OBJECTIVE

My goal was to find a fairly short, stable watercraft that was light and that I could use for fishing, paddling, and possible sailing.  It also needed to carry 1, 2 or possibly 3 people.  I settled on a woodstrip canoe because I like the beauty of them and it was something I could build myself. 

DESIGN – 20 hrs

After looking at many different models, I decided to build a Freedom 15.  It was designed by Steve Killing for Bear Mountain Boats.  It is asymmetrical meaning it is slightly narrower in the front than in the rear.  I modified the design using a computer spreadsheet program.  It is 4 inches longer and 1 inch wider for even more stability.

The canoe is made from white cedar ¾ inch wide strips ¼ inch thick up to 10 foot long.  The strips were scarfed at a 45 degree angle cut on the ¼ inch side.  The scarfs were glued on the boat except for the first four strips which were scarfed before they were put on the frames.  The strips were cut on a table saw to slightly more than ¼ inch thick, planed to ¼ inch and then routed on a router table.  The football (bottom) was made from 1 ½ inch white cedar because I found some clear white cedar at a local lumber yard.  The 1 ½ inch strips will not bend properly in other locations.  (32 hrs) 

FIBERGLASS AND EPOXY OF OUTSIDE – 12 hrs

I did have some help with the epoxy.  Epoxy rollers with standard roller nap don’t work well – use foam rollers.  This was my first major job with epoxy.  I just used a standard paint mask.  MISTAKE:  Four coats of epoxy were too much.  Four thin coats would have been fine but the epoxy had too many runs causing many, many hours of sanding.

MORE SCAPING AND SANDING – 18 hrs

Be careful not to sand through to the fiberglass.  I almost did several times.  Also, don’t sand before the epoxy before it completely dries.  I tried and it doesn’t work.  If you wait too long though, it becomes very hard.  MISTAKE:  Same as before fiberglassing.  I started sanding with 150 grit.  It should have been 60 or 80

INSIDE FIBERGLASS AND EPOXY – 11 hrs

Only two coats of epoxy were used on the inside.  MISTAKE:  Two coats were fine but they were put on too thick causing runs and much sanding.  And sanding on the inside is definitely harder than the outside.

DECKS – 5 hrs

The decks were made by gluing ¼ inch mahogany and white cedar strips over a ¾ inch white cedar board.   This worked quite well.  Cedar colored caulk was used as a bedding compound for the decks and gunwales.  It worked quite well and it was the right color (cedar).  Walnut splash boards (1/4 inch thick) were added to the rear of the decks later.  They had to be soaked in water in order to be able to bend them without breaking them.  MISTAKE:  The decks may be too large and thick and may be part of the weight problem – see later.

GUNWALES – 5 hrs

The gunwales were made from mahogany from an old coffee table.  They had to be scarfed (5:1) from 4 pieces on each side because the pieces weren’t too long.  They are put on with stainless steel screws and caulk because I thought I might change them later.  The inner gunwale is put on first with screws from the outside and the outer gunwale is then put on with screws from the inside.  The inside screw heads do show.  MISTAKE:  Single length pieces from a lighter wood should have been used for the gunwales.  I doubt if they ever will be changed now.

EPOXY NEAR THE STEMS

I used microbaloons and epoxy at the inside near the stems.  I did remember to tape around the area.  I put the canoe vertically against the house – a weird site.  MISTAKE:  This does not look the best because it was hard to get smooth.  Also, it got very, very hot.  I thought the canoe was going to catch on fire.

VARNISHING THE INSIDE – 4 hrs

The inside was varnished before mounting the seats, yoke, and thwarts

SEATS

The seats and yoke were purchased because I was running out of energy and wanted to get the canoe finished.  The seats were located at 58 inches and 133 inches from the front (to the front of the seats) after much thought about the length of the canoe, legroom, and possible weight of paddlers.  That seems about right.  They were mounted with pieces of ½ inch copper tubing.  Plastic tubing was used inside the copper to center them on the bolts.

YOKE AND THWARTS

The center of gravity (front to back) is about 2 inches back from the center of the canoe because it is asymmetrical.  The yoke was mounted 1 inch back from the true center to make the canoe easier to carry.  A rear thwart was added to stiffen the canoe although I don’t really think it was necessary.  Carrying handles (short thwarts) were put near the decks and are ideal for tying ropes for car-topping the canoe, dock tie-up, or carrying with two persons.

VARNISHING THE OUTSIDE – 5 hrs

The outside was varnished with 3 coats of water based polyurethane with two coats of oil based spar varnish over that.   I have graphite for the bottom but will probably not use it because