Building a Cedar Strip Canoe

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To make the canoe's ends higher than its midpoint, Webb added some additional short strips on both sides of the bow and stern. Next, he removed the staples and plugged the few small gaps between the strips with a mixture of cedar shavings and glue. (This step wasn't essential—since the to-be-added inner and outer layers of fiberglass would actually seal the boat against leaks-but it did make the craft more handsome.) Following that, our canoemaker trimmed the strips to points at the boat's ends and sides, and then attached and shaped the ash strips that form the craft's exterior stems.

All told, stripping required about 30 slow—but pleasurable—hours of Peter's time. However, his next job was one of the most tedious tasks in the entire boatbuilding operation . . .

SANDING

It took Peter a while to determine the most efficient way of smoothing the outside of the canoe. (Two entries in his journal serve to illustrate the learning process. "5/6: Trip to town to get sander belts, paper, etc. Immediately evident , once I got back, that a wood-gouging belt sander is not the way to go! . . . 5/7: Trip to town to purchase vibrator sander.")

Many hours and sheets of sandpaper later, MOM's woodworker had the hull smoothed. He could now steel his nerve and prepare to perform the nonwoodworking stage of the operation, namely . . .

FIBERGLASSING

Peter knew that laminating the interior and exterior of the boat's hull would be a key strength-giving step. (Indeed, it's pretty much the key that enables an inexperienced canoe crafter to construct a usable wooden boat. The other option—which was used in the old birchbark and wood-and-canvas canoes—is to reinforce the boat with hardtomake internal ribs.) But Webb wasn't looking forward to the job. He was certain that saturating a synthetic cloth with potentially toxic chemicals wouldn't be either a romantic or a sensuous task.

Nonetheless, as our boatbuilder found out, a novice—working with a partner and following the instructions of either Hazen's or Old Town's guide—can safely do a perfectly decent job of fiberglassing a canoe. The procedure consisted of laying a cross-grained white cloth (it becomes transparent when it's treated) in position on the hull, mixing a few small drops of catalyzing hardening compound into a liquid polyester resin, and then thoroughly soaking the plastic cloth with the resin/hardener before the chemical mix has time to "set up". The result was a clear, hard shell that actually highlighted the beautiful lines and colors of the stripped boat.

Working with an assistant, Peter encountered only one difficulty during this task: Some unattractive rough cloth edges were still discernible after glassing. So Webb donned a respirator and sanded out the rough spots until the entire hull was smooth. He didn't enjoy this repair job (his journal notes, "I don't care how insouciant you are . . . there's no way to feel good about working with fiberglass!"), but his painstaking labors made a noticeable difference in the shell's beauty.

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