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.

Final undercoat

Put on the second and final undercoat last night and this morning - kids woke me up early again! Also added the bulkhead hatches including the mastic to create a watertight seal plus fitted both seats, thwart and yoke. It really does look like a boat now.

Bought some exterior gloss paint for the top coat so am hoping to get it finished by the weekend ready for a first trip out sometime the week after.

Things left to do:

• Paint the exterior
• Varnish the exterior
• Buy painters
• Get out on the water

Total expenditure to date £392

Undercoat

Gave the cabin area a last coat of varnish. Turned the boat over and sanded down the rough epoxy from the bilge runners then sponged the whole of the outside down to get rid of all the dust. Woke up early this morning and started painting the undercoat on but was only able to do about half the boat before running out of time and having to go to work. It looks like the paint has taken ok as this was a concern after reading several posts from SoTP.

Total spend to date £377

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

Cricket Stops Play

Travelled up to Chester-Le-Street in Durham to see England Vs West Indies in the cricket.

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.

Gunwale fitting preparation

I don't know why but I'm a bit nervous about fitting the in/outwales. Anyway this evening my neighbour is giving me a hand to fit the inwales so I've spent some time marking out and drilling/ countersinking the hull on the outside. This will enable me to clamp and screw the inwale in position along the length then once I'm happy I'll remove it and glue it in place then reclamp.

Once this is done the outwale is fitted which will cover up the holes/ screw heads.

Done glassing

Finished off the remainder of the glassing and coated the bare bits of the hull with epoxy. I'll let it cure off for a few days before I attempt to fit the gunwales.

More glass taping

Started taping the outside chines (only one left to do) but have run out of epoxy which is just great - not. I've ordered some more from China Wind Yachts because without it work will stop altogether as I can't do anything more until the taping is finished.

Carried on trying to bend the gunwales, there's a bit more set than before so it's going in the right direction. In the mean time I was talking with my dad who, as it turns out has a steamer, so I might try it out.

Spoke with "Woodman" from SoTP forum regarding methods of bending gunwales. He suggested fitting the inwales first and screwing them in using countersink screws which will be covered up after fitting the outwale.

Total spend to date £338

Looking ahead

I'll be heading off to LA on business soon so decided to take advantage of the excellent pound to dollar exchange rate (2.0029 dollars to the GBP on 20th Apr. '07) and bought a throw bag, pfd and a dry bag from REI. They can deliver free of charge to a store not too far from the US office. Also placed a bid on eBay for a cherry/ spruce 60" paddle. I think that should be it for this trip otherwise I won't be able to carry anything else.

Gunwale forming

Took some advice from SoTP forum on how to form the wood without using a steamer. Concensus is to weigh the wood down then pour boiling water over it to soften it up. I poured about 3 kettles over the course of the evening and wrapped towels around and left it overnight. Took a look the next morning and the wood sprung back in to place nearly smacking me in the face at the same time so there's no real set at all. I guess I'll keep adding boiling water and weights and see what happens. If that doesn't work then I may have to resort to the steamer.

In the mean time I've turned the canoe over and have sanded down all the chines so they are nicely rounded and smooth and ready for the final glass tape application.

Gunwales

Took the Tuesday off work to go up to my neighbours woodworking shop. Spent most of the day routing out the drainage slots in the inwhale plus more time routing the edges of both in and outwhales with a nice bevel. Very grateful to Steve for letting me take up his time and tools - couldn't have done it without him.

Got the bits home and started to form them by suspending a bucket with bricks in. Not sure if this is enough so will consult with SoTP and get some answers there. Then spent the evening filleting and glassing the remaining inner bulkhead section.

All-in-all a good day and to cap it off my oldest boy; who's 4, learned to ride his bike without stabilisers plus it was his first day of school so a good day for him too.

Weds - Had a hospital appointment around lunchtime so spent some of the morning painting the remainder of the inside of the canoe with epoxy. The inside is finished now except for fairing and painting. Got the fairing mix delivered today but upon opening the box I found the contents spilled out and all over the place.

Total spent to date £300.

More taping

Filleted and taped the forward bulkhead section. Access is pretty tight so getting a good fillet of glue is quite difficult and I had to resort to using long sticks and pushing the glue in then using my hand to spread it out.

I used a tip found from trawling the SoTP forum re. putting the resin and hardener in a bucket of hot water to get it nice and fluid. This helps when dispensing and works really well, I'd recommend it - just wish I'd found out about it earlier, it would have saved me some time.

Increased the hatch hole sizes in the bulkhead using an angle grinder. Not the right tool for the job but it worked.

Bought some stainless steel M4 button head cap screws to fix the hatches in place. Also bought the wood for the gunwales - just need to persuade my neighbour to lend me his router again so I can add the drain slot features.

Total spend to date £282

Good Friday

Friday was good... I got up really early; in fact it was still dark, so decided to take advantage and start with the final filleting so I could lay tape down. My aim was to finish the area between the bulkheads. This took a whole lot longer than expected and really annoyed my wife who'd got plans to visit the zoo. I explained that once I'd glued I had to continue and put the tape down to get the strongest bond. All up this took about 7 hours.

Off to the zoo.

Glass tape preparation

Forgot to buy some more masking tape so my plan of putting glass tape down was scuppered. Instead I took some time to clean up the tack joints and get rid of the dust etc. I cut the glass tape in lengths and lowered the canoe to a more managable height.

I'm amazed at how rigid the canoe is even though the joints aren't fully glued and no tape present either.

Offered up the deck plates to the holes cut in the bulkheads and even after making them as per recommendation the holes are too small. This is a real pain as I don't have a suitable way of removing the material. I need some kind of cylindrical sander is there is such a thing - off to screwfix to have a look.

Glueing the panels together

I'm now ready to tack the panels together. I mixed the epoxy with Flag resin, taped the outside chines between the copper wire then pushed the epoxy mix from the inside and let it cure - that was Friday evening. On Sunday I removed all the spacers and staples and started to fill a few of the remaining gaps before running out of time.

Also managed to borrow my neighbours router and finished the portage yoke. It still needs to have the edges bevelled but aside from that it's finished.

Cut out the triangular bulkhead panels that fit on top. I placed the front pointy end on a brick then loaded another load of bricks on top to bend the ply so hopefully it will take the shape of the fore and aft of the canoe.

A colleague kindly dropped off my deck plates that I bought from a US supplier. I'll dry fit them this evening to check the hole size in the bulkhead.

Lolly sticks

Spent what little time I had this week continuing to insert the lolly stick spacers between the chines. This whole operation took a lot longer than I expected because at the same time I had to blend the lower bilge panel with the others because of it being too long. This I did with an angle grinder and an old sanding disc which worked pretty well.

I needed a flat surface so I placed the canoe on my ladder which in turn was placed on the trestles and squared up. Used the spirit level to check the flatness and skew of the top panel which for the most part is pretty good. The aft bulkhead was a little high so I placed a couple of bricks on it and left it over night.

*?!** bulkheads

OK - removed the bulkheads again and cut the corners away to allow for clearance of the inwhales when ready. Started to insert my spacers between the chines. These are in the form of cut up lolly sticks. Once inserted the copper wire is twisted to pull the panels together and nipping the stick in place. I've only done a quarter of the boat so far.

Also removed the overhanging lower bilge section previously mentioned using a jigsaw. I then had to remove some material where the panels meet for better fitting.

I think what I'm going to do is to part glue the joins (tack weld) then remove the spacers and wire then properly fillet the joins and tape over the top.

Poor planning

I was looking through some build pictures of other people's canoes, it suddenly dawned on that I haven't removed any material from the bulkheads for the inwhales. So I need to remove them for a second time...

Yet more stitching

Removed the bulkheads and made 6.5" holes in them ready for the inspection covers. They need a bit more finishing but they'll do for the time being. Stitched up all the panels over the weekend and it's now finally looking like a canoe. And it's a big one! In fact that's the first thing my wife said when she saw it.

The lower bilge panels seem to be about a 1cm longer than all the other panels (See first picture) for some reason so I'll have to unstitch the front end and remove this somehow.

Stitched up too

Carried on stitching the panels together. I drilled the bulkheads and mounted them so the bow and stern could be stitched and take some shape. Both lower bilge panels are in and loosely stitched and clipped together - forgot to make the holes in the bulkhead for the hatches so they need to come out again as trying to shape a 6.5" diameter hole in a loose panel won't be easy.

Ordered x2 hatches from a company in the US and am having them delivered to our office north of LA. A couple of colleagues are there on business next week so hopefully they will be delivered in time so they can bring them back for me. Cost of the panels inc. shipping were ~£19.

Total spend so far £268

Stitched up

After glueing and taping the butt joints I cleaned up the excess tape and epoxy and was ready to start stitching the panels together. I made a gauge from a piece of plastic and some M3 cap screws that allowed me to set the drill hole distance in from the panel edge by 6mm and 200mm apart. This helps to ensure the holes line up between the panels.

Drilled the bottom panel and lower bilge panel and stitched them together using copper wire. Only managed one panel as time was getting on so will have to finish the others later.

One thing struck when putting the panel on was that this thing is longggggggggg.

Hoping to order some hatches from a US supplier and get them delivered to my office in the US in time for my manager to pick them up whilst he's over there on business. That way I can cut the holes in the bulkheads for them prior to fitting the bulkheads in the boat.

Good progress made

Busy few days on the canoe front. Took Friday off work to work on the canoe. Original plan was to tape the butt joints but again the dreaded slowness of the epoxy setting put paid to that as it still hadn't cured sufficiently. I decided to call up the supplier who agreed to send me some fast setting hardener FOC if I paid the postage - obviously I was happy with this. The supplier called back to let me know he was in the area on Saturday and could drop by if I wanted. This he did and dropped of the hardener and also some more resin, manufactured by Flag this time which he recommended for gluing and fairing. Paid for the shipping - £10.

In the mean time I still had to fill my Friday so I got some more ply for the centre bulkhead support (that's only fixed in temporarily to keep the shape of the canoe) and the bow and stern bulkheads. I used 5mm WBP for this.

I also got a 1M plank of oak for my portage yoke, the plans of which I got from Jem Watercraft. I also made up a template of the yoke to use for routing the finished article. Oak is really hard and it took ages to cut.

On the Saturday and Sunday I used the fast cure hardener and taped all the joints up. Fast hardener really does work fast!

In the mean time a contact from SoTP forum dropped off the seats I bought from her - which are really nice.

Total spend to date £249.

Don't let your kids in the garage!

I took a lot of time and trouble to measure up and make sure that my butt joints were good. I placed the upper bilge boards over each other and they matched extremely well. The lower bilge panels at the centre were off by about 10mm. The joint wasn't parallel and I remembered that my youngest lad managed to kick the end of the panel just after I had glued it. I didn't check it and I should have so the upshot is I had to cut the glue joint and start again. Extremely annoying as the epoxy is taking a long time to cure off.

Anway hopefully this evening I will do the above joint as well as the ones I still had left to do.

Arranged to get my seats delivered this Friday so am looking forward to that. Also ordered a 100m roll of 75mm glass tape from China Wind Yachts. Also found out from CWY that you can add acrylic paint to the epoxy to give it a colouring. Apparently it's a bit trial and error but I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Waiting for the glue to dry...

After 36hrs of waiting my glue joints still aren't fully cured. This is due to the slowww curing hardener (and the temperature) I was sent. I don't want to move the panels but at the same time I still have a couple more joins to make so would like to get on.

In the mean time I met up with Paul (the picture's his canoe) who's a member of the Open Canoe Association Suffolk Branch who kindly showed me his Selway Fisher Peterborough. He imparted some good advice aswell as some tales of woe. I think I'll change my thoughts about the gunwhale timber and go for the smaller cross section on the outside. Also the inwhales need to have some holes in them so when the canoe is turned over the water has somewhere for it to escape.

What struck me was that the canoe is huge, both length and width and mine will be about a foot or more longer.

Ordered my 75mm tape (a 100m roll) for £24 from CWY.

Total spend to date £239.

Joining the Panels

Because the panels are only effectively half the length of the canoe they have to be joined. I decided to use a butt joint that would be glued using an epoxy and woodflour mix. So Saturday afternoon and Sunday I spent some time laying the panels out in my garage trying to make best use of the space available whilst making sure they were correctly aligned. I did this using the method outlined by JEM Watercraft which seems to work well until one your kids moves comes in and trips over your work.

I carefully read the instructions for mixing the epoxy and priming the pumps and set about trying to get the peanut butter like consistency required. As this was my first attempt I didn't know how much to mix and needless to say mixed too much. Anyway the goop was pushed into the joint and then smoothed out using a spreader. With a plastic bag under and over the glue joint I put a couple of bricks over to make sure the joint comes out flat. Nothing to do now until the epoxy cures.

Got Epoxy

Whilst still recovering from surgery I spent some time searching for places that sold epoxy resin. Eventually ordered some MAS Epoxy from China Wind Yachts. Unfortunately their website is 2 years out of date so the prices quoted are not correct but they are still a bit cheaper than other suppliers. Their kit also includes the metering pumps. I bought some woodflour mix at the same time. Tried to get some 75mm x 100m glass woven tape but that was out of stock, however they did agree to send some out freepost when available.

Also started looking around for some seats - 2 needed. Average price seems to be around £45 a go for the wooden frame/ tape type but I trawled around SoTP and found someone in Norwich who had some home made ones for £25 a go plus shipping. So I'm in the process of sorting that out.

Total spend to date = £215

Work Stops

Off I went to hospital for my op. I had some of my collar bone chisled away plus some other bits scraped away. Left hospital the next day with my arm in a sling and feeling pretty sore. Since nothing was going to happen on the build front I looked for other things to do. So I went down the library and borrowed Path of the Paddle and Thrill of the Paddle by Bill and Paul Mason. Good books that give instruction on paddling technique etc. Did I mention I'm a canoe virgin and need to learn all the basics?

Looked on eBay for a paddle and got a DDR beaver tail for £11 plus shipping. Also bought a book from BuyRights (their marketing slogan is "maykert part of yar Suffolk loif" - make it part of your Suffolk life for those who don't know local Suffolk!) the title of which I don't remember but it's a good colour book with instruction on J and several other strokes.

Total spend so far = £100

Cutting out the panels

Next stage was to cut out the panels themselves. In the mean time my parents had very generously bought me an early birthday present of an electric plane and jigsaw.

I desperately wanted to get the panel cutting done as I was about to undergo some shoulder surgery which would put me out action for a while so full steam ahead. The first panels cut out were used as templates to create the remaining ones required.

Once all the panels were cut out they were matched up and clamped ready for planing in one go.

The planer is very good at creating flat surfaces but is no good for planing down concave surfaces. For this I borrowed a spoke shave which did the job really well.

Marking out

Next stage is to loft the plans. This involves making a series of pencil lines 305mm [12"] apart on the plywood and marking the corresponding points to create the panel shapes. I bought a length of overflow pipe from my local builder's merchant and used some duct tape to hold the shape whilst marking the curves out. This worked out pretty well.

Marking out was done on my dining room table since it was freezing in the garage and took several hours (~5 hours) to do but being an engineer I check every dimension several times just to make sure.

Got Ply

Collected my marine ply from Edens in Norfolk and strapped it to the roof of the car. The price was pretty good at around £13.50 a sheet compared to £25 plus/ sheet from other places. Local timber suppliers just don't seem to stock 4mm marine ply and I ended phoning around loads of places.

Cost of ply including the compulsory small order charge was ~£45.

Total spent so far = £85