Tea Count 4
Injuries 1 (I sawed by knuckle with a tendon saw, just a graze.)
Time Spent 7 Hours
Stickiness Factor 9582/10 That's very sticky!
Today was one of those days I had been dreading. I was going to sheath the hull of one half with fibre glass cloth. Some people may snigger at the term "sheath" but they're just showing their age. Now I have never done this before. I have read many articles, watched a couple of videos but I was still seriously lacking in confidence. If this bit goes wrong it could pretty much ruin the whole project.
I started early determined to put in a full day. I laid the cloth out across the hull to see what was going to be the best way to do this. The cloth was only a metre wide so I know there would have to be joins but where best to join so they wouldn't be too obvious and require yet more sanding ( I really don't like sanding).
The boss came in and started to assist which was very welcome indeed if not a little tense at times due to the fact that we both know we are correct about everything all the time. The trouble is, more often that not we have opposing views so one of us is bound to be dissappointed and wrong!
Anyhow, imagine laying a bed sheet over a very long curved surface, say something like...oh I dunno, a canoe, and imagine all the wrinkles and folds that will appear as you try to get said sheet to cling tightly to the surface. Now you have an idea of what we were up against. After some warm but not quite heated debate, we decided on the best method of laying the fabric. It's pretty expensive stuff so I had ordered only just enough to complete the job so we couldn't afford much wastage and hence had to cut our cloth accordingly. The pun is intentional.
Pouring the resin onto the fabric did indeed make me very uneasy, however as soon as I started to spread the resin my fears subsided. The cloth almost immediately went from it's normal white opaque state to an almost invisible clear finish. As it did so the resin seeped through the cloth into the wood beneath giving it a varnished look emphasizing it's grain, beautiful.
The weave of the fabric is loose enough so that as you spread the resin across it the fabric moulds itself to the shape of the canoe with no wrinkles, bubbles or creases. The whole job took an hour and thanks to Zena for her poxy mixing!
I'm very excited to see this part of the job done!
More work done today was that of cutting up my eight foot by 38mm by ten inch plank to make the gunwales and bilge runners. The gunwales were routed to give slight roundover to their edges and I temporarily installed the outer gunwales onto half number one. That was fun and games. Bending such a long piece in two directions at the same time was a painful experience with lots of stress on both me and the boat. I can see why people use steamers to bend wood. The inner gunwales will prove even harder as they are nearly twice the depth. Oh deep joy!
It was good catch up today with lots done but I'm still dubious about meeting my self imposed deadline. If I'm not careful I could end up rushing it and build in slightly more "character" than I require. I'll keep you posted. Enjoy the video and come back next week for some more ramblings.
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