Working towards the centre line only now. Am only able to glue two strips at a time as we work toward the centre. I am pondering the technique for planking to a centre line. Method B - I am inclined to run a couple of planks straight down the centre, and cut angles for the curved planks to join in. It seems simpler than trying to cut a perfectly straight line through the rough ends if I fill in one side first ( Method A - as suggested in some books). The thought of making all those ends level and straight with no centre guide to go by seems impractical. It also seems more satisfactory from a structural point of view too, as the more uncut, unglued edges, the smaller the number of weak points in the hull.
I think running two planks down the centre, one on each side of the V on the bottom of the mould (Option B) might be a more effective and efficient method of filling in the final 'hole'. It gives a precise centre line and two full length timbers in a load bearing part of the hull. Glued edges are only between 40% to 20 % of the strength of the timber itself ( depending on the angle of the timbers), so the more full length pieces theoretically the better,. So, I fitted two planks in the centre of the 'gap'. Being carefull, I used string line and temporary markers to make sure the first planks was *really* straight and level. I dont want a boat that has a tendency not to steer straight, and to have a keel that was 'wavy' would have looked just awfull. After all the glue had dried, and the temporary markers and fastenings had been removed - tada!! a lovely straight keel ready to use in the final stages of finishing the hull.
Productive Weekend - 11 February 2007 It has been a good experience to get all the planks to the centreline on the Port side this weekend. ( or is that the Starboard side ? - its hard with a symetrical canoe - I have to decide which end is the front!!!) The next step this week is to to get some fibreglass cloth - the plans say 6 oz cloth on the inside and out, but the shops sell it in grams here in Australia. The distance from the keel to the edge of the boat is .75 mtre so I guess I will need to do two X 5 x 1 metre strips for covering the outside of the hull. I have 4 litres of epoxy resin as well. I had better check if this will be enough. I will ring up to get the conversions sorted out this week. <br />I have started filling and sanding the other side ready for the cloth application. The fibreglassing phase doesnt worry me as I have done a lot of this sort of work in the past on various projects. It looks like I can complete the remainder of the gap in another weekend, if I get organised. The last four planks I put in were all measured and screwed in place, then unscrewed. Then they were replaced with glue in the original positions. This way I dont have to wait for one plank to dry before measuring the next plank as I have been inclined to do.
How much for Fibreglass Cloth and Epoxy Resin 20th Feb 2007
Fibreglass materials - 6 oz cloth is about 200 grams/m2 = and 10 metres can be gotten for ...Quote 1) AU$8.90 per metre. Quote 2) (FGI) AU$7.00 p/m</p> <p>So that makes about AU$90 to AU$70 for the outside covering. It appears I need a minimum of 2 kilos of Epoxy resin (around AU$69), assuming the hull has been pre-coated with epoxy to avoid soakage. I have 4 litres from another job, so I should have plenty.ALSO - I have found a great web site for canoe builders here Same name as me, but much better at building canoes. Well worth a look. FUTURE NOTE - Fibreglass cloth is also available in 1.5 metres wide, and may have been better to use, as it would have covered the gap created in the final application discussed later. Also, the amount of epoxy I used was about 4 times the original estimate. A lot of it gets sanded off between multiple coats.