Building a Cedar Strip Canoe

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Finally, after Peter had coated the hull with three more layers of resin (the last one contained a protective exterior wax), he was ready for one of the more dramatic moments of the boatbuilding process . . .

FLIPPING THE CANOE

Pulling the craft off its shape-holding formers was definitely a cause for tension . . . it was impossible for Peter not to harbor a slight fear that the unfinished canoe would collapse as soon as it came off the strongback.

But she held, matey, she held! True, the sides were still pretty wobbly, but Webb was able to rejoice in having created an honest-to-goodness canoe shell. After enjoying that brief moment of pride, Peter nestled the vessel—right side up—on two padded sawhorses and started the work of . . .

SANDING AND GLASSING THE INTERIOR

The tight spaces and concave curves of the canoe's interior made sanding that surface a bit more difficult than smoothing the vessel's hull had been. Peter used a hand plane, a half-round rasp, the vibrator sander, and even hand-held sheets of sandpaper to smooth out the cedar. The job required a full 12 hours of labor.

Then—because his part-time assistant was off backpacking and the eager builder just couldn't wait to get on with the project—Webb made a critical mistake: He tried to fiberglass the interior by himself. This task was especially difficult because the tightly laid cloth tended to pull off the bottom during drying (rather than lie flat as it naturally did on the outside of the hull) and create unsightly bubbles. (Peter's journal for the day reflects his troubles. "5/28: A sticky, messy, frustrating, time-consuming task. The guidebooks must recommend having help on this job so that another body can temper your anger and frustration at the *#!@ glass!")

Worse yet, Webb came back the next morning and learned that he'd actually made another mistake: He had done the work on a very humid day, so the resin hadn't dried well .. . and more mottled splotches had sprung up in the canoe overnight. The disheartened canoemaker tried to push and resin the bumps back down, but (worst yet) returned the next morning to find the cloth more ripply than ever!

That was that. Peter yanked all the fiberglass off, bought some new cloth, and busied himself with trim work until his assistant came back. Then the two of them—on a dry, sunny day—mixed up a "hot" (that is, quick-setting) batch of resin/hardener and fiberglassed the inside in just an hour! (Webb's journal for the date admits, "Two people make the job go much easier and faster. Boat looks 300% better than last time. There're still a few nasty bubbles that I'll have to grind down and recoat, though.")

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