Cedar Strip Canoe Build # 32 Filling Ends, And Gaps
Finally back at it. It was 33 degrees in the shop this morning so I fired up the wood stove. The shop quickly filled with smoke. Guess it's time to clean the chimney. Anyway, I got the thing cleaned out, and the place aired out, and it was about 1:00 before the temp got up enough to epoxy. I did the ends first. If you've been following along you may have figured out that this type of canoe does not have hardwood stems. In order to give the ends more strength I will fill them with epoxy. This also makes the points look better. I add silica and cedar sawdust to the mix to thicken it. It needs a lot to thicken it enough to stay put, the ends are vertical in places and you don't want the mix to run down to the bottom.
This is what you're looking for.
This is what we are starting with.
Here are the 'tools' I do this with. The narrow one is a piece of canoe strip, and the wide one is an old paint stirrer.
Round the ends and they work great. Use the smaller one to carry the mix to the ends.
The bigger stick smooth's it out.
You may notice that I didn't go all the way up to the edge. I leave about an inch at the top to leave room for the decks.
Once you're done, keep checking to be sure the mix doesn't slump. If it does you need to smooth it out before it gets too hard to level out. I used the leftover mix to start filling gaps.
Well folks, due to running errands this morning, and smoking myself out of the shop, that's all I got done today. I plan on going out early tomorrow and getting the heat started. That's the problem with epoxy, you need the temp to get well into the 70's before starting. If all goes well I'll have an update tomorrow evening. See you then.
Finally back at it. It was 33 degrees in the shop this morning so I fired up the wood stove. The shop quickly filled with smoke. Guess it's time to clean the chimney. Anyway, I got the thing cleaned out, and the place aired out, and it was about 1:00 before the temp got up enough to epoxy. I did the ends first. If you've been following along you may have figured out that this type of canoe does not have hardwood stems. In order to give the ends more strength I will fill them with epoxy. This also makes the points look better. I add silica and cedar sawdust to the mix to thicken it. It needs a lot to thicken it enough to stay put, the ends are vertical in places and you don't want the mix to run down to the bottom.
This is what you're looking for.
This is what we are starting with.
Here are the 'tools' I do this with. The narrow one is a piece of canoe strip, and the wide one is an old paint stirrer.
Round the ends and they work great. Use the smaller one to carry the mix to the ends.
The bigger stick smooth's it out.
You may notice that I didn't go all the way up to the edge. I leave about an inch at the top to leave room for the decks.
Once you're done, keep checking to be sure the mix doesn't slump. If it does you need to smooth it out before it gets too hard to level out. I used the leftover mix to start filling gaps.
Well folks, due to running errands this morning, and smoking myself out of the shop, that's all I got done today. I plan on going out early tomorrow and getting the heat started. That's the problem with epoxy, you need the temp to get well into the 70's before starting. If all goes well I'll have an update tomorrow evening. See you then.