Peace Canoe Blog

A Few More of the Final Product

2008-07-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Too long???? Never......

Paddling with Grammy, Jenn and Larkin

It Floats!!!!

2008-07-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

We finally got to launch the Peace Canoe up at Lake Tahoe! We joined the Livermore family at Dairy Creek and decided that this was the perfect time and place to launch. The weather was perfect, we had friends and family around and we were in one of the most magnificent settings anywhere.
She performed magnificently, only one inconsequential leak (about a cup of water every fifteen minutes).
Phin was so excited that he promptly fell asleep while sitting up and tipped over backwards about twenty yards from shore. Good thing he had on his modified Mae West life jacket which saved him from a serious thump on the melon.
What a great way to celebrate a great family project (and the end of residency, for that matter).

Many thanks to all who helped build and encouraged us on our first boat project.

Joe Cool (just before launch and falling asleep at the paddle)

If we shoot for the swim platform, we can always abandon ship there....

Aloha vs Unicorns and Rainbows

2008-01-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

"Unicorns with rainbows!" That was the very enthusiastic reply by Larkin as to what she thought the motif of the canoe should be. We had a family vote and a pink and blue hibiscus theme out-voted the My-pretty-pony theme. Thank goodness.
We masked four panels to paint inside. One on either side of the bow and one on either side of the stern.
This is a hibiscus stencil we got on ebay for just a couple of dollars. We applied it to a piece of card stock and then cut it out. Using just enough paint to keep the brush damp was the trick so that it did not run.
We will start on the blue next weekend. Then a bow and stern grab loop (with a bit of fancy work, possibly), and we are ready to hit the water in the spring.

Ready for Decoration!

2008-01-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

Cold, rainy day here in Sacto. The kids and I got some work done on the decorative side of painting.

Paint

2008-01-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

After sanding the boat down with an angle grinder (best done outside the garage, by the way. My whole garage including bikes and tool are covered with a layer of okume dust....) we are on the the paint. Looks like it is going to take two coats and then the decorative painting. I am using porch paint from the local big box.
Getting under the seats has been the biggest challenge, but a ruler taped to a foam brush did the trick.

Success!

2008-01-06T09:04:00.001-08:00

Once again, neighbor Rick came to the rescue with cold beer and we figured out a solution to the split/disconnected chine log.
I went down to Home Despot and picked up some 1x2 and we ran a strip down the inside (on the inboard side) of each chine/hull interface so the hull panel is now sandwiched between the chine log on the exterior and the new 1x2 on the interior. We used screws and adhesive and it worked beautifully. It even looks stout enough that I could think about adding a set of oar locks to really get the Peace Canoe moving in the water. And it adds a nice place to be able grab the boat and move it around.

Help!

2007-10-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

I had a sheer clamp split while I was nailing it and also found that it had slipped with the outward pressure the curve of the hull was providing. In the bottom picture you can see the dogleg that it takes. Unfortunately the same thing happened to another scarf joint on the same side.
My neighborhood consultants, Rick, who can restore a Norton with his eyes closed, and Marty, cabinet maker extraordinaire, and I stood around and scratched our heads.
The best solution we could come up with was to get another piece of pine and nail and glue it along the outside of the hull up tight against the sheer log. I could get nails into both the sheer clamp as well as through the plywood which will allow it to regain it's natural girlish figure. (And she does have a beautiful shape when you sight down the bow or stern) I would bevel the ends of this second sheer clamp and make it about eight or ten feet long to be able to pick up both of the scarf joints I blew out. A matching second sheer clamp will be put on the other side, just for symmetry.
Anyone have any thoughts?? If you have run into this or have any suggestions, I am open to hearing what you have to say.

Boat Assistants

2007-10-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

Got the bottom laid down and nailed without much difficulty. We had just enough adhesive to lay down a bead on the interior to really make a good seal.

I was down at the local Big Box (Home Depot, in this case) and found that they carry the 3M adhesive, both fast and slow cure in smaller tubes. Nice to be able to pick-up a backup tube.

Bottom's Up!

2007-10-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Laying down some adhesive for the bottom. Pretty self-explanatory.

Trimming the Bottom

2007-10-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Used a drywall T-square and the plane as well as the Shinto rasp to trim up the bottom. This was a pretty easy task, all-in-all. I learned a lot about how to work a plane properly.

Closing the gap!

2007-10-05T18:00:00.001-07:00

Self-explanatory.

Gapalicious!

2007-10-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to start planing the chines (or is it the sheer clamp, maybe I should stop qualifying sniffing glue as a recreational sport.....) and I realized I needed to do something about the gaps that I had not taken care of.
I just filled the gap with some adhesive, used a clamp and called it good. Should take care of itself, no problem.

Boat Floatin' Foam

2007-10-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

Got the foam laid in today. Got the only stuff that the local Big Box (home despot). Pretty simply to just cut it, glue it and call it good.
We should be able to go deeper than a toddlers knees in water cooler than bath water with this added floatation.

Stern Shot

2007-09-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of the stern with the stem still run wild. We will trim the stems, both the chine log and the sheer clamp sides at the next stage.
Up at the bow I had some trouble getting the last hull panel to lay completely flat with on the stem. The seal was good, so I just added a little extra glue to make it flush. With a coat of paint it should look great.
I did have a couple of places where the long screws go through the chine log, the hull panel and into the stem where the chine log started to split. I just backed the screw out a quarter of a turn and made sure all of the other screws were tight and the issue seems to have resolved. If you look carefully at this picture you can see one of those splits.

Is that a boat in your garage or are you just happy to see me???

2007-09-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

There it is. A boat. That we (mostly) built. In our garage. How cool is that??

What the Hull?????

2007-09-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here is my photo-shy wife cleaning up my exuberant gluing.
We used an NRS compressions strap (I wrote a bit about their utility on Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools Blog) to bring the two halves of the hull together. This allowed for less yogic contortions.

Stems are on, bringing the hull together

2007-09-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

The stems for the bow and stern have been attached and the seats are all on the other half of the hull.
Now it is time to start bringing the two halves together. This collection of glue, wood and nails might actually start to look like a boat sometime soon.

Seat attached to the hull

2007-09-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Pretty self-explanatory. Here is the first seat screwed and glued to the hull. I used a 1/8 inch bit for the pilot holes and a 9/32" bit for the counter sinking.

That's raspy!

2007-09-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Prior to this project I have never owned a woodworkers rasp. Wow, my life was incomplete! What a tool! There are two sides, one for removing more material, the other for less. For trimming the seat pillars there couldn't be a better tool.

Tip: Get a Shinto rasp! You will thank yourself. (Mine came right from CLC with the boat order and it is worth every penny.)

Give yourself a hand!

2007-09-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here you can see I nailed a piece of 1x2 into my work bench and then used that to stabilize the seat as I worked on it. This made assembling the seats much easier. If you look carefully you can see where the pillar (for lack of a better word) is a little longer than the seat. This is where you rasp/plane comes into play. The angle of the seat is the angle you trim the pillar down to to match the contour of the hull.
Tip: Give yourself a hand and nail a helper into your workbench during seat construction.

We're Baaaaack!

2007-09-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

After a couple of weeks off due to vacation and travelling for work we were back at it this weekend.
We built the seats, installed them first on one side and then the other, added the stems to both the bow and stern and screwed it all together.
Here is Larkin putting in some nails on one of the seats.

A few more glue tips

2007-08-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

Tip: Use a short piece of 2x4 to keep the boat up above the adhesive on the chine log/sheer clamp while you are nailing it from the middle. This allows you to keep the glue from getting smeared all over the hull panel.

Tip: Clean it up when you are finished nailing. We got sidetracked a crying, hungry one year old and left a couple of good sized smears of adhesive on the hull panels. A full paint job is obviously in store for this Peace Canoe!

Adhesive Advice

2007-08-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

The wedges that CLC uses to pack the chine log sections and the sheer clamps make nice adhesive spreaders. Today we are spreading the adhesive prior to nailing. I think this is going to give us better adhesion.
Tip: Use the included wedges/shims for adhesive spreaders.

Trust me, get the gloves!

2007-08-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

Do yourself a favor, get a box of gloves for anyone helping on the canoe. You will thank yourself. I was picking adhesive from my fingers for days after my last building session.

Ready for more chine log and sheer clamp

2007-08-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

We got the time this morning to nail and glue the second side chine log and the sheer clamp.
I pulled out a tube of glue that I opened two weeks ago and it was still good. I had put an uncut nozzle back on it and that kept it from curing.

Check out the curve in the sheer clamp, it was surprisingly easy to form with two sets of hands.

Tip: Keep one tip from the adhesive tubes uncut and use it to cap unfinished tubes. It works.

Lots of glue!

2007-08-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here you see us nailing the sheer clamp. The glue that CLC sends with the kit is some tenacious stuff, made for through-hull fittings. I was pretty generous with my nailing and I am starting to think I may need another box of nails, but we will see about this as I progress.

Tip: Keep a roll of paper towels around for gluing, the stuff can make a serious mess.
Tip: Get some disposable rubber gloves, you will thank yourself.
Tip: If you can use the same nozzle from one tube of adhesive on another tube, you will have a spare, uncut nozzle that you can put on the seal off an opened tube that you did not finish off.

Nailing the Chine Log

2007-08-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here is neighbor Rick (poor sucker didn't know what he was getting into when he stopped by to see how things were going; two hours, a chine log and a sheer clamp later I released him back to his family.....) as we nail down the sheer clamp.
You can see how the chine log is run long, we will cut it flush later. The same goes for the sheer clamp.

Bending over nail ends

2007-08-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here we are bending over the ends of the nails that stick through. This is the inside of the floor of the boat. Larkin was my nail-finder: "Hey Dad, there's one here, get it. Hey Dad, there's one here, get it!....."
See how the butt plates for the bottom stop the inside of the edges? That is where the sides sit and you nail through the bottom into the chine log. It all starts to make sense and it is apparent how much thought went into designing this boat.

Keel Work

2007-08-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Laying down the keel under the supervision of Phin. This is where keeping the cardboard panels around came in handy.

2007-08-14T20:35:00.001-07:00

The bottom side of the floor with the keel laid on top.

-Tip: make sure the joints of the floor panels are not on top of the panels of the keel. This will ensure the strongest joints.

Assembling the floor

2007-08-14T20:34:00.001-07:00

Larkin with the floor. Once again, it is so easy a kid can, and will want to, do it!

Nailing the butt plate to the side panels

2007-08-14T20:30:00.001-07:00

Emily and Larkin nailing the first butt plate to the side panel. They are nailing on the side of the panel that will become the outside. The nails are a little long for two layers of 1/4" plywood, but they bend over just fine.
Tip: remember that you can bend the nail over so it is laying down with the grain of the wood, this way there will be fewer strands of wood fiber that stop the tail of the nail from laying down.

Butt plate goes down

2007-08-14T20:27:00.001-07:00

Getting ready to glue the first butt plate. They come with predrilled holes so you know which way they go in relation to the side panels

Jigsaw puzzle panels

2007-08-14T20:24:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of the side panels prior to gluing them together. They fit very well, the cuts, just like all of the kit, were right on the money.

Laying out panels

2007-08-14T20:22:00.001-07:00

Laying out the panels. Make sure to save to cardboard panels your kit was shipped in. They come in handy laying out your panels.

2007-08-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

The glue and a plane

2007-08-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

The tubes of adhesive and the plane I ordered. I also picked up a pull saw as well as a rasp. All good investments that are going to last a lifetime and I plan on willing to my kids.

Unpacking the kit.

2007-08-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

The kit came very well packed, everything came as promised. CLC shipped it quickly and once you open the kit you realize that everything they say in their ads, catalog and the web site it true. This thing is obviously well thought out just as well constructed.

Welcome to the Peace Canoe Blog!

2007-08-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

My family and I are in the process of building a Chesapeake Light Craft Peace Canoe!
I thought I would blog what we are doing and give you my opinions on the building process and the final product.

So far we have unpacked the kit, assembled the side panels with their butt plates, assembled the floor with the butt plates and the keel and laid the chine log and sheer clamp onto one of the side panels. We did this in about 7 hours of my time, a couple of hours of my wife's time and a couple of hours of a neighbor's time. Larkin, my (almost) five year old helped and Phin, the one year old supervised.

Below are some of our pictures of the first day.
I will keep adding pictures and descriptions as we make progress. I will leave the blog open for comments so that people can trade their experiences, leave tips for others and just enjoy the overall community of Peace Canoeists out there.