Skin on Frame Canoe with Cedar

  week of May 16-23   This week was really challenging but I had a lot of fun. Putting the fabric skin on the boat was certainly a challenge but we were able to figure it out. I think that the challenge of working with someone who was equally frustrated as me was not my favorite but we worked through it with only one (mostly accidental) stabbing with a sewing needle. Doing all of the finish along with putting the skin and all finishing touches on in a week felt really good. I think that the achievements that I made this week were awesome and I’m really proud of myself. Being able to actually go canoeing in the boat that I had worked so hard on in the past two weeks was really satisfying. I think that all of my work was really good and I am happy about what I have learned and accomplished. For the rest of my time I want to stitch together a video of the work that I have done and show the process of building the canoe. In the future I would like to paint little daisies on the rub rails t

 The End!  Today I installed the rub rails making sure not to screw them in too far because of the shape it would have cracked. After that we worked on the metal that wrapped around the stems, drilling into the metal and bending it over the decks and around the stem. We screwed that in and clamped in place blocks of wood to put in place of the seat backs for a test run. We took the boat to Hopkinton Pond and paddled around for a bit figuring out where the seat backs should be installed. We got back and installed them with bolts and called it a day.

 Rub Rails Today we worked on the rub rails; milling, sanding, fitting, and finishing. We started by getting my already cut pieces along with the boys’ pieces and we milled them to be a U-shape with the router table. We milled the rub rails for my brother’s boat as well while the router table was out. After that I sanded them down to be smooth and nearly perfectly round. After I was done sanding I planed the ends of the rub rails so that they would be rounded. After that we made sure to fit them to the boat and drill the holes into them where the ribs laid. After lunch I put two coats of finish on them and called it a day. 

 Skin  Today was the big one! It was quite frustrating and long but today we got the skin on. We started by just getting it on and then we laced it up with the sail needles and imitation sinew in order to get it tight. Once tight we stapled the fabric into the out-wale about an inch and a half apart. We then wrapped one side around the end and stapled it and cut it with a sauter gun. After that we wrapped the other side and once again cut it and proceeded to cut all of the excess fabric with the sauter gun after undoing our lacing. We called it a day and went to have lunch before putting the two part urethane coating on.  I was in charge of mixing the batches while my dad rolled them on. After using all of the urethane and putting on five coats we were done for the day.

 More Finish Today was a late start due to a college meeting that I had so I headed down to the shop at 10:40 thinking that I would be doing some research about applying the skin tomorrow. Oh boy was I wrong. When I got there my canoe was outside on sawhorses where I sanded every single piece (for what felt like the millionth time) until it was time for lunch. After a really short lunch we went back to get our second coat of finish on. I completely forgot to take pictures today so here is a funky one that was featured on my private snapchat story. (hours 10:45-12:30 and 1-4 [4.25 hours])

 Finish (first coat) !! Today I started by sawing the excess length of ribs off, with only one injury. (blood: ✔️, sweat: ❌, tears: ❌) I then hand planed the top of the ribs so that they would be flush with both the in- and out-wales. Finally I sanded the top of the in- and out-wales before sanding the entire boat, inside and out. I went and took lunch afterward before we started the process of finishing. After a quick lunch we got to the shop, and turned on a podcast (highly recommend Crime Junkies) and got to finishing everything. This took ages but time flew by and it was actually pretty fun. (worked 8:30-12:30 and 1-4:30 7.5 hours)

 In-wales and the Floor Today was a really neat day because we finished all of the frame work of the boat. We attached one inhale in the morning, it involved an absurd amount of clamps and stress, but only a bit of glue and messing up. First we fitted each end to the decks and then prepared our clamps so that we would be able to connect the in-wale, out-wale, and each of the ribs together with glue. Once done we began on the floor which was actually pretty fun. We fitted, cut, and sanded each piece before we went on our lunch break. After lunch we set up to rivet the floor pieces together before my dad's client arrived for a meeting. I 'harvested' clamps so that after we could attach the second in-wale and cut any loose strings from the lashings that we had done. After the meeting we attached the second in-wale, this time flawlessly and without me messing up, and proceeded to connecting floor pieces. We riveted the pieces together and called it a day, I should be able to ge

  Weekly Reflection  This week has been super cool. I started off really nervous, you know what they say about mixing family and work (don’t.) but working with my dad has been awesome so far and I can tell that he is pumped that I’m interested in his work which is really sweet.The first day i was lost and had no idea what I was doing or but jumped right in hand planing things, it was tricky at first and I kind of hated it but I have actually grown to really like block planes, they’re pretty neat. Once we got the horizontal pieces on the frames I was hesitant once again about steaming the ribs, I was sure that something would go wrong and I might have to restart; I was already stressed about the timeframe. However, (!) everything went super smoothly and I was able to start tying lashings way sooner than I had been expecting. It was really exciting to be able to bring some of my Ocean Classroom knot tying knowledge into it and even teach my dad a little something. The lashings took ages

 Lashings. Today I started nice and early at eight with more lashings, I knew that my brother and his homeschool group would also be in the space today to work on their canoe so I prepared myself for their shenanigans. I started my lashing right away and taped my fingers with hockey tape so that pulling the knots tight would not be as painful. My dad attached the other two sets of stringers with my help throughout the day which was nice. Near the end of the morning the three boys jumped in on tying lashings which helped me a ton and sped me along. (They enjoy  tying knots a lot more than I do.) Today was super monotonous but I made good headway in the 8hours that I worked. (8-12:30 and 1:30-4:30)

 Ribs, Intermediate Ribs, Stringers, and Knots  Today I we finished steaming in the ribs, steamed in all of the intermediate ribs, and were able to attach the first two pairs of stringers. Once the last fourteen ribs were in we decided to also steam the intermediate ribs considering that we already had the steam box up and running. The intermediates were much easier to bend because that do not end up in a full U shape. After everything was steamed we attached the first stringer and I lashing the ribs to the stringer with imitation sinew.  (worked 8-12 1-4:30)

Sanding, Frames, and Ribs Today felt very productive despite being a shorter day. I finished sanding quickly and we got to setting up the frames for the boat, after matching the frames to their spots we attached them and began the stem assemblies. This part has to be quite exact with angles and measurements, the two out wale attach to the decks first which require them to be perfectly centered. we attached them with screws first before glueing them one side at at time. We also attached the stems to the keel in the same order (screws and then add glue). Afterward, we connected the stem and keel piece to the decks and outwales combo, this required more perfect centering and some shaving down of the stems in order to get there right angle. After this we zipped everything to the frames along with the temporary stringers. When we finished this we I was in for a treat, we steamed our first ribs to bend into the frame. We steamed the first ten out of twenty-five ribs and I am happy to report

 Sanding Galore Day two was full of sawdust and nothing else. Starting at eight we made our way to the shop with coffee in hand and I was blissfully oblivious to the amount of hand sanding I would be doing. I started the day by finishing shaping my seat back and proceeded to sand it along with the two decks. After that we milled some of our other pieces; stringers, inwales, outwales, rub rails, and the keel. I began rounding the edges of the inwales and stringers (of course using the special technique given to me). We took a lunch break and when we returned we proceeded to mill the rest of our pieces; ribs and floorboards. I continued my sanding before eventually heading to campus at three for drama tech. I worked six hours today (8:00-12:00 and 1:00-3:00)

Seat Backs, Decks, and Stems  Today my day started with hunting for nice wood in my basement. My dad and I found some really nice pieces of walnut to make my seat backs and decks out of. While I worked on the front and rear stem, my dad worked on the decks, and book-matched the seat backs. I was in charge of planing the front and rear stems to be smooth along with beveling the edges so that the canoe will have a nice shape when we attach the stringers. After I beveled the stems I sanded them making sure that the sides were softened as well so that the cloth on the outside will not chafe once I apply it. After a lunch break I was back at it and my dad had completed shaping the decks and began book matching the walnut for the seat backs and shaping those when I joined in. We finished shaping the seat backs and it was time to call it a day after a total of five hours (9:00-12:00 and 1:00-3:00).