.

We had a nice time and saw a very good Irish film, Patrick's Day, at the semi-local art center.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

Tonight I started giving the stems their final shape.

Round it over a little on this side, then the other to balance it out, smooth out this curve, shave that small hump off the bottom, now it's uneven so better sand off a little more on that side. Oh shoot, now the entry is too fine. Sand it back and round it over again but now the left side is fatter than the right so even those out again. Ooops, just a little too far. Back and forth up and down. Every time you look you noticed another line that doesn't quite flow or sides that are uneven. Take off a little more here, a touch more there. The pile of shavings on the floor is getting deeper and deeper. One more swipe off the right rear corner and I believe I've got it perfect, what do you think?

 

[Jim Dodd]

You're a real card Alan !

I think you've slipped into another dimension with that one !

Get some sleep, and come back to reality tomorrow !

Jim

 

[Rippy]

Looks like you took a little too much off. Started at 17.5' and now down to about 3'. time to start over I guess. Dave

 

[Alan Gage]

Got some fiberglass on today. Looks like it came out a little milky.


20150308_010 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

Alan

 

[Canotrouge]

Why is that Alan, high moisture in the air??

 

[seuss]

Hmmm. I wonder if there's a market for a canoe using a glow-in-the-dark pigment in the epoxy?

 

[Alan Gage]

Why is that Alan, high moisture in the air??

It's intentional, just having a little fun. I added pigment to the resin.

Hmmm. I wonder if there's a market for a canoe using a glow-in-the-dark pigment in the epoxy?

Whoa, you just blew my mind! That would certainly make for an interesting paddle around the lake and perhaps garner an article or two in the local paper about the indian ghost canoe seen plying local waterways.

Alan

 

[memaquay]

This is about all I have to say about that!