Tempus Fugit

Another summer seems to have vanished like a sugar cube in a cup of hot coffee.   I suppose I got to paddle quite a bit and visit with friends and do interesting things, but it still seems altogether too short.  When I was a kid, it always seemed that summer went on forever.  I wish it still did.

However, this brings the start of wonderful things.   Like sign-up for a new year's class of boat-building.  After exhibition last June, I had a list nearly three pages long of people who were interested in the boat-building class.  I put together an email regarding class registration. (which was yesterday...) and about the class itself and sent it to the people on the list.

I figure that we usually get maybe 5% of the people who were interested at exhibition to actually show up for registration - if I'm lucky.  When I was driving to registration, I could see that all the side streets around the school were almost completely full of parked cars.  As I turned down the street the school is on, there were students waiting in a line that stretched down the sidewalk from the building to the street and down the sidewalk along the street.  It was only 9:00 AM - registration doesn't start until 10:00 AM, but is first-come, first-served in order to be fair to everyone, so people come early.  Sometimes really early - with a chair, a book, a cup of coffee, snacks, determination and apparently - a strong constitution.  It felt a bit like an Apple iPhone launch.

The lines for woodworking and boat-building as well as a few other classes run from the side of the building and ran all the way to the parking lot and back to the dumpster.  As I took my paperwork into the building and prepared to bring the skin-on-frame canoe downstairs as my "calling card", I was approached by a woman who was clearly distressed.

"Are you the boat building instructor?"

"Yes."

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"That this class is for returning students only."

"WHAT?"

"That's what the sign says."

"No - that's not true.  It's open registration.  I don't have returning students."

I went and checked the sign with the class listings that showed students where to wait to register.  The sign clearly had an asterisk and a notation beneath the class name that said, "Returning Students Only".  I grabbed a marker and crossed that line out in a big hurry, let me tell you.  It was a clerical error from using an old class list.  I have no idea how many students saw that sign and went home without finding out if this was true.  I was beginning to sweat that the class wouldn't run because people left after seeing the sign.

Because of the way that the school runs, there are minimum enrollments - 8 people is the minimum for my class to run.  It's also sort of the maximum class size, too - I only have room to build and store 8 boats.  If each person decides to build their own boat (like last year's class...) I have the minimum number of people and the maximum number of boats - a precarious balancing act.  Fortunately for me, ten students registered and are planning to build 8 boats.  Two couples have decided to build a boat together and the other 6 students will build their own boats.

So, if anyone DID see the sign and go home, I apologize.  While I'm not responsible for the error, I still worry that people missed an opportunity.  If you did, please comment on this post or otherwise get back to me - I'd like to know.

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned...

I have a confession to make. 

Something I never thought that I would do. 

Ever.

Never, never, ever.

To be honest, I still feel a little bit dirty about it,  but I knew what I was doing and the consequences of my actions.  I think that the priest at the Church of the Holey Wooden Boat would make me say about 9 Hail Mary Celeste's and tell me to repent my sins.  Maybe a few extra. 

Still, over the weekend, I half expected this:

 

What prompted my sin?  Well, it's all because of sandals and a raincoat.  Herein likes the story.  

On Saturday, DW decided that we should take DS and DD over to a local outdoor goods store to get some sandals for the three of them and a new raincoat for DD so she could pass along her old one to DS in preparation for a paddling trip we will be taking later in the month.  When we arrived, somehow we wound up gravitating over to the boat display.  Some of the boats were 50% off and were really quite good prices.  If you bought a boat, there was also a discount on the accessories.  DW spent a remarkably long period of time looking the boats over.  We then went and purchased the requisite sandals and jacket.  

Fast forward to Sunday.

I'm getting ready to run out and do some errands with DS for a tree-house that we are planning to build.  DW and DD had already headed out for a class the DD takes on Sunday afternoons.  Coincidentally, the outdoor goods store is on the way to the class and unbeknownst to me, DW & DD decided that a pair of water shoes was in order and made a stop at the store.  Shortly thereafter, my cell phone rings.  It's DD.  Mind you, DD doesn't have a cell phone, so she's calling from her mother's phone.  The exchange went something like this:

"Daddy, we're at the store and they only have two of the (sale priced) boats that Mommy likes left."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, Daddy, you'd better hurry up and get over here before they're gone."

*CLICK*

So, being the nice guy that I am, I went over to the outdoor goods store and picked up the boat of SWMBO's wishes - along with a paddle for her, some Yakgrips and a new pair of Hullraisers for my roof rack.

What was the boat of SWMBO's wishes?  A Tupperware(tm) bathtub:

 

 

It's an Old Town Vapor 12XT.  It's wide, stable and nearly indestructible.   Last summer, she borrowed a very similar small plastic kayak from friends we were visiting and liked it.  Not as much as the Charlotte lapstrake canoe that she'd been paddling earlier that day, but she liked it.

So.  "Why? Why? Why? " I can hear you ask - "Canoez - you're a boat-builder.  Why does your wife have a plastic boat?"  Well, I haven't gotten around to building DW a boat and I guess it boils down to keeping the women in my life happy. Both  DW and DD both like to paddle the Charlotte,  but for some reason aren't particularly comfortable with my Wee Lassie.  They're not really that different dimensionally, but they claim that the lapstrake boat is more stable.  

Both of them wanted to paddle the Charlotte for the upcoming canoe trip, while DS and I will be paddling a tandem canoe.  Being that we only have one Charlotte at the time-being and it's not likely that I'll be building one in the next few weeks, I had a dilemma.  DW decided that I should solve that with the new Tupperyak.

Perhaps I should sprinkle a little Holey Water on the new boat? 

So, if you see me out flagellating myself with throw bag lines or beating myself over the head with a paddle, just remember that I'm atoning for my sins...

A bit more progress...

I've made a bit more progress on the frame for the skin-on-frame canoe this evening.  I've got the forms mounted on the strongback and started to cut stringers.  I think I've discovered my second "boo-boo".  The chine stringers were intended to be fairly husky and while they bend well in one axis, they don't bend so well in the other.  I think I'll need to lighten up on this excessively beefy piece of stock.  I am liking the way the forms sit on the strongback for alignment.  It's a great deal more simple than trying to juggle frames in mid-air the way some kayak builders do.  

More to come.

Well, that was a new one for me...

One of my students was preparing some Dookie Shmutz to fill small cracks and checks in his canoe. As I'm never sure of my student's level of experience with epoxy, I always make sure to let them know how to mix the epoxy. The epoxy in question was West System's 105/207 system and the ratio is 3:1 epoxy/hardener. The pumps that are sold by West System for the resin are metering pumps are sized to dispense the proper ratio with a single pump from each container.

I told the student to dispense one pump each of resin and hardener until he had enough volume, then to mix in the wood flour and silica until he had a mixture that was the consistency of creamy peanut butter. I was then called away to help another student. When I returned, he had what appeared to be the proper mixture and was applying it to his hull.

The next morning, we came in to put the canoes back in the barn. The filler on this canoe was not setting up - it was like soft putty. Sometimes it is a bit cool in the shop and the epoxy takes a little longer than usual to set. As last week was a vacation week, there would be no other classes in the shop, so we left it in the shop rather than take it to the much colder barn in the hope that it would cure.

Yesterday, we arrived to find the filler on this canoe stiffer, but not fully cured.

Bummer.

When the student came into class, I asked him how he mixed the filler. Turns out he'd read the can about the 3:1 ratio after I told him how to mix the epoxy and used three pumps of epoxy to one pump of hardener.

Uh oh.

Thotful spot time.

We ultimately resolved to scrape what uncured filler material that we could and to wipe the hull with denatured alcohol. Once this was done, we applied properly mixed filler.

This morning, the filler had set up hard. We appear to be in luck!

Tech Tip Tuesday

(From Despair.com)

I have to say that I look on mistakes (Or Misteaks and Boo-Boos as Dave Fleming would have said...) a little differently than other people.

I've been working on several skin-on-frame kayaks. I'm almost ready to skin the boats, but I have a few more details I need to work on. These details are the foot braces the cockpit coaming and a hatch cover and rim. The coaming cover and rim are essentially laminated ovals and are very similar. Unlike very traditional skin-on-frame kayaks which are built specifically for one user and have fixed foot braces and sized cockpits, I'm trying to make a more flexible boat in terms of fit. To that end, I'm making adjustable foot braces.

I started out and designed a set of dovetail rails about 2 feet long with mating slides that had a large foot-pad. There was a pair for the left and right side of the kayak. On the slides were going to be pins with a coil spring to push the pin into holes in the dovetails to allow you to adjust the position of the foot brace.

Things started out auspiciously. I milled the rails. I made up the mating slide parts. I assembled the slide parts. I slid parts together. They slid nicely.

Then I started to look at things a bit more critically. There were some issues. The "wheelbase" of the slide on the rail was short and the parts weren't particularly robust. The release pin for the slides was going to wind up being behind the pedals. This would have been inconvenient as the the kayak is very low volume and it will be awkward to reach into the cockpit to adjust these pins.

Meh.

I was a bit disappointed, but I went back to my Thotful Spot.

I learned something. Well, I learned several things, really. I learned that wasn't the way I wanted to do this. I wanted something simpler and more robust. I wanted something that I could adjust from inside the cockpit. I wanted something that wasn't going to include any metal parts.

What I have in mind is a single central rail with a dovetail on the sides and a holes in the top that can sit on top of the keel stringer. It's sort of like a wooden drawer slide and will have a longer engagement with the central rail. The foot pedals will be a single piece attached to the slide that will run on the rail. There will be a long flat strip of wood extending back towards the seat with an integral pin. This strip of wood will be a leaf spring to keep the pin in the holes and should be reachable from the paddler in the cockpit.

Previous design and theory are important when working on an idea, but there's nothing like trying and doing, whether you get it "right" the first time or you make a mistake.

So, if you do make a mistake, have the persistence to keep on learning, honing your skills and trying new methods to achieve your goals.

The Canoe Gods and Penance.

In some previous posts, I've alluded to two B.N. Morris canoes that I've done restoration work on. There's a bit more story to tell about the first one.

The first Morris that I dealt with was a canoe that belonged to my Scoutmaster when I was a teenager. While I don't know what particular model it was, it looked like the one in the picture above and had belonged to someone in his wife's family. (The one in the picture is a reproduction from the Northwoods Canoe Company) The canoe had Mahogany trim all over. This boat was in pretty nice shape with the exception of the rot that seems to be typical on the ends of the stems at the bow and stern and the canvas was shot. I should point out that the B.N. Morris canoes had closed gunnels like in the picture below:


This allowed the water trapped in the canoe when it was stored upside-down to travel down to the tips of the stems and cause rot in this area. I should note that most people are more familiar with open gunwale canoes like the Old Town in the picture below. Water can come out through the scuppers created by the spacing that the ribs create between the inwale and the outwale. A little bit more to follow on this detail later.


My father offered to help him restore this canoe for a trip that we were planning in the summer. We started off by removing the rotten wood and scarfing in new sections of Cedar ribs, stem, inwale and planking. Some new pieces of Mahogany were scarfed to the ends of the trim pieces that covered the top of the gunwales and made up the outwale. We also had to scarf in some sections of new deck. Once the woodwork was done, we stripped the old varnish and re-varnished the interior. Seat cane was replaced and new floorboards (AKA "duckboards") were fabricated.

Now comes the sin.

I should note that canoes with closed gunwales like the Morris are very "early" designs. Bert N. Morris started building canoes in his home in Veazie Maine around 1882 and finally opened a successful factory there. It was one of the largest canoe companies with a widely known name until a fire destroyed the factory in 1920. After the fire, some canoes were still built under the Morris name for a short time, but as I understand it, ultimately Morris went to work for the Old Town canoe company. The canoe we were working on was both very old and sought after. Other than the small amount of rot at the tips, it was really in pretty pristine shape.

Right until we fiber-glassed it.

Fiberglass should really never be put on a traditional rib and plank canoe. It's just not right. For the most part, I have to say, "Forgive us, because we really didn't know any better." -the owner and my father didn't really know this at the time and figured that they were saving the canoe. I know my father had expressed some interest in re-canvasing the canoe, but the owner figured that the fiberglass was a final solution. (It is, but not for the best...) Worse still, we used forest green tinted Polyester resin. I can still smell the Styrene. Overall, we did a pretty good job with the Polyester and the canoe looked and paddled OK, but it was still the wrong thing to do.

I figure that due to this event in my past, I am doing my penance to the Canoe Gods by researching, building, and writing about traditional and semi-traditional wooden canoes. One of the reasons that I took a Cedar and Canvas Canoe building class at WoodenBoat School was to do a good job of restoring the second Morris Canoe that I've gotten my hands on - a boat I found by the side of the road with some rot at the tips and pink Polyester resin on the outside!

Unintentional Atkins Diet

This morning I get up feeling particularly groggy. The bathroom upstairs is occupied, so rather than have my morning shower first, I go downstairs and proceed to make myself some lunch.

Silverware? Check.
Yogurt? Check.
Soda? Check.
Apple? Check.
Lunch entree? Check.
Ice Pack? Check.

Zzzziiiippp! Done.

I bring my lunch bag and briefcase to the front door and head up for a shower.

Now that lunch-time has arisen at work, I take the container with my lunch in it to warm in the microwave in our cafeteria. Pop it in and hit start. I'm anticipating a nice lunch of rice with peppers, onions, tomatoes and fajita-seasoned chicken with a bit of cheese on top. MMMmm...

Er, what is this?

Dang.

I've taken the two leftover pork chops from the grill the other night instead of my intended lunch. Atkins diet, here I come.

Oops

Let's just say I'm trying to avoid the situation in the picture above. There was a hiccup in my build and as of yet, I'm not exactly certain what the cause was, but I have my suspicions. I was looking at the kayak and the epoxy bond joints between the port side stringers showed some strange marks - like stretching. I poked at the joints and they were a bit soft. The rest of the bond joints were checked and they were very hard, as they should be.

I decided that I'd be safe and remove the "gummy" joints. A sharp utility knife made quick work of separating the chine and sheer stringers from the forms. A sharp chisel then removed the remaining adhesive from the stringers and the frames to provide a good bonding surface with bare wood. A new batch of epoxy was mixed up and the repair was made.

To be honest, the only thing that could have happened would have been a mixing error on my part. The most likely errors would be either poor mix ratio or poor mixing (i.e. not complete). Temperature was definitely not an issue - it was in the mid 80's temperature-wise. The bond surfaces were new, dry and clean wood that has no contamination.

The adhesive in question is System Three's Silver Tip GelMagic pre-thickened epoxy adhesive system. I've been mixing the epoxy by weight on a digital scale - 10 grams of thickened epoxy to 4 grams of hardener. (It can be mixed either 2:1 by volume or 100:41 by weight, hence the 10:4 gram ratio) I have a rule when mixing epoxy - mix for at least 30 seconds before using, so I figure it was thoroughly mixed. The other consideration is that the GelMagic has a blue-tinted epoxy that shows a uniform color when properly mixed. The only thing I can think of was that I must have hit the scale when tareing out the weight of the cup.

Ah well.

Just remember - it is important to figure things like this out. You should learn from your mistakes, not repeat them. Better yet, learn from someone else's mistakes. As a friend of mine likes to say, if you're not making mistakes you can't be doing much.

Making Mistakes

The words below were not written by me, but by an amateur boatbuilder who is working at building a Goat Island Skiff designed by Michael Storer. His words ring eerily true to anyone who has done any woodworking at all, let alone boat-building. I would also like to re-itereate one very important point - If you're not making mistakes, you're not doing much.

Enjoy:

"I started keeping a boat journal to send to my brother who is leaving for the big sandbox soon. I posted this in the bilge last week but thought you might appreciate it here also. I will use the line about BTUs not mistakes soon. Thanks in advance. (BTUs - mistakes becoming firewood)

Confession time: I am not a professional boat builder.

After this morning I have a pile of wood which would claim to be tortured by power tools if it could speak. I'm not so sure who was torturing who. Regardless, I now have a frame and transom in clamps and other bits cut out for a one sheet skiff. Its a warm up for the garage and I before starting the GIS. My most technical carpentry accomplishment in the last ten years would be repairs to the chicken coop. I have never had to rely on woodworking to pay bills. The coffee tables I built in college could have doubled as engine stands, with slightly lower esthetic standards.

Things we have learned today:

It takes twice as long to dress an edge that was cut without setting up a jig as it does to set up the jig.

Gorilla glue is slick for the amount of time it takes to set the clamps then it is sticky: this may seem obvious to you in your comfortable chair right now, but when you put the glue on and clamp, everything moves. The natural tendency of the neophyte is to stick a finger in there to square things away. As soon as it is touched it becomes sticky, transferring itself to clamps, clothes and working surfaces, kind of like a cold virus.

That whole measure twice cut once is for professionals only: I'm not going to explain this one, but I have plenty of kindling right now. And I'm short a 1" x 2" x 8'.

Either my chop saw cuts every angle correct except 20-degrees or Herb (boat designer) has been screwing with people. The other option is that I don’t know what I'm doing. (cant be, see above)

two by fours which were bought perfectly straight will warp horribly as soon as they come into contact with a flat concrete floor, possibly even the bed of the truck.

I've learned a lot more but I think you get the idea. Tomorrow morning I will probably be trying to figure out how to unglue my clamps from my boat bits in time to enter the chili contest at the local pub.

Feb 3, 2008

I was lucky and didn’t glue any boat bits to other items that should not be part of the boat. Cleaned shop. Wrestled with the two sides and the stem piece. They go together at a compound angle so there is no way to lay anything flat. The pieces won, next weekend we will have a rematch. I think I will have to use screws. Don’t make me fire up the chainsaw."