First Epoxy coat on Hull

Whilst the Epoxy on the front tapes was still wet I figure I may as well put a coat over the whole hull so the complete coat is even.

I will now leave for a few days so properly cure

Taped the front

Wasn't sure which way to put the tape on here. First time I did it I tried to cut it to shape better but that got really messy with stringy bits of glass fiber everywhere.

Ended up running it length ways and spent sometime smoothing it down with epoxy and a brush (and a filleting stick and my fingers ) which was a bit fiddly but I think it will be OK

Hull sanded down

Hull all sanded down, took a few hours but love the electric belt sander.

Looks ok hope there are not too many white spots where the epoxy hasn't been sanded off properly

Outside Seams filled

Now just sand it down when its dry

Boat flipped

Flipped over the canoe and began sanding down the ends
Looks good! Need to tape the ends to strengthen

Taping the Seams

Taping the inside seams. Pain in the But! Its quite annoying this bit, I found that you have to spend a lot of time smoothing the tape to get air bubbles out, I guess its worth it to make a good bond.

When the tapes were done I used a roller to put a first coat of epoxy through the inside so I can turn it over and start on the out side seams.
Once the Epoxy is on the inside it goes quite alot darker, which is good as it is much more pleasing to the eye.

More Sanding

Sanded down the seams which took ages. Used about 3 sheets of snad paper. I will remember for next time to be a bit ore careful with the epoxy.

Epoxy fillets done and Stiches removed

The stiches are in and the epoxy is being applied to the spaces. Two seams done, one more to go!

All completed. I tied some string to either end and marked the centre point on the stretcher bar in the middle. Its all true, so far so good.

Then I realised that the bulk heads would be a good idea, so stuffed them in. In the process I messed up a bit of the epoxy, which was starting to cure and swore quite a bit. Difficult to know if they should be in or out as I don't want them stuck in as I still need to tape the inside seams, so the bulk heads will have to come out again.

In hind sight I would not Epoxy that area (Where the bulk head will be) and treat it as a long gap.
(Incidental the spots that didn't have any stitches in were 45 cm long and were fine, but I wouldn't want to leave that much gap on a high stress area)

Left for a few days and took out the sitches......It stayed together..Yay!

Cut another two stretcher bars and put them in place of the bulk heads. This should be OK as the shape seemed to stay the same.

I didn't want to put any more holes in than necessary but I have had to. At least they are at the top where the Gunwales will cover them up.

Ipod charger completed

The speakers have arrived!! as they are actualy tactile transducers they do not need to have any grill in front of them, infact they need to have a decent piece of wood to be attached to.

They will be epoxy'd to the base of each bulk head

As you can see they are not all that big, but heavier than I expected

The destructions recomend at least a half inch thickness so two 6mm ply should be about right

This is the final bit of soldering to the 'minty boost kit'

Then it is just a case of pluging in the mintyboost and the battery in to the charger board. You can se the USB out to the Ipod (or phone etc). The third empty slot on the charger board is for the solar pannel.

This is it all plugged in an charging, inside on an overcast day.

Finnaly when it is all packed in to a simple case I picked up from Maplin it look pretty neat. I will be able to water proof the back of the solar pannel and the seams of the 'black box' easily enough.

Best get on with actually building the canoe!

The other Bulkhead!

To hot today to go out to the tent! Ended up painting the words to the last verse of "Fifteen men on a dead mans chest ...." on to the 'other' bulkhead.

Not sure why I did it ... but I recon it ended up looking good!