A stitch up!

Had to bring the planks out of the tent to do this bit as was a tad warm! With out any eight in the middle the ends drop right down and push the middle of the sides in.

My wife came home just in time to hold the planks in place while I put a few stiches on. I also found it neseccery to cut a spacer bar for the middle so that I could get the right curves on the planks and hold every thing in the right spot.

Yes...I ran out of stihes (7 short in the end!) Should be ok though, but will probably buy some more wire tomorrow as I recon I will break a few when I tighten them up to form the correct shape.

This is the result of badly cut out plank! I will have to cut a bit off so that they fit tigeather better. So far though that is the only bit that needs attention
Just putting the last touches on and it finally looks like a canoe!! Quite impressed and a bit smug really! Will def mess the next bit up now...Karma!

Whats in a Name?

When the joints had set I painted on the name as I figured that would be easier than doing it when its all bent in to shape
Also started to build the compartment that the ipod will go in. I decided to put a shelf in as that will mean a space for phones and wallets too!

Start Epoxy and Taping

So....Just got back from a long weekend camping on the isle of wight.. Whilst there I was pondering how I was going to have enough space to put this canoe togeather.........

I have there fore taken over half the garden and designated it a no-dog no-girl zone....(we will see how long that lasts!)


Was hoping to do one side all at once but not really enough space and I would prefer not to squash in and mess it up. (Found a use for the weights set that has been in one of the sheds for a few years!)

All lined up, clamped to the stands I built at either end, clamped to the table, weighted down...should be enough

Epoxy and tape on. The epoxy didn't go as thick as I though it would, was more runny than I expected, but it still felt thick when I brushed it on. Made sure the tape had no bubbles and tried not to over kill the epoxy as the whole lot will be covered eventually anyway.

Two 'plunges' of each bottle from china wind yachts MAS epoxy was enough to cover the photo above

Bulkhead Hatch

I have decided to have the watertight compartment for the ipod and other bits in the bulkhead rather than have the opening in the top. The Solar pannel will still be on the top so it can get the best sun, but I would prefer that to be the only part fully visable.

Hatch was bought from Fyne boats (about £15) and is 6" wide, plenty to get your hand in.

Solar powered Ipod Charger

This is what happens when I get left alone for too long....

I started thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice to have some music whilst we are out and about.." Now the Ipod Nano I have is only good for about 5hrs, which won't be much use over a few days paddling. So I started researching and came up with the below diagram.

I managed to get a few garden lamps and set about taking them apart...

Straight away though it was obvious that they would not kick out enough power. The Ipod needs a steady 5v to charge and one of these pannels was only kicking out about 1.5v

I needed a re think. I ended up biting the bullet and ordering a decent 13cm x 13cm 6v 250mah and whilst waiting for it to arrive built the Minty boost kit that had already arrived.

The solar pannel came a few days later and I have tested it, in shade and a dim overcast day, it easily kickis out 6v so will be perfect. I am just waiting for a couple of JST connectors to arrive and the whole thing will be ready to build in as the canoe comes togeather.

Have had a re think and also bought a small amplifier (18w) which should be plenty and have now re done the diagram as follows..

Also found a some tactile transducers, which might work great hidden inside the bulk head and mean less hole cutting....we shall see!

Trying to choose how to paint name

I have tried a few styles of writing for the name.

Currently think the bottom one but that could change!!

Stitches ready

£1.50 roll of garden wire from the South England Show on Friday,

cut up into 15cm lengths in front of the TV last night.

Easy as that.

Not sure if they are too long, or if I have enough. I can always cut them in half, but also have a load of very thin cable ties so can always use them as well.

Sanding and Stitch holes

Ended up buying a cheap belt Sander for £20 from B&Q, Don't expect it to last forever and have no use for it (House renovations completed!) after the build of this canoe.

Boards ready for sanding back. Ended up clamping them to the stands which worked ok. Found it easier with a bit of weight across the stands to keep them planted.

Quite a few 'wiggles' in the wood from cutting out, sanded as best as possible, the real test will be how well they line up when stitching but look fine over all.

To mark out the stitch holes I made a very basic template out of some off cut hardboard.

Worked great, started 7 cm from the middle ends of each board and marked 1cm in at 15cm intervals.

Drilled with a 2mm bit and light sand off.

Cutting out the boards

I clamped all four boards together so that I could use the drawn out plans from the one board and cut them all out in one go

DOH!! after about 30cm of cutting the new fine blade popped out of the Jigsaw. I checked it against the original and found that I had bought the wrong type of blade..idiot! Quick trip to B&Q...

Soon back on track. Cutting through all four boards is hard work! The saw blade kept getting really hot and that meant I had to keep stopping. Not for long though and I still think it was quicker than cutting them all individually.

Once all the side panels were cut out I removed two of the remaining boards and then cut out the bottom of the canoe. This was much easier, halving the thickness made a massive difference.

The finished product! As I cut them I attached clamps so none of the boards have moved at all from cutting. This will mean that when I plain/sand them down they will already be lined up.

Marking out

0900 hours ready to get started, strong Coffee and sunshine! Above are the tools I used.

Good use for the clamps. Held down the tape measure whilst I marked out each station

Marking the Stations out. I made a few mistakes here, mostly taking the readings from the wrong stations but at least I noticed the mistakes before it was too late. Just took it nice and slow. I think I spent about 3 hours marking the board out completely.

I laminated the diagrams for the curves so I can use them again if needed. Also with the laminate on I can tape them to the boards and still peal them off easily. Being thicker means they can be drawn around much easier as well!

Laminated templates stuck to the boards before tracing (A bit out of focus, sorry!)

Finally putting in the curves and joining the dots. I had to get my wife to give me a hand here. I know I could have used nails but with an extra pair of hands available this was very easy.

Picked up wood today! woohoo!

Picked up the wood today from SL Hardwoods in Croydon.

Nice and easy, straight on the car and home! Thought I would wrap them up to keep the rain off!


The wife even helped me get it off the car

Although she wouldn't let me put it in the house (Yet)

Ply looks ok, not great! Its got a thick centre with two quite thin outer sides. Holes in the picture are not deep but there are a few surfaces that have chunks missing.



Not enough to effect this project or to make me consider returning them but it is noticeable that this is the 'cheaper' product they stock.



Got 6 mm in the end and was surprised (Don't know why!) how thin it looks. My first thoughts were I will never float in something made outta that!



Well, next step drawing out the plans I guess!

Built some stands today

Thought I would build a few stands in preparation for the beginning of the build.

Nice having scrap wood lying around in the shed!

Couple of fence posts I pulled out of the garden have done the job nicely!

Ordered wood and Bought a few Clamps!!

20 x 150 mm silverline Bar clamps for £29.39...

Gotta love Ebay. But they did take over a week to arrive!

Also ordered the wood from SL Hardwoods.

£85 for 4 x 6mm Marine Ply

But once again their website was incorrect as it shows 'no vat' to be added on the wood but when I spoke to the shop assistant he tells me that vat is not included and its a mistake on their web site (again) so not the 73ish quid I was expecting to pay.

Ah well its not a massive amount of difference and the wood is at least ordered but it would be good if they got their story straight! lol

SL Hardwoods Have 'updated' their options!

Checked the SL Hardwoods site today and they have completely changed the wood types and options available, not to mention the price!

Gaboon has now shot up to £32.67 for 4mm sheets so and £62 for 6mm, not impressed!! Kind of makes sense why the sales assistant didn't have any clue about the sheets I was asking about. Hes has obviously given their web guys a few choice words as he was very confused lol.

I guess I will be going with the Far Eastern WBP BS1088 which is £18.24 for 6mm. Ends up that I will actually be paying £72 ish for 4 sheets instead of £115 I was going to for the better quality stuff. Suppose that's their loos then as I end up with 6mm instead of 4mm for £30 less.

I will be picking it up on Friday so best order it tomorrow to be sure its there (And before they change the price again)

So.. note to self, if you find a good price product, buy it before the seller works it out! lol