Another first time builder...

[rpecot]

Let's see how many first timer threads we can get going...

Ok guys, I've been hanging around here long enough talking about the prospector canoe I want to build. Well, over the Christmas holidays I started thinking maybe I should try to crawl before I walk. So I ordered the UJ pirogue plans a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to make a little more progress before I posted this, but I see that bluegrasslover is right about at the same point that I'm at, with the same questions. So here goes...

Building materials consist of what ever I can get at Lowes or Home Depot; primarily 5.2mm luan ply and red oak. I'm using Titebond III.
The ply, cut up:

Gluing up the oak for the stems, two at once:

Some scary cuts without feather boards :shock:

Scarfing the side boards with a random orbital sander (yes, I have learned my lesson):

I made the sides 14'-6" long. Here I am gluing up the stem to the side boards:

Starting to look like a boat:

I've built the ribs, but I don't have any pictures yet. The ribs are taller than the sides, so I will trim them down some tomorrow and probably round over the edges. Also would like to scarf my rub rails too. I've made the scarf joint for the bottom but haven't glued it up yet. My garage is cluttered enough as it is. I'll have to do it outside, but the forecast is for rain, so, maybe next week.

 

[bluegrasslover]

I'd say you're a little further ahead than me. I'm happy to see a close up of your stems. I thought it was a little thin at the point but I see yours is the same. I was EXTREMELY careful measuring these (measure 5 times cut once) but I was still nervous about them being correct. I need to round over my ribs as well.

Greg

 

[rpecot]

I ripped a scrap 2x4 down to 1-1/2 x 2 and did a practice run. Glad I did that. I caught at least one subtlety that was glossed over in the instructions... you have to swap your fence from one side of the blade to the other between cuts. And I was able to adjust for the thinner ply somewhat, but like your picture, my glue line is right at the apex of the inner stem. I figure, fiberglass will cure all ills.

 

[rpecot]

one other note. if you click on my pictures it will take you to webshots.com where you can view the higher resolution image.

 

[bluegrasslover]

Did you just get the Samsung tv in the last picture? Nice tv...

 

[oldsparkey]

One word of warning. If you put the ribs in the boat before the bottom is added on ( the way it is suggested to make it ) Then add the outside railing before moving the boat. If the outside railing is not on the boat and you pick it up to move it the sides will flex and there is a good shot on breaking a rib , the boats , not yours. :roll:

That is something that normally happens to a person when they make there 1st one , after that you learn to have either the inside or outside railing on , the outside one is easier to do. The boat will still have a slight wave to the side boards but the inside rail soothes everything out.

Chuck.

 

[rpecot]

Did you just get the Samsung tv in the last picture? Nice tv...

Yes. Happy Birthday to me!

As I told a friend on Facebook, I have a whole new appreciation for Finding Nemo.

 

[rpecot]

One word of warning. If you put the ribs in the boat before the bottom is added on ( the way it is suggested to make it ) Then add the outside railing before moving the boat. If the outside railing is not on the boat and you pick it up to move it the sides will flex and there is a good shot on breaking a rib , the boats , not yours. :roll:

That is something that normally happens to a person when they make there 1st one , after that you learn to have either the inside or outside railing on , the outside one is easier to do. The boat will still have a slight wave to the side boards but the inside rail soothes everything out.

Chuck.

Thanks Chuck. I suspected as much. I had to recruit my son to help me pick up the assembly and put it in the garage. That was a sight! :shock:

 

[rpecot]

Ribs rounded over and sanded:


I think this is why I wanted to wait to post anything. Now I'm going to be taking pictures of every step, then running into the house to post them! :roll:

 

[bluegrasslover]

Looking good!

 

[bluegrasslover]

Hey Russell, are you going to build the seats as well?

 

[gbinga]

I made my stems on the table saw as well, and that was an attention getting process indeed. Kind of a thing where you are thinking "ok, there's about six safety rules I'm breaking here, and I need to keep a sharp eye out for blood spatters..."

One thing that helped me was to glue up one long piece of stock and essentially mill both stems at once. That is, I made a stem like four feet long, and then cut it to lengths with the miter saw. From your glue up pics, I'm guessing that you made two blanks and ran each of them through the saw - it's easier to handle a longer piece on the table saw.

Your ribs look better than mine. I did a pretty sloppy job of the lap joints (got in a hurry with the tool set up) and had to make it right with a bunch of thickened epoxy. Came out OK from a functional standpoint, but I wasn't real proud of my carpentry.

George

 

[rpecot]

Looking good!

Thank you. :mrgreen:

Hey Russell, are you going to build the seats as well?

Man... the seats seem like a-whole-nother lifetime away. I need to stay focused on one thing at a time :lol:

Seriously though, I was thinking of building the seats too.

 

[oldsparkey]

Seriously though, I was thinking of building the seats too.

I'm sort of partial to the seats since I developed them for my comfort when paddling a pirogue and when I found out how good it was I gave Uncle John the green light to post and sell them on his forum. Nothing to me except the credit for designing it but I am an a Olympic sitter. In camp or on the water, that my friends takes a lot of training. :lol: :lol: :lol:
They must be comfortable for others since Joey was resting in camp while sitting on one in Pipers last trip with some southernpaddlers great guy's. Same one he had in his pirogue.

Check the seats out at ... viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6144 for that trip.

Chuck.

 

[rpecot]

I made my stems on the table saw as well, and that was an attention getting process indeed. Kind of a thing where you are thinking "ok, there's about six safety rules I'm breaking here, and I need to keep a sharp eye out for blood spatters..."

Yes, serious pucker factor on those stems.

And yes again, I made two blanks and milled them separately. So, like 12 safety rules were broken.

I understand the hurry-up situation. After spending the better part of the morning and afternoon trying to build a scarfing jig for the electric planer, I gave up and did the low-teck circular saw cut for the rub rails. Then I rushed to lay them out in the drive way to beat the rain. I hope they come out ok.

 

[seedtick]

if ya'll feel a little antsy about making that stem cut then make it two pieces instead of one

here the "inner" stem is a separate piece from the batter board or outer stem

for some builders, the batter board or outer stem was a replaceable part of the boat. it acted like a bumper - they wouldn't glue it on and planned on replacing it when it got banged up

 

[oldsparkey]

Anyone banging that up does not deserve to be paddling it. :evil:

Chuck.

 

[bluegrasslover]

I said before that I was going to use butt joints but then I started thinking about a jig for the router and after a quick search I found this http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=36679 (not the first pics but ones about half way down) which is exactly what I was thinking. I'm going to try putting together a little jig like that tonight and see how it goes.

For the bumpers...I have a finger joint router bit I picked up a while back but have never used. Anyone ever tried that for the bumper and did it work ok?

Seedtick, please tell me where to see more pics of that incredible looking boat of yours! What kind of wood did you use? It's beautiful!

I wanted to do one long stem as suggested but I was unable to find long enough pieces in the wormy wood I was trying to use up. :evil: However, if you use feather boards and they are set properly it's not too bad to run multiple boards through.

Greg

 

[seedtick]

thanks,

that is what sinker or old growth cypress that's been underwater for a hundred years looks like........


that particular boat is one (of six) that we built last year for the new Bass Pro Shop in Denham Springs, LA

they're not for sale, they're on display


search my old posts and you'll see more examples of sinker cypress

 

[rpecot]

:evil: :evil: :evil:
In my rush to beat the weather, I did a less-than-perfect job on the scarf joints. The one on the left was really bad. Came apart when I picked it up. About 25% of the surfaces didn't mate. The one on the right held, but the joint on the underside (the side I couldn't see when clamping up) doesn't look so pretty. And of course, it didn't even rain. :roll:

Today; sanded down the stems to meet the thinner-than-spec'ed luan ply. That went a lot quicker than I thought. Now I need to go back in the garage and devise a way to make that damn scarf joint with the tools I have.