Bottom Panel Join

Life has not provided much project time lately.  But the other day, I managed to sneak enough time to make the final cut in the bottom panels.  I had misinterpreted the plans, thinking that the bottom of the canoe was formed from a single tortured panel.  It was very confusing, trying to imagine how you could possibly force the plywood to take the shape I knew it needed to take.  Eventually, I realized (thanks, Terry!) that the bottom is actually two panels stitched together at an angle.  It all makes so much more sense now.

Today, favored with good weather and a little free time, I set up my makeshift bench outside and used it to bond the 4 bottom panel halves into 2 bottom panels.   I skipped the boat nails this time, because the shortest bronze ring nails I could get are a little longer than two thicknesses of my plywood.  This made the clamping stage a little bit fiddly, but I made it work by using the arrangement shown in the photo below.

Having sworn last time not to skimp on epoxy when joining panels, I made far too much this time.  It was thickened with ground fiberglass, but it seemed to work acceptably, so I used the remainder to coat the panels.  Spreading it seemed to work the glass fiber out of the mix, so that it behaved more like regular epoxy.  Hopefully, it won't be too messy to sand smooth and recoat later.

The powder/epoxy mix didn't come close to covering the entire surface I had laid out, so I mixed up another batch of plain epoxy and coated everything.  It was the first coat on the bottom panels; I have a couple other pieces waiting for coat #1, and then everything will need a second coat before I can begin stitching things together.

A few other items:

• I scored a Ryobi random-orbit sander for $5 at a church rummage sale.  Random-orbit sanders are optimal for finish work because they produce more regular finshed surfaces than non-random-orbit models.  Great deal!
• My system for hanging the work in the porch ceiling is really poor.  I threaded some rope through pieces of PVC pipe and expected it to stay level as I hoisted it up, but it wants to flip over instead.  I'll need to work out a better answer before too long.
• A friend who's into windsurfing is giving me a 2-piece carbon mast with damage to the joint.  If I can repair the damage, I could have a very light, very strong spar for the crabclaw sail.  I like this idea because it means less weight aloft, which makes it harder to capsize the canoe.  Now I just need another broken windsurfer mast for the other spar....

I'm Back! Also, Prehistoric Pacific Navigation

If you looked at the long lag since my last post, you might think I'd died or given up on the boat or some similar tragedy.  But no, I've just been away off & on since late June, visiting Maine for my grandmother's 90th birthday and, a month later, her funeral.  In between, my wife and I took a few weeks to drive to Maryland and back to visit other family and show the kids around our alma mater.

Along the way, I've been lugging around a copy of We, the Navigators by David Lewis.  It's a scholarly (i.e., thorough and somewhat dry) treatment of the various ways that Pacific seafarers managed to get around without charts, magnetic compasses, or any other modern instruments.  Like any other indigenous culture, it all boils down to thousands of years of accumulated wisdom about surviving in their part of the world.  Such knowledge is difficult to keep alive these days, and not something you can fully understand if you're not of the culture that produced the body of knowledge.

But Lewis sailed thousands of miles with Melanesian, Polynesian and Micronesian navigators to better understand their skills.  He does a great job of breaking down the various facets of their navigational techniques, and explaining each.  I think I got a few ideas that might help me with my much simpler coastal navigation tasks on our next charter. It was also inspiring to see what they were capable of, these people behind the indigenous design I'm building.

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Meanwhile, I've resumed work on the boat.  I epoxied the butt joints in the side panels yesterday, which went... so-so.  I clearly should have used more epoxy; I fear that there are some voids in the joints, but they're not so bad that it would make sense to rip them apart and try again.  Note to self: for critical points in the build, let's not be stingy with the material that keeps the boat together.

I still have the bottom panels to join, and there's a funny story there.  I've been puzzling over the rather extreme flex that's put in the bottom panel, wondering how people manage to do that.  My confusion lasted longer than any reasonably intelligent boat builder could explain.... Eventually, I realized that the bottom panel as I have it cut out is actually supposed to be halved longitudinally.  So I'll be digging out the ol' saw one more time to do that cut, then joining the fore & aft sections of each of the bottom panels with more butt joints next. 

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Finally, I came across a very nice Flickr set from Tom Puchner, an Austrian builder.  I'd seen a photo or two of his Melanesia launch party, but had missed his construction shots.  They're great, as are the very artistic shots from his recent test sail with a new, hollow ama.  Any time I feel my motivation flagging, I'll take a look at the beautiful  photo to the right and let it work its magic: keep at it, and this could be you sailing home as the sun disappears beneath the waves.