Note to Mods If I have placed this in the wrong place,please can you move it as I was not sure if it should go into here or diy.
Apache canoe outfitting.
I ordered my canoe from Stu and arranged to turn up and collect it on sat. As I know nothing about fitting out a canoe and my wood working skills, if I am honest leave a lot to be desired it was going to be an interesting day. After a few phone calls and some hard bartering Stu very kindly agreed to assist with building my canoe with me.
So off to apache canoes on the sat morning very early to give us time to chat the day away and for me to ask all the stupid questions that a newbie doesn’t know. Now at this point I should add that Stu has the patience of a saint and was as eager to answer questions at the end of the day and discuss the finer intricacies of oils and canoe stuff as he was at the start. That was no mean feat as I arrived at the factory at 7.30am and didn’t leave until 9pm. 13 ½ hours of chatting and building later and he was still as eager as ever…this guy is the genuine energiser bunny. I cannot remember the last time I met anybody with as much energy and lust for life. Moving on to the build.
I arrived at 7.30 am to see this
A quick chat about what was going to happen during the build and a quick look around a blue canoe in the making and we was off building. Out came the cutting grinder to level the rough edges from the mould.
Using a jig that looked like a small Christmas tree Stu measured the angle of the first cut to fit the inner gunnels.
Then using the off cut from the first gunnel as a template cut the other side and you will get a join like this.
Add a tempory center yoke to hold the canoe to shape and using quick clamps attach the gunnels in place.
Now to fit the gunnels nice and tight give it a gentle persuade at the other end. After tying the loose ends with a bit of rope.
Now it gets scary DRILLING TIME. Using another nifty little template tool to measure how low the gunnels should be and where to drill, a picky paints a thousand words. Using the template drill and screw into place the inner gunnels on both sides.
At the other end of the canoe we used the off cut from the front end as it had got such a good join. Alas it didn’t work at the other end and we ended up with this.
Not to worry time to make a small peg to fit the hole. Cut the inner gunnels square and find a small piece of wood to place inside to fill the gap.
Trim it down and fit into place while screwing the outer gunnels to the canoe.
Time for the outer gunnels. Measure the outer gunnels against the canoe and mark where the screws are holding the inner gunnels so they don’t clash. Pre-drill and countersink the outer gunnels. As Stu has a workshop set up for this we used a pillar drill but any drill would do it was just easier.
Trim the ends of the outer gunnels so they sit short of the ends of the canoe. Using a short plank of wood as a jig to level the outer with the inner gunnels, screw the gunnels into place.
At this point it should look like this
And we want it to look like this So out with the power sander and trim the fibreglass down to the level of the gunnels.
Using the router to take the edges off the gunnels so when I bash my hand against them it wont hurt as much. The angle of the router is important as it runs on a bearing, which if you are not careful will drop into the screw holes and make a mess of the nice clean lines we are hoping to achieve.
So on the inner gunnels it’s held like this
and on the outer gunnels its held like this
Then Stu cut and shaped my carrying yoke.
And made the end pieces to fit inside the inner gunnels to add strength and look pretty.
Next the handles drilled and screwed into place.
Fit the center yoke
Then get sanding. This stage took hours and hours, as I wanted a glass finish on my wood.
Measure and fit the seats
Then it was home time so we strapped the canoe onto my roof rack and off I went. All that was left to do when I got home was the oiling.
I had a great day and learnt soooooooooo much. I cannot thank Stu enough for his patience, expertise and a great day.
I have no financial connection with Apache canoes. I am just a very very happy customer.
Apache canoe outfitting.
I ordered my canoe from Stu and arranged to turn up and collect it on sat. As I know nothing about fitting out a canoe and my wood working skills, if I am honest leave a lot to be desired it was going to be an interesting day. After a few phone calls and some hard bartering Stu very kindly agreed to assist with building my canoe with me.
So off to apache canoes on the sat morning very early to give us time to chat the day away and for me to ask all the stupid questions that a newbie doesn’t know. Now at this point I should add that Stu has the patience of a saint and was as eager to answer questions at the end of the day and discuss the finer intricacies of oils and canoe stuff as he was at the start. That was no mean feat as I arrived at the factory at 7.30am and didn’t leave until 9pm. 13 ½ hours of chatting and building later and he was still as eager as ever…this guy is the genuine energiser bunny. I cannot remember the last time I met anybody with as much energy and lust for life. Moving on to the build.
I arrived at 7.30 am to see this
A quick chat about what was going to happen during the build and a quick look around a blue canoe in the making and we was off building. Out came the cutting grinder to level the rough edges from the mould.
Using a jig that looked like a small Christmas tree Stu measured the angle of the first cut to fit the inner gunnels.
Then using the off cut from the first gunnel as a template cut the other side and you will get a join like this.
Add a tempory center yoke to hold the canoe to shape and using quick clamps attach the gunnels in place.
Now to fit the gunnels nice and tight give it a gentle persuade at the other end. After tying the loose ends with a bit of rope.
Now it gets scary DRILLING TIME. Using another nifty little template tool to measure how low the gunnels should be and where to drill, a picky paints a thousand words. Using the template drill and screw into place the inner gunnels on both sides.
At the other end of the canoe we used the off cut from the front end as it had got such a good join. Alas it didn’t work at the other end and we ended up with this.
Not to worry time to make a small peg to fit the hole. Cut the inner gunnels square and find a small piece of wood to place inside to fill the gap.
Trim it down and fit into place while screwing the outer gunnels to the canoe.
Time for the outer gunnels. Measure the outer gunnels against the canoe and mark where the screws are holding the inner gunnels so they don’t clash. Pre-drill and countersink the outer gunnels. As Stu has a workshop set up for this we used a pillar drill but any drill would do it was just easier.
Trim the ends of the outer gunnels so they sit short of the ends of the canoe. Using a short plank of wood as a jig to level the outer with the inner gunnels, screw the gunnels into place.
At this point it should look like this
And we want it to look like this So out with the power sander and trim the fibreglass down to the level of the gunnels.
Using the router to take the edges off the gunnels so when I bash my hand against them it wont hurt as much. The angle of the router is important as it runs on a bearing, which if you are not careful will drop into the screw holes and make a mess of the nice clean lines we are hoping to achieve.
So on the inner gunnels it’s held like this
and on the outer gunnels its held like this
Then Stu cut and shaped my carrying yoke.
And made the end pieces to fit inside the inner gunnels to add strength and look pretty.
Next the handles drilled and screwed into place.
Fit the center yoke
Then get sanding. This stage took hours and hours, as I wanted a glass finish on my wood.
Measure and fit the seats
Then it was home time so we strapped the canoe onto my roof rack and off I went. All that was left to do when I got home was the oiling.
I had a great day and learnt soooooooooo much. I cannot thank Stu enough for his patience, expertise and a great day.
I have no financial connection with Apache canoes. I am just a very very happy customer.
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