C'est finis

Yep it's finished, all bar tying the painters on. The paint and varnish need to fully dry and next weekend I'll take it out for its maiden voyage.

I finished the painting early Saturday morning as yet again the kids woke up at some ungodly hour. It took an hour to apply the second coat and I'd finished by 6:30am! I put a couple of coats of varnish on the gunnels as these edges will get the biggest wear due to the paddle running against them.

It feels strange that it's done although I've noticed a few minor blemishes that need tidying. It's a bit like when I finished writing my dissertation for my degree I sat around thinking well what do I do now? No chance of that this time round as I've got the Triumph Vitesse to renovate.

One Star Paddler!!

The ICC changed venues from Cattawade to Dedham last night and our instructor decided that we'd do our 1 star award. It was pretty windy but we used the shelter of the mill to do the various manoeuvers required and I'm glad to say I passed.

First top coat

Spent about an hour last night putting the first of the top coats on. I'm not sure about the colour; which is blue, I think because the undercoat is showing through a bit still. I'm sure the colour will deepen as soon as the second coat is applied.

Almost there - the plan for my first launch is either next Friday evening or Saturday sometime wife permitting.

Bilge runners

Glued on the centre and bilge runners over the weekend. I didn't want to drill and screw through the hull to attach them (as per the plan instructions) so used the by now familiar epoxy/ woodflour mix. Once dry I then filleted the join to the hull to fill the gaps and to make it a bit stronger. The bilge runners are supposed to stiffen the bottom panel and reduce the "oilcanning" effect seen. I didn't want to test this out just yet but will wait a few days until the resin has completely cured. I'm almost out of hardener now but that's fine as this job was the last of the constructional type tasks.

Gave a second coat of varnish in the cabin area - only one more to go! Bought some undercoat which I'll try applying tonight. Also need to buy a top coat the colour of which I think will be a dark blue.

Glassing the hull

Back to glassing again, this time it was the bottom of the boat to help protect it against general wear and tear. It's not pretty as I had to use about 6 strips of 75mm tape so some of the joins are a bit ragged and lumpy but it will be functional. Put a second coat of varnish on the thwart, seat ends and hangers and portage yoke. One more on each of those and they'll be done.

Things left to do:

• Fit centre and bilge runners
• Paint the exterior - undercoat and topcoat
• Varnish exterior
• Apply more coats of varnish to piece parts and interior

Varnish - coat 1

Didn't have much time last night since I was on babysitting duties so decided to coat the complete interior with a coat of varnish. I also coated the yoke, thwart and seat hangers. Took a look this morning and the varnish really brings out the wood grain and gets rid of the sanding marks etc.

Need to glass the bottom before doing anything else though.

Both seats fitted

Measured, cut and fitted the bow seat last night - used the same method as with the first seat. I need to get the seat hangers cut down by 10mm though as the seat is angled back a bit due the hangers all being the same length. Since the hangers are attached to the top panel the seat follows the curve hence the need to alter the hangers.

Picked the canoe up (not as heavy as the borrowed plastic one I'm using) and put it outside on the drive for a sponge down in readiness for painting and varnishing etc.

Bought some more M6 stainless bolts this morning to fit the portage yoke and thwart . They're cap screws and I'll sink them in the gunnels then cap them off with a dowel insert. Gave the runners for planing, thwart for routing and seat hangers for cutting to my neighbour who'll do those jobs for me today.

One seat fitted

Spent only a short time in the garage but it was quite productive

• Seat hangers: Used a 20mm wood drill and made a blind hole in a wooden block about 50mm deep. Once done changed the drill bit to a 6.5mm one, dropped the oak dowels being used for the seat hangers in the 20mm hole and drilled through the centre. This was the only way short of using a lathe that I could think of that would guarantee getting the hole in the centre and true all the way down the dowel
• Drilling the inwale: Used my pre-drilled wood block with a 6.5mm hole drilled through at 5 degrees offset so I could drill through the inwale
• Fixed the bolt to be used to fix the seats down into the drill, aligned the dowel and seat to the correct position w.r.t. the inwale hole and ran the drill all the way down the hole to touch the seat and mark the required drill position. Used the pedestal drill and drilled through the seat.

Above process repeated until all the holes were drilled etc. Fitted the seat and lightly tightened the nuts. The seat needs to be disassembled so the parts can be varnished.

I'm glad I started (and partially finished) this as I've been putting it off a bit not really wanting to drill through the gunnels in case I got it wrong but the drilling block worked well.

Work stops work

Haven't done anything on the canoe at all for 2 weeks now. Been working away and then for various reasons haven't been able to get into the garage.

Anyway here's the plan of some of what I shall be doing this week:

• get my runners planed down to the right size - Done
• get the portage yoke routed and fitted - Done
• completely glass the underside - Done
• Make a jig so I can drill through the centres of seat dowels - Done

Allergic reaction

I was given some wood; Iroko, from a fellow canoeist and Ipswich Canoe Club member to make a kneeling thwart from. I'd already made a template using my CAD package at work so marked and cut out the wood. As usual there was a fair amount of dust around, some of which made it into my eyes. The next morning I was (and still am) suffering from really puffy and itchy eyes. I'm not sure if it's the wood or something else but the swelling hasn't gone yet and now I'm in the US on business looking like some freak of nature and having to explain to people I'm not normally this ugly...

That aside I did manage to prepare the bilge runners so they can be glued on when I get back from my trip. I also picked up my paddle, throw bag and dry bag from my colleague who was storing them for me. The paddle is nice with a resin tip but did sustain some damage whilst in transit but nothing major. It's also the perfect size and a beaver tail unlike the tourer style I'm currently borrowing from the club.

Off to REI to see if there are any more bargains to bag - I might get some sunglasses to hide my hideous eyes...

Bulkheads finishing part II

Cut out and fitted the stern bulkhead top panel - exact same operation as previously described.

Started thinking about mounting the seats. I drilled a hole through a test piece of inwale using my bench drill at an angle of 5 degrees then counterbored it to sink the bolt head down sub flush of the surface. This seemed to work o.k. but I wonder about getting 4 holes in the right place without messing up either the inwales or the seats. The other thing is drilling a hole straight down the centre of the spacing dowel is difficult without using a lathe as I discovered.

On top of this there was a post on SoTP saying that the seats should be attached to the sidewalls of the canoe as they add to the strength.

Off to buy some wood for the bilge runners.

Total Spend to date £367

Bulkheads and Fairing

Cut out the triangular top panel and chamfered the top edge and stuck it on. Sounds simple but because there was a gap between the inwale and top edge I had to fill it by adding some more wood which took a while because that had to be shaped and stuck on the day before.

Did some more fairing to get rid of the glass tape lines on the outside. I was hoping to paint the exterior this week sometime with the undercoat primer I was recommended to use only to find out that it doesn't work. Back to the drawing board for that one.

My second paddle with the ICC

No I'm not going to turn this into a series but only to say that since last week I was really pleased with my paddling progress and improvement this time round. There was no instructor this week so we just paddled from Cattawade up to Dedham and back. Distance is around 6 miles in total and I was getting a bit sore by the time we finished.

Mayonnaise

Made up some more mayonnaise (fairing mix); named as such after it was described to me as the correct consistency, and have done the top glass joint all around the boat plus the stern. Glued the inner bulkhead cross bars whilst trying to work out how I'm going to fit the top bulkhead panel in place. I still can't think of a way that will look nice so in the mean time I bought a bit more timber to splice in and then maybe I'll rout it down a bit so I can inset the panel - we'll see.

Drilled out both painter holes to increase the hole size then; using a screwdriver, spread epoxy into the hole to seal the bare wood.

Bought some yacht varnish using the £20 voucher I got from Buildbase for complaining about their poor service (not from local branch, they've always been pretty good and willing to help) also got the 8 stainless steel M6x120mm cap screws from Suffolk Fasteners I needed to fit the seats on. Just need the dowels to set the seat height now.

Total spend to date £363

Outwales on

Took a bit of time making sure my compound angles and outwale length matched the other one already fitted then glued it on at the weekend - see picture 2. Removed the clamps once cured because I couldn't wait to see what the boat looks like with uninterupted lines (i.e. without G-clamps). I like it....

Used my microballoon fairing mix (the purply colour in picture 2) to fill the front end exterior where I ran out of tape and had to patch. Rubbed it down late last night and the fairing really makes a difference, it just smooths everything out a bit.

Glued and drilled the blocks to allow the painter (mooring rope) through. I also marked out both sides and drilled half way on either side meeting in the middle as pushing a drill bit through ply tears the top laminate.

Cut out the bulkhead inner cross bars and dry fitted them, again compound angles involved so took my time making sure they're right.

My first paddle - but not in my canoe

Joined the beginners group at the Ipswich Canoe Club and went for a paddle in a borrowed club canoe. Oh man how crap was I at paddling. Left the jetty and promptly found a reed bed and stayed embedded for a while. Once out promptly returned to said reed bed.

After some tuition and practice I did start to get the hang of it and by the time we finished I felt reasonably confident about getting myself back to the jetty without embarassing myself further.

Hats off to those of you who can paddle solo. Richard; our instructor, just made it look so easy and effortless. Regardless of my efforts I really enjoyed it and can't wait to get on the water again.

I'm sitting here aching already and that's not a good sign so it's off down the gym to keep those muscles loose.

Forgot to mention... Ipswich Canoe Club

Me and a couple of friends attended the first outdoor meet of the year for the ICC. It was a BBQ and a meet and greet type of thing plus there were a few paddlers including one young lady who did a roll in a kayak. It was the coldest night for a few weeks so we spent some time around the BBQ keeping warm.

I signed up for the beginners training course but since my boat won't be finished in time I'm borrowing one (their only one) from the club for the time being. I don't have a roof rack yet but have ordered one which I'm told will be delivered today - it'd better as I'm picking the canoe up tonight.

My friend Toby managed to get himself an ex-club kayak for £40 so he was pretty pleased.

Outwales

First of the outwales was glued on last night - ran out of clamps again. I shaped the ends to match the curve of the bow/ stern and tapered the thickness which I'm pretty happy with especially as I used the angle grinder to do it - just need to match the other one now.

Routed the portage yoke to give the bevelled edge I wanted. Dry fitted it using the newly aquired stainless screws. Just need to finish sanding it down then it needs a coat of varnish.

Inwales on - screwed and glued

Spent last Friday with my neighbour gluing just one of the inwales on. We ran out of clamps and couldn't fit the other side so left it to set overnight then glued the other on the next day.

Waited until Sunday then dry fitted the outwales, these were much easier to form due to the smaller cross section however I can't get the outwale to follow the exact curve of the top panel (same goes for the inwales too) - it's about 10mm or so down. This is fine as I'll grind down the excess a bit later.

I cut down the centre thwart/ portage yoke to size and drilled a hole through the inwale and thwart. Need to get the right stainless screws now. I don't know whether to glue and screw the thwart or just leave the screws in for the time being... we'll see.

Trying to source the bolts (M6x120mm ish) for the seats, also need to get a length of wooden dowel and drill a hole through the middle so they can be used as a spacer for the seat.

Inwales on - screwed but not glued

Got both inwales on last night - screwed not glued. Couldn't get the bow/ stern ends to follow the line exactly so left them sitting low inside the bulkhead as this section will be covered when the capping goes on. The plywood upper edge (where the inwales goes) was a bit wavey but as soon as the inwale was screwed in place it really gave a nice even line. The boat is extremely rigid now. I'm going to leave the inwales in place until Friday so they take a set then remove them and add the glue and go through the process again.