14' Strip plank canoe update

This week I have found time to get some canoe work done. It has to go on hold for a month or so and leave the workshop temporarily to make way for another project. This meant getting the gunwales machined and scarfed together (12 separate pieces), details cut out and then bonded onto the hull. I used ash as a local chap has a woodland that he manages sustainably, and he also has all the machinery for felling, cutting and ripping it into planks. After finding timber without any worm and with as few knots as possible we ripped it into 20 mm square strips. We also took advantage of his sliding table on his table saw to cut all the scarfs saving me a lot of time.

Inwale trial fit

The scuppered inwales were made first and bonded in with about 20 clamps and thickened epoxy. Once this was cured the outwales were bent around this new rigid shape.
Next came the stress of some of the heaviest rainfall in the South West in years. This fell on already sodden fields that ran straight off into the stream at the back of the workshop. The sedate trickle turned into a 1.5m deep by 1m channel of water that was tearing by. This was too much for the gulley upstream and it overflowed coming down the road and straight into the yard. Sandbags and ply boards diverted it and disaster was averted saving the canoe from an unplanned launch. Some folks up the road had their houses flooded and were pumped out by the fire service.

Scuppered inwale details

I got back to work the next day and planed the top faces of the new timber flush and put a chamfer, then a round on the outside faces. You could do this before you fit it but it makes clamping to a curved face more awkward. Next up was the thwart to make the structure strong enough to be strapped to the car roof bars. I cut it from a piece of ash I had from a previous project. This was then routered to take the edges off and bolted to the inwales. The bolt heads were sunk into the wood and epoxied in with grain plugs to finish them off. This was then put on top of the car and put in a safe place until I get a chance to finish it. That's it on the canoe for a while as the next project,  a solo sailing dinghy, is in tomorrow. More details to follow...