Back Down East

As part of my goal of building "one of each", I'm going back up to the WoodenBoat School. This time, I'm going back up as a student to learn fill out my skills in building wood and canvas canoes under the guidance of Jerry Stelmok. (Pictured below, holding a salesman's sample)

Jerry is an author, artist, teacher and canoe builder and runs Island Falls Canoe in Atkinson, Maine. Up until recently, I was unaware that he was an artist doing sketches and paintings. He's been teaching people to build canoes at the WoodenBoat School and his own shop for about 20 years or so. Most of the canoes that he builds are based on the E.M. White patterns. They are really stunning canoes. Jerry's work as an author is well-known in wooden canoe circles. His books are considered "bibles" in the wooden canoe world and includes these three titles:

I'm looking forward to another week in Brooklin!

Bunny Update

I got home from work this evening and decided I'd better mow the lawn as rain is threatening. While I was mowing, DW came out to bring some compost out to the bin and she checked on the bunny's burrow. They were all gone. Either they were weaned or the mother moved them to a new den.

As I was mowing, one of the baby bunnies came tearing out of an island of plantings in the lawn and made a break for the wood as I came near with the mower. The bunny certainly moved quickly and looked healthy. I guess they must be weaned.

It has been raining a bit here...

The only good part about the weather is there will be something to paddle on!

WHATTHEHECKWASTHAT?

This evening I was out mowing the hay-field that our lawn has become with the large amount of rain that has fallen recently. It's the first dry night in a long time - in all truth, last Monday evening was the last dry night that I can recall.

After I finished mowing with the lawn tractor, I got out the weed-wacker to finish up around the edges. As I was trimming an area under the kids' play structure, I was getting this fine gray stuff flying up. At first, I thought it was dead moldy grass, but something didn't look quite right about it. Then, all of a sudden...

WHATTHEHECKWASTHAT?!?!?!?

Something small and very fast came flying up out of the ground.

I turned off the weed-wacker and looked around. The grayish fluff was some kind of fur.

Hiding in the corner of the structure behind the climbing wall was a baby bunny. I was concerned that I'd hit it with the weed-wacker and injured it, so I picked it up to make sure that it was OK. I hadn't thought about baby bunnies making noise, but this one sort of squealed and grunted - a bit like a Guinea Pig. After a minute, it calmed down. The kids were very excited to see the baby bunny, but it had to go back into its nest. After putting the bunny back into the nest, we covered it back up with some grass clippings to help camouflage the area. There were several other siblings in the burrow. I later found out that mother rabbits pull out their own fur to line the nests to keep the baby bunnies warm. Hopefully 'mom' will be back this evening to take care of her brood.

It was an Ark and stormy night...

It is yet another day of rain.

It seems like it has been raining non-stop for the past two weeks. This is an exaggeration, but not by much. It's been raining so much lately, and in such biblical proportions, that I've been thinking of going into cedar-strip arks.

We went on a family camping trip to Vermont last weekend and it rained a fair portion of the weekend. At one point, the skies literally opened up on us as we were walking on a trail in the woods and we got drenched. It rained so hard that the mud was splashing up on us from the trail. I was muddy almost mid-way to my knees. When we went into the woods, it had been sunny, but we couldn't see the changing weather through the thick tree canopy in the ravine we were hiking in. Because the weather had looked so promising, we had (foolishly) left our rain gear in the car.

Since we've returned, the rain around here has been extreme. A nearby town saw 5" of rain in about 70 minutes. Flooding in the area has been severe. The number of downed trees, limbs and electric lines has been particularly impressive. For no apparent reason (other than rain) the power went off last night for about 20 minutes.

I'm thinking that pretty soon I'll need some short term evolutionary changes to deal with this weather. Flippers, gills or webbed toes come to mind.

Please, please - a little sun to get rid of the moss that's growing on me!

I suppose the only thing about it that gives me some comfort is the fact that I know that I'll have something to paddle on when it finally stops!

Wordless Wednesday

Tech Tip Tuesday

Today's tech tip is an "advanced technique. It's called hot coating. and is used to apply epoxy quickly.

With my new students, I try to keep things simple and do things in stages. Once the hull is prepared, we apply a sealer coat and let it cure. We then lightly sand the sealer coat and wipe down with denatured alcohol (or acetone if you prefer...) Once this is done, the hull is draped with fiberglass cloth of the appropriate weight for the canoe. We then apply epoxy to the hull with a squeegee and once the hull is wet out, we remove excess epoxy to wind up with a uniform textured finish. Two bias cut strips are then applied to the stems before the first coat cures. After this cures, the hull is wiped down again and more epoxy is applied. This is repeated until the weave is "filled" and you have a smooth coat of epoxy - the cloth should be buried in the epoxy to the point where sanding the epoxy will not result in sanding the fiberglass cloth which causes the fiberglass/epoxy coating to lose transparency.

That's the long way.

To hot coat, you need a "blush free" epoxy for best results. With the hull prepared, you drape cloth on the hull. You then apply epoxy with a squeegee and then apply the two bias cut strips to the stems. Be careful to make sure enough epoxy is applied so that the cloth isn't "starved" which is seen as whitish areas. Here is where the hot coat part happens. After about an hour or two (depending on temperature) the epoxy is tacky and doesn't lift when you touch the hull with a gloved finger. At this point, it's time to apply another coat of epoxy. Repeat until the weave is filled. It should be possible to apply as many as 4 coats of epoxy in a day. It really speeds up the process, but requires doing a good epoxy job.

This is an important skill to gain - if you have a tight schedule, it's the only way to apply epoxy.

Please note - the picture above is for illustrative purposes only - I do NOT recommend his choice (or lack thereof) of safety equipment. You should avoid skin exposure, wear gloves and eye protection and work in a well-lit and well-ventilated are when working with epoxy. Some people even prefer to go the extra step and use a respirator mask with organic vapor cartridges.