canoe

sapper1

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 3, 2008
2,572
1
swansea
Just printed off the download for a 14 foot canoe,Going to give it a go. Has anyone done this and if so how did it go and any advice would be welcome.
 

CRAZY FROG

Forager
Aug 9, 2007
170
0
essex
I own a canoe of a same length but it was not a self build one. you will have great satisfaction in building it & even more joy in paddling one., I hope the project goes well for you, can you let us all know how you get on, hopefully with picture of the progress & first paddle.
best of luck
 

durulz

Need to contact Admin...
Jun 9, 2008
1,755
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Elsewhere
Yes. Been thinking of making one myself, so I'd be particularly interested in how it goes.

Regular posts and updates on how the project goes (along with pictures) would be really appreciated.

Best of luck.
 

rigger_john

Member
Sep 23, 2008
37
0
61
leicester
This is the two 6mm plywood sheets cut out with the but blocks ready to be glued in place, I used contact adisive to fick the butt blocks, according to the plans you should use a mixture of wood flour and resin but I didn't have any woodflour.

The second picture shows the but blocks in place held down with some handy bits of garden wall.

The thired picture is the sides held in place with duct tape ready for fibreglass and resin.

I'll upload more pictures later
 

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Intertidal

Forager
Jan 26, 2008
123
0
Cornwall
Sapper,
SoTP forum has loads of info on self builds together with some folks photo-logs of their projects. Well worth a visit and some v knowledgable people too.
I have a 16 foot strip-built on the back-burner, but work on the house takes priority at the mo:(
 

rigger_john

Member
Sep 23, 2008
37
0
61
leicester
1st picture

A detail of the inside resined and the starts of the fillets.

I started to use P38 compound to make the fillets on the inside of the boat, unfortunatly it is very expensive so I gave up on that idea, in the end i got a big bag of sawdust from a local timber place and mixed that with the resin. That gave a much smother result than the picture here. (I'll upload the inproved version latter)

2nd picture

the boat has been resined on the inside and it's now turned over and any gaps are filled with more fibre glass compound, when it's dry it's smoothed off and tapes of fibreglass matting are resined over the edges
 

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durulz

Need to contact Admin...
Jun 9, 2008
1,755
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Elsewhere
Looking good so far.
I remember looking at the plans myself and wondered if the sides would be high enough. But I know bugger all about these things and I'm sure the designing knows what he's doing. I also thought the wood was quite thin, and again wondered if it would be strong enough. But as I say - what do I know.

Really interested to see how you get on with yours. Good for you for having a go. I know when you've completed it and taken it for its first paddle and loved every minute of it I'm going to be really envious. What have costs been like so far?
 

DKW

Forager
Oct 6, 2008
195
0
Denmark
Only thing i am worried about on those plans, is the flat bottom and steep flat sides.
Worried there about stability and handling.

I will look forward to see the endresult and a review
 

rigger_john

Member
Sep 23, 2008
37
0
61
leicester
Looking good so far.
I remember looking at the plans myself and wondered if the sides would be high enough. But I know bugger all about these things and I'm sure the designing knows what he's doing. I also thought the wood was quite thin, and again wondered if it would be strong enough. But as I say - what do I know.

I had my doubts to but after adding the resin fillets/woodflour fillets and the fibreglass tape it's quite stiff, and I've the rub rails and breast hooks to go on yet.

Really interested to see how you get on with yours. Good for you for having a go. I know when you've completed it and taken it for its first paddle and loved every minute of it I'm going to be really envious. What have costs been like so far?

The 2 plywood sheets were about £10 each, I started of buying fibreglass stuff from halfords. but that is stupid as it costs about £5 for 500 ml of resin, and the filler I was going to use for the fillets abou £17 for 600ml which is enough to do about 500mm of fillet.

I found a industrial fibre glass moulding place in yellow pages under "Fibreglass material suppliers" and they sold me all the resin and hardener I needed for £20, in fact they put about 7 lts of resin in an old tub they had lying about and charged me for 5lts, plus they really knew what they were talking about and were very helpful.
 

rigger_john

Member
Sep 23, 2008
37
0
61
leicester
Only thing i am worried about on those plans, is the flat bottom and steep flat sides.
Worried there about stability and handling.

I will look forward to see the endresult and a review

Apparently from what I've read flat bottoms are very stable but don't track too well so I intend to resin a runner on the bottom to help with directional stability, but I'll let you all know when I get it wet.
 

rigger_john

Member
Sep 23, 2008
37
0
61
leicester
1st picture
Coating the outside with resin

2nd picture
Adding new fillets to the inside seams, these were made using resin mixed with sawdust from a local place, they gave me a big bag full for the price of taking it away :)

3rd Picture

the fillets wetted out with more resin

4th Picture

The fillets at the pointy end (note proper use of nautical terms)

5th Picture

Adding tapes to the out side seams
 

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DKW

Forager
Oct 6, 2008
195
0
Denmark
Apparently from what I've read flat bottoms are very stable but don't track too well so I intend to resin a runner on the bottom to help with directional stability, but I'll let you all know when I get it wet.

About stability i was thinking more in the lines of contact with underwaterdebris or dropping something heavy into the canoe. ;)
 

sapper1

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 3, 2008
2,572
1
swansea
John, what sort of timescale are we looking at from marking out to the stage in the last picture?
 

rigger_john

Member
Sep 23, 2008
37
0
61
leicester
John, what sort of timescale are we looking at from marking out to the stage in the last picture?

Well what I've done so far has taken about 3 evening sessions, so about 12 or 14 hours, but that has beenover 4 weeks because of weather (I'm doing it in the garden) and sometimes you just don't have good weather when you have time.

It seems that work ect often gets in the way of my life :)

I rekcon about the same again will finish it.
 

sapper1

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 3, 2008
2,572
1
swansea
Just waiting for the kids to go back to school on monday then I can make a start.
 

rigger_john

Member
Sep 23, 2008
37
0
61
leicester
About stability i was thinking more in the lines of contact with underwaterdebris or dropping something heavy into the canoe. ;)

Fair point, well presented. I understand that flat bottoms sit very high in the water so the chances of contact with underwater stuff "should" be reduced, as for dropping heavy stuff in I don't suppose it will be worse than a skinned canoe, but not as as good maybe as a solid fibreglass one.

In truth I don't know because this is the first canoe I have ever built and my experiance is limited to kyaks.
 

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