Building Melanesia: Timeline
20 May 2007: I finally start building. My wife had a garage sale yesterday. One of the results was that the garage was then empty—what she didn't sell, she gave away. So I laid out the eight big panels (bow and stern, side and bottom, port and starboard) and cut them with a jigsaw. My only complaint relates to the two bottom panels. For good nesting, a single saw cut separates two pairs of panels that make up the bottom of the canoe. Well, if the saw wanders a little, you screw up two panels instead of one. Also, you can't cut outside the line and file down to it, since either side of the line cuts into a good panel. I estimate that I spent five hours "working," but maybe only did two or three hours worth of work (subtracting lunch, time talking with the kids or neighbors, etc.). I also bought some 16' 1x6 boards ripped to 1 1/4" to make the stringers. The plans call for "knot free softwood," which I don't think actually exists. I will choose the two pieces that are the best—small, tight knots.
I am working entirely in metric dimensions. The only decent measuring tool I could find is a folding ruler marked in decimal feet on one side (why?) and mm on the other.
26 May 2007: I made a lot of progress today on cutting parts. I probably did about four or five hours of work. I cut stem and stern posts and bow and stern decks. As I feared, I screwed up the nesting somehow and was unable to get all the butt straps on. Tomorrow I will get another sheet of Plyfloor to make butt straps and lashing backing pads. I find that I prefer lofting to tracing. If I had it to do over, I would use a ruler and T-bevel to rough out the stem and stern post shapes, then just trace the curves and such.
Just after starting, I switched from the "fast" coarse jigsaw blade that I used last week to a "smooth" hollow ground blade. I didn't notice any difference in speed, but the cut improved substantially. Much less chipping, easier to handle. Going forward, I will only use the "smooth" type on plywood.
I am experimenting with the Plyfloor. As Mr. Wharram suggests, I am doing a boil-and-oven-dry test. I have already boiled some scraps twice and dried them once; they are in the oven now. So far, no delamination.
27 May 2007: As planned, I went to Menard's and got another sheet of Plyfloor. I got a bunch of other stuff I needed, too, like screws and drill bits. The parts I needed to cut out were the backing pads and butt straps—basically rectangles. I used a circular saw with a rip fence to make long strips the right width, and a power miter saw to cut them to length. That went well. Next, I filed the eight main panels down to size. It was probably the first time I used a file seriously since eighth grade shop class. By the third panel, I had good technique and things started going smoothly. After cleaning up, I mixed up some epoxy glue according to instructions from Chesapeake Light Craft. I used the glue to laminate the stem and stern posts. Overall, about three hours of work, maybe four.
I have concluded my Plyfloor experiments. After two boil/dry cycles, there is no sign of delamination. I am glad now that I chose this type of plywood.
28 May 2007: More progress today in about 3.5 hrs work. I shaped the stem and stern posts, which took longer than I expected. Later, I glued up the side and bottom panels (turned eight 8' panels into four 16' panels). Glue is curing now.
04 June 2007: This has been a reasonably productive week. Probably five hours work total. The long panels are glued now, including the stringers. The bow and stern decks are shaped, as are the backing pads for the crossbeam lashings. Next up is coating all the inside pieces with epoxy. I hope to get that done this week.
06 June 2007: I am slowly approaching the point where I can stitch the panels together. I realized that I hadn't yet glued on the backing pads where the crossbeams go, so I did that last night (about 40 min). Tonight, I started coating the inside surfaces with epoxy. The MAS "slow" hardener is really slow. After prepping the panels, I had live epoxy for about an hour and a half (a series of batches). On one hand, that meant that there was simply no rush to finish. On the other hand, that meant that there was no hope of a second coat tonight. The best I could do was go back and add some to the dry spots where the grain is a little more open. In principle, I could get up early tomorrow and put on the second coat, but I doubt that will happen. Note that this is not at reduced temperature even—I think it's in the mid 70's (Fahrenheit) this evening.
10 June 2007: Today, in about 3.5 hrs work, I made progress on preparing the panels for gluing. First, I beveled all the edges, which included a big cut on the stringers. Then I sanded all the old epoxy. Finally, I put a second coat of epoxy on. Some big tasks remain: drilling holes for the wire stitches, coating the stem and sterm posts, shaping the little "V" shapes that go in the bottom, drilling the holes for the lashings. I am nominally still on schedule, but I have a busy few weeks coming up. I'm still targeting July 9.
1 July 2007: It has been a while since an update, mostly because there has been little progress (traveling). Over the past week, I did about three or four hours work. The stem and stern posts are coated, as are the undersides of the decks. The "decorative" trim (which is also structural) has been added, but some clean-up remains. I drilled the lashing holes. There was some break-out, which I patched with some epoxy+silica.
My main accomplishment today (in four hours work) was that I started putting panels together. I drilled all the wire stitch holes. I stitched a portion of the joint between the bottom panels. I had to make new "V" shapes for the bottom, then I glued them on. In response to a common question, yes, it's starting to look like a boat. Maybe by the end of the week, I'll have everything stitched together. I'm a little concerned about the fit of the "V" shapes. I'll just have to wait and see how it works out. I won't have it done before vacation next week, but I hope it will be stitched together at least.
2 July 2007: More progress stitching the panels together. I spent about two hours. The two bottom panels and one side panel are all stitched, except where the stern and stem posts go. I started on the second side panel, but ran short on wire. That's a step that can't be done halfway, so I'll pick up some wire tomorrow to proceed.
4 July 2007: I spent about three hours stitching the panels together. Right now, everything is stitched, but there are three areas with problems. Things don't quite line up in the center, but I think that's just because the panels are extra stiff there. I'm not worried about that.
The bow and stern, though, have more serious problems. Partly, I just need more and tighter stitches to draw everything together. Mainly, I need to deal with the stringers. The plans call for 1/2" thick stringers along the gunwales and show a bevel where everything comes together. What I used was a ripped 1x6, which is about 3/4" thick. I think the extra thickness made the bevel angle wrong. I will have to unstitch a little and take a saw, chisel, or file (or all three) to the stringers to get things to fit right.
The good news is that, on the whole, the boat fits together and looks like a boat. While I probably won't make my modified schedule (stitched before vacation), at least I know I'm on the right path.
22 July 2007: Well, I've been traveling a lot lately, and plan to be away for two more weeks. Fortunately, today (3 hrs work), I was able to finish stitching the boat. There are a couple gaps that are larger than I would like, but still manageable. I'll upload pictures later. It looks like a boat! Some observations: It's more curvy near the ends and more flat in the middle than I would have expected; it has some twist that I'll have to tweak out, but not much; the bow is more deep and pointy while the stern is more shallow and flat. Overall, it's narrower than a typical canoe, which is why the paddle version needs an outrigger for stability.
26 August 2007: After some more travel and work around the house, I got back to the boat this weekend. Yesterday, I spent about four hours putting epoxy on the seams. I did it in two segments. First, I did all three seams up to within 2' of bow and stern. The bow and stern didn't meet up very well with just the stitches, so I waited until the rest of the boat was partially cured, then clamped the ends a little tighter.
Today, I worked about three hours. The first hour or more was just cleaning up my mess from yesterday. I wasn't as diligent as I should have been about cleaning up drips etc. Fortunately, they came up easily with a chisel. Then I glassed the seams. Looks good.
I was recently contacted by Jonathan Van Vuren, who purchased Melanesia plan #624. Follow his progress on www.flsail.com.
19 September 2007: I haven't updated this lately, but I have been working. I spent 8-10 hours over the last two weekends. I'm done with the inside (all coats of epoxy). I cut the wires off the outside. I planed down the really sharp edges, then I filled in all the gaps with fillet material. I still need to file and smooth the outside.
7 October 2007: Tonight was momentous. Over the past few weeks, I have been filleting and fairing the outside of the hull. I finally decided it was good enough. I glass-taped the outside seams, with special attention to the bow and stern. Things were going so well, I went ahead and put on the first coat of epoxy over the whole outer hull. Although it still needs a lot of finishing, the hull is now waterproof and can be considered "done." I spent about four hours working on it. Totaling up all my entries, I spent 63 hours working to reach this point. That doesn't include all the thinking time (studying the plans) or buying time (checking out plywood suppliers, etc.).
26 March 2011: A lot of time has passed. Here's what's been happening. In winter 2007-08, I moved to Rolla, MO, to take a new job as an assistant professor at Missouri S&T. Naturally, progress ground to a halt at that point. Subsequently, I began working on the outrigger. I worked off-and-on over the past summer with a cedar tree. I think I'm going to abandon it, though. It has a big bend that used to be a fork. A friend at church (First Presbyterian Church of Rolla) has a number of cedar trees that he needs to get rid of, so I think I'll get a new one to work with from him.
Earlier this week, a student, Charles Wright, told me about the Ozark Yacht Club. The most important thing I learned is that there actually is a place in central Missouri to sail. I am now re-invigorated to work on my boat. My son, Sam, has also urged me on and volunteered to help. So today I started working again.
The first thing to do is to repair what I had already done. A few times over the past three years, the canoe has been stored outside, uncovered. There are numerous places where the epoxy wore through, between the sun and the rain. Today, Sam and I spent approximately 6 man-hours sanding down to good wood. After doing it by hand a while, we went to Lowe's and got a sanding disc to go on my 4½" grinder. I should have done that a LONG time ago. It made a laborious job easy. There are a number of imperfections that I was willing to overlook rather than fix them by hand. With the grinder, I'll actually go back and fix them.
So here's my plan. First, I need to flip the canoe over and grind down to good wood several places on the upper part. Next, I will mix up some epoxy+flour filler and smooth out some of the imperfections. Then I'll put one or two coats of epoxy on the whole canoe to seal it. I hope to have that all done by early summer. When I get a chance in May/June, I'll go over to my friend's house to get a cedar tree, and spend the summer turning it into an outrigger. I am also working on a source for bamboo to make the supports.