It’s looking more and more like a boat.
The covering boards, or long decks, cover the spaces between the sheer clamps and the long carlins. They are made from book matched resawn cedar slices finished to 3/16 inch thickness. Their undersides are sealed with a coat of epoxy. They are attached with epoxy and brass escutcheon pins.
After attaching the covering boards, four knees are added as additional framing for the short decks. They are spruce. Epoxied and screwed to the bulkheads and long carlins.
The upper short decks complete the closing of the watertight compartments. They too are made from book matched resawn cedar slices finished to 3/16 inch thickness. Their undersides are sealed with epoxy. They are attached with simple household caulk and screws. No epoxy here because they might need to be removed occasionally.
Being a slow and deliberate builder is paying off. All of the recent work has moved along well with no time spent in the moaning chair. Most pleasing was avoiding inadvertent damage to the very thin very pointy ends of the upper deck boards.
Next come:
- Coamings
- False stems
- Backrest (The seat is the bottom of the boat, no raised seat in this canoe.)
- Footrest
- Finishing (outside painted, inside and decks “bright”)
All of that will wait a few weeks while we do something else.
Really looking good, Bob. Been following your build for a while now. Looking forward to see how you finish it up.
Wow, looks great Bob. Those decks will be fantastic bright – is book matching standard? Is it for aesthetics, or just a practical way of getting two mirror image pieces?
Hi again Dan.
I don’t know if its “standard,” but I do see book matching very frequently on small boats and canoes. Look for it on small decks like these and on breast hooks.
Book matching is a chicken and egg question. I don’t know which comes first the desire to conserve lumber by resawing, or the desire for the aesthetics of mirror images. Whichever, the results are a win-win. Except for the mirrored knots. ;}
This is about as fancy as we’ll get with this boat. Some other boat might want some nice moldings. That’s when I’ll want to borrow some of your wonderful planes.