Thread: WRC Canoe

I get the impression from your comments and your pictures, that you used epoxy to glue the strips together. That is a bit unusual. As the timber is encapsulated in glass and resin, there is no need to use expensive, slow setting, messy epoxy to join the strips. The normal procedure is to just use normal wood glue.

I realise that information is not much help to you at this stage of construction.

There should be no need to do anything about those tiny air bubbles. The epoxy used to wet out the glass should fill them. A lot of people apply a fill coat to the timber before putting the glass on and there are good arguments for doing that. That filler coat should give you an idea of how the little holes will fill. The epoxy used to wet out the glass will do an even better job of filling.

Hi Rob,

From where I sit that's a fine job you've done. As a strip build wannabe I must say that if all I have to worry about when I finally get to it is holes like those then I'll be very happy. I understand that even staple holes don't need to be filled but many people do so for aesthetic reasons.

If you have any earlier progress photos I 'd like to see a bit of a build log (a few others here may be interested as well).

Good luck with the rest of it and let us see how the glassing & fit out go.

Hi Bob
Yep no wood master but seem to muddle my way thru
as long as im wood working im a happy chap
The other half reckons shes a canoe widow ! You get that with the big jobs
Have included some progress photos in the construction of the canoe
do you like the one with the nutmeg pidgion just working away on the canoe in it came
sat with me all day in the later part of the day just took off
Many thanks for the intrest

Hi Rob
I've just glassed outside of my Bob's Special, Don't know whether you've bought yout cloth yet, found that the only retail supplier of 1.4m wide cloth is Boatcraft Pacific, enables you to use one piece instead of 2 pieces and joining down the keel. Found that minor holes like yours filled with exopxy and are not noticeable. Now scaping/sanding out the inside...
cheers David

Yes, fill all the depressions (the one's on the boat, not your personal demons), fix dings, divots and any other surface defects, before applying the fabric. The smoother the surface before you epoxy the cloth down, the prettier the result (always).

Using epoxy for the strips, is a good idea and is generally recommended, because it's gap filling. Whereas regular wood glues like plastic resin or carpenters glue aren't. Also some of these glues, such as the PVA's, don't let epoxy stick to it very well, which can cause trouble with the sheathing later in the build.

You look like you've followed directions well and have done a fine job of her. The rule is, make the surface as pretty as you want it to appear under the fabric. If it's to be a clear finish, then it goes without saying, the surface needs to be free of defects or they'll all be visible under the cloth, with no good way of fixing it other then putty and paint.