The Finished Canoe

After 9 months and hundreds of hours of work, this is what the canoe looks like.

The only sad part is it is done and now has to be sold. The next project is a 16' Chestnut Prospector. We can't wait!

Varnishing

Randy designed and built the seats. The cane and the birdseye maple yolk were purchased, however.
This is what in the inside of the canoe looked like when the varnishing was completed. Three coats of varnish were put on the inside and outside. Between coats, the surface was wet-sanded using 400 grit sandpaper so that the finish would be perfectly smooth. We used the highest quality high glass marine varnish.

Sanding and Scraping

Once the gunncls were back on, they had to be sanded to prepare them for varnish. All the edges were carefully rounded so they looked and felt great.
Any runs in the epoxy were scraped off using a carriage scraper which is a sharp, thin piece of metal, sort of like a giant razor blade.

Ready for the final varnishing and the finishing touches.

Re-Attaching the Gunnels

The interior gunnels were reattached using screws. The exterior gunnels would cover all the screw holes.
This step required patience and a lot of clamps as the gunnel had to be carefully bent to follow the curves of the canoe.

The bow and stern ends of the gunnels required some creative clamping.

Finishing the Inside

The fiberglass was laid on the inside of the canoe and then cut to 6" short of the actual length. It was trimmed and fit to the stems.

The epoxy was painted over the cloth starting at the middle and working to the stems.

Getting into the narrow spaces at the stems took my smaller hands.

After the epoxy was painted over the whole interior, it was pressed into the cloth with the squeegee and all the excess was removed.

Inner and Outer Wales On

The outer gunnel was attached using 1 1/2" screws that were countersunk. We will make plugs to fill the holes later. The plugged screw holes add to the overall athestic of the canoe. The final sanding on the top side of the gunnel was done by hand, as is all the finishing sanding.

This is a finished deck plate, also made of white ash.

After using cabinet scrapers to remove any runs in the epoxy in the interior of the canoe, it was sanded smooth. At least one more coat of epoxy will be applied to create a perfectly smooth surface.

Scraping runs using a cabinet scraper.

The Inner Gunnel

Randy cut 3 inch pieces of ash to be used as spacers between the inner gunnel and the canoe body.

The spacers were attached to the ash inner gunnel using glue and 5/8" screws. The clamps held the spacers tight to the gunnel while the glue dried.

Here is a completed inner gunnel. We were unable to locate a 16' piece of white ash with which to make the gunnels. Randy spliced 2 12' pieces together using a long taper cup to make each of the inner and out wales.

The inner wale was fitted to the canoe and attached using 3/4" screws. The clamps were used to bend the ash to the shape of the body of the canoe.

The top of the gunnel was sanded to take out any little ridges.