Build a Chestnut prospector Canoe from Scratch

Building a 16’-0 Chestnut Prospector Canoe From Scratch

By J. Dickson, December 13, 2006 Rev 6


Introduction:

Many years ago my sister Marg gave me two books on canoe building for Christmas.
They were: “The Wood and Canvas Canoe” by Stelmok and Thurlow AND “Canoecraft” by Moores and Mohr. These books sat in my bookcase for many years and then all of a sudden in 2005 I was motivated to build a canoe.
Some discussion followed with my neighbour Bill Schorse, the former owner of North Bay Canoe Company, and between us we decided that I should build a Chestnut Prospector. That particular canoe plan was represented in “Canoecraft” so all the necessary dimensions were there in table form.
The Chestnut Prospector was designed in Canada and is known as “the workhorse of the north.” It offers good maneuverability through whitewater and wilderness with capacity to carry substantial loads. It is the favoured canoe of Bill Mason, Canada’s premier paddler. At 16’-0 long and 70 lbs it is not no lightweight and is not really a good solo canoe. But is a good all around canoe and should serve my purposes well.


The major steps involved in construction


1) Read the Books; ask an expert questions
2) Draft the paper mould templates
3) Build the main mould
4) Build the stem mould
5) Build the Steam box
6) Cut and plane the rib and plank stock
7) Seal the inside surface of the plank stock
8) Cut and fit the inwales to the mould
9) Form the stems
10) Attach the stems to the mould
11) Bend on the ribs
12) Fair the ribs
13) Seal the outside surface of the ribs
14) Attach the Planking
15) Fair the Planking
16) Install decks and carrying handles
17) Coat the inside of the canoe 4 coats spar varnish
18) Seal the Outside surface of the planking
19) Install the seats and thwarts
20) Apply the canvas covering
21) Apply filler to the canvas
22) Paint the canvas three coats
23) Install the outwales
24) Apply fourth coat of paint
25) Install the brass stembands
26) Final sanding of gunwales and varnish same

The story in Sequence

1) Read the Books and ask an Expert Questions

The books I have referenced above have enough basic information contained in them to give a builder the scope and steps involved in the work to build a wood and canvas canoe.
They do not contain all the details necessary however and that is what I have tried to convey in this write-up.
If you have the opportunity to talk at legnth to someone who has actually built a canoe and will work with you in an advisory capacity while you work, then you will succeed in producing a very presentable canoe. If you don’t have such a person to call on, then pay a lot of attention to what I have written here and with great care you will end up with a decent canoe.




2)Draft the paper mould templates :

Buy or borrow or build a small drafting board. Something approx. 30” wide X 20” high will do. Buy or borrow a tee square and a 90-degree triangle and an 18–inch ruler.

Buy a roll of brown kraft paper and cut off a length suitable to draft the full scale mould. Fold the piece in half along the 20 “ dimension so that you only have to draw one side and when it is cut to shape with scissors and then opened, it will represent the full mould shape.

Mount the folded paper carefully on the drafting board so that the fold is exactly 90 degrees from the horizontal. Layout the offsets according to the offset table you are working from. The two books above have the offset tables for several canoe designs.

Tape the folded paper together before cutting along the curved line you have just laid out to make sure it doesn’t slide out of alignment while cutting. This is very important to get a mirror image on both sides of centerline.

Tape the paper template to 5/8-inch plywood and work with a fine nail set and puncture the paper to transfer the shape onto the plywood. Fill in between the punch holes on the plywood with a pencil. Cut out the mould on the bandsaw being sure to leave about an 8”wide X 5”high tab on the flat bottom surface of each mould. ( the tab is used to mount the moulds on the main mould frame). Build two of each station except station 0 which will be the single centre mould.
The tab on the final two stations towards the stems must be made deeper and should be 8” wide by 10” deep because they will set down deeper into the frame due to the rocker of the canoe hull. (rocker is the amount of bend along the keel line)

A stem mould ( stem backers) must also be drafted and cut at this point. Make it 4” deeper than the table of offsets shows at the side which will be THE TOPSIDE OF THE CANOE. This allows for plenty of latitude in upsweeping the inwhales at the stem ends. Also, make the trailing edge deeper than the table indicates on what will be the underside of the canoe for now and trim to the correct curve once all is mounted to the rest of the main mould assembly.

Because the canoe skeleton must be removed form the mould once the planking has been done, the stem backers (moulds) must be constructed with a removable section to allow release of the curved stems from the mould. Cut out about a 5-inch wide section from the plywood and then reassemble using strapping and screws placed so that this same section can be removed at time of canoe release form the mould.


Make two more of this same shape for the stem layup mould. These two sheets will be screwed together and of course do not need to have a removable section as described above. They will also be different in that they will have to be the correct and true shape along the keel line, unlike the stem backers described above.








3) Build the Main Mould

Obtain two straight 2 X 6 planks 12 or 14 feet long and use these as your main mould support beams. They will have to be extended by stabbing on a 2 X 4 of the right length to get the total overall length of the canoe.

Mount these planks on an absolutely flat and level surface. Use an old door over sawhorses. Stand the planks apart from each other 8-inches with several spacers which run the full depth of the plank for strength.

Notch the moulds to receive the ¾” thick 1” X 6” ply keelback on the surface of the mould which will eventually be the BOTTOM of the canoe. Make these notches full depth at the centre stations but the notches can less toward the ends. Mount the station moulds temporarily to get an idea of how deep these notches should be cut toward the ends then remove and cut the notches.

Mount the mould stations at 1’-0 intervals and install screws and gussets as necessary to hold them firmly in position. The last station mould will have to be split to allow mounting on either side of the stem mould. Cut out 5/8 out of the centre of this mould to allow this split mounting either side of the 5/8 plywood stem mould.

Once the station moulds are all in place fit the keelback into the notches and cut its top surface to the shape required to form the bottom centre profile of the canoe. It should stand ¾” proud of the moulds to give the same offset as the ¾” square ribbands which are to be fitted next. Fit the stem end moulds and then the final split station moulds described in the paragraph above. Ensure that the stem moulds are attached strongly because they must take a lot of stress and must remain aligned. Cut 3/4” wide strips from a sheet of ¾” plywood to create the 8’-0 long ribbands. These should be mounted at even spacings and six per side. The separation between the two topmost ribbands should be about the same spacing as the spaces between the ribbands down the sides. The spacing necessarily gets closer at the turn of the bilge and as you approach the stems and is a kind of an eyeball, what looks right, kind of thing.

THE NEXT PRAGRAPH* describes a different ( but better ) arrangement than I used for attaching the ribbands to the station moulds. I used screws and it created no end of trouble trying to clinch the canoe tacks as I worked downward from the keel line to the shear. The permanently attached ribbands were forever getting in the way of the clinching iron and I had to use many SS screws to make my attachments.This method is described in detail in Issue # 134 , April, 2006 of “Wooden Canoe” Vol 29 #2.
Web Page: WCHA@wcha.org

*Drill ¼” dia holes in the moulds just below the position where the ribbands cross that mould. That is a lot of holes but they are necessary to pass plastic cable ties through to temporarily attach the ribbands to the moulds. The ribbands are notched with a rasp to allow the cable ties to lay flush for the planking. Where the stresses are too great for a cable tie, use wire. The ribbands can be screwed onto the last station because the screws will be accessible there when it comes time to remove each of the ribbands from the mould. The ribbands will be removed sequentially as the planking proceeds downward toward the shearline so that you can get the clinching iron up behind the ribs as you work.The ribband at the shearline is inset ¾” into each station mould and attached with screws because it stays in place and must be strong enough to attach the inwhale with the resultant high stresses at the stem ends.*

Cut the ribbands off just past the last station except for the ribband at the shearline which should run all the way to the stem for attachment of the inwhale.

The edges of the ribbands should be rounded off with a belt sander to relieve the sharpness so the ribs will not be creased at the these points.


4) Build the Stem Mould for Layup of the Laminated Stems


Using the two pieces of 5/8” plywood to the curves of the stembacker moulds described in Section 2, screw same together as shown below. Install blocks and bolts and make wedges as shown.




5) Build the steam Box

The steam box should be at least 60” long and about 16” high and 16” wide.
I built mine a little bigger but it didn’t need to be so big and only takes longer to heat up.
It should be as tight as possible so as not to let too much steam leak out and the door should be cut on a back slant to help with keeping the door shut. My door was straight vertical and had to be latched to keep it tightly closed. The box does not need to be insulated as I did. I had some old 2” foam around and decided to use it up. Careful where you use it though; could catch fire if it directly encounters the heater flame.

A hole for the steam pipe is cut into the bottom at the centre and 3 or 4-inch PVC pipe passed just through about an inch into the box. A reasonably tight fit is good here too.

A propane burner and some sort of water vessel of at least 1 gallon capacity is required along with some convenient way of topping up the water level when it runs low as it will in an hour or so. The box is most easily kept suspended from the ceiling by lines and a hoist if you have one.

Notched pieces of wood with the capacity to hold all 60 or so of the ribs is requires to keep them separated and standing on edge.




6) Cut and Plane the ribs and planking stock



Buy the white cedar lumber from the sawmill. Dry until ready to cut and mill to thickness. Try to get wood as clear as possible and quarter sawn where possible in as long lengths as possible. Cut on table saw for the ribs and on the bandsaw for the planking due to increased widths required. A ¾-inch skip tooth bandsaw blade and a vertical extension on the rip fence along with a feather board is required to get good tracking for the plank cutting.

Finish the edges on the planer also. Chamfer or round off edges of ribs on the shaper so that they don’t gouge every time they are hit with something while in service .

I used 5/16” X 1-7/8” ribs and 3/16” X 2-5/8” plank as final dimensions. Both these dimensions could have been shaved by 1/32” (or even 1/16) for lightness.
Trim off ends getting rid of any snipe because if a plank with snipe gets installed in error, it is hard to fair the hull at that point. Ribs should all be about 60” long but some shorter material will suffice at the stem ends.


7) Seal the inside surface of the planking

After sanding with 100 grit, use a mixture of 80% boiled linseed oil and 20% varsol applied generously with a cheap brush.




8) Cut and fit the Inwales to the Mould

In the case of this 16-0’ canoe, the actual length of the gunwales is about 16-4” so cut the gunwales long at approximately 17-0’ to get some overlap at the stems. Start with 1-1/8 “ thick ash and cut into 1-1/8 X 15/16” strips. Get 9 or even 10 ft long lumber because you will lose about 12” at the scarfed joint. Plane the stock to get a reasonably smooth finish and a preliminary dimension of about 1” X 13/16” before scarfing the lengths together.
Build a scarf cutting jig and cut the angled joints on the bandsaw. Support of the infeed end will be necessary to avoid droop so call a buddy or build a prop.
A 12: 1 ratio taper gives a good scarf joint. Warm the two part epoxy glue slightly if it’s cool weather and coat both surfaces of the scarf, then force together with C clamps and let sit for one day in warm weather; two days in cool. Final dimension of 7/8 “high X ¾” wide is done on the planer with the help of a buddy in-feeding and out-feeding the very long stock. The orientation of the grain is parallel with the up/down 7/8” dimension to ensure easy bending onto the mould.
The inwale doesn’t require steaming for the moderate bends required in the Chestnut Prospector. It will take the gentle bends involved quite easily as long as the wood is sound with no major grain irregularities.

The inwale is held to underside of the lower ribband with C clamps and plastic cable ties. The final upsweep at the stems will be determined later.

9) Form the Stems

Stems can be made of solid material and steamed and bent but I found that the laminating method was easier and avoided the heart breaking cracking that can happen during bending steamed thick members. The jig which I built worked well for this laminating approach.

Cut thin pieces of ash about 3/16” thick about 1” wide and enough to produce two
7/8-inch thick stacks when glued up. Run them through the planer to get a good smooth surface and a final thickness of about 1/8”. Make them long enough to overlap the final lengths requires at both ends by about 3 or 4”.

Place thin flexible plastic sheet like a bath shower wall liner on the inside surface of the jig to prevent the laid-up stem from adhering to the jig.
Mix up enough two part epoxy glue to glue-up the stack of seven thin strips. Pre heat the glue if it is cold weather to encourage setting. I used SmithCraft 110A and 110B epoxy glue mixed 1:1. Available from SmithCraft, Queensway Ave; Etobicoke, Ont

Slide the glued strips into place and drive wedges into place below the bolts to achieve a good compression force. The use of plastic or rubber gloves is absolutely necessary.
Let set for at least one day; two days in cold weather.

Remove the rough stem from the jig and rough cut the necessary taper on the bandsaw. This taper turned out to be about 15-degrees. Leave the horizontal part of the stem untapered of course as this will be notched to engage 4 of the ribs. Finish stem smooth on the belt sander.
Notch square section using table saw and then a rasp to ease sharp edges.



10) Attach Stems to Mould

Attach the laminated stems to the mould using a few #6 temporary screws placed in a way that they can released for removal of the canoe from the mould later on.








11) Bend on the Ribs



The ribs should be steamed in the box all at once if space allows. It takes about one to 1-1/2 hours with an interior temperature inside the box of about 180 degrees F to get the ribs supple enough to bend without breakage. Some will break however so have at least 10% extra steamed and ready.

Start in the centre to place the first rib and work towards the ends. Place a wedge between the strong-back and the rib after each is placed to ensure it lays flat at the centerline and doesn’t tend to form a rounder than desired bottom. The rib must be bent slowly pressing down from above and pulling outwards as it is bent downward in an arc. To get the ribs to lay flat as you work toward the end areas, it is necessary to cant them slightly backwards toward the centre section of the canoe.

Use C clamps or rotatable pieces of scrap wood to hold the ribs in place at the inwhale at this point in case some ribs need to be adjusted to alter the way they are laying. Once you are satisfied with the shape of the ribbed hull, then the ribs can be screwed into place using two ¾-inch #4 SS screws at each location on the inwale. Use a pilot drill and countersink slightly into the rib. The ash inwhale is hard and must be pre-drilled. Stay 3/8-inch from the edge of the rib to avoid splitting.


The extreme bends in the last couple of full ribs can result in some surface splintering and a little of this is inevitable and OK. Bend them very slowly and in two steps; first bending around the previously placed rib and then rebending with both arcs swung downward simultaneously and tension downward applied. The square section of the stem is rounded slightly and the 4 ribs are placed fully down into the notches.

12) Fair the ribs ( shape the ribs to the final contour)

Adjust any ribs that are obviously lying on the wrong angle before starting sanding by adjusting the cant.

Fairing is done with 50 grit sandpaper mounted on block approximately 20” long by 3” wide. I used a length of belting sandpaper and attached with staples on the top side of the block. The lower ends of the sanding block should be rounded to avoid catching.
Sand in a longitudinal direction first then finish in an up and down sweeping motion.
Test with a flexible straight edge like a meter stick to check for fairness as you go.

13) Seal the outside surface of the ribs

When satisfied with the fairness of the ribs, seal with one coat of 80% BOILED linseed oil and 20% varsol. Let dry at least a few hours before tacking on the planks.







14) Install the Planking

The strongback has to be moved to one side slightly to place the first of the garboard planks.( the two planks which are on the very bottom of the finished canoe)

Make sure that the previously sealed surface of each plank goes against the ribs

The longest planks and soundest ones should be used for the garboards so that a twist from horizontal to near vertical can be accomplished without cracking. The planks don’t have to be steamed in the box but the use of a steam iron and wet towel at the areas of maximum twist will help with the plank’s survival and final set. Let the planks run past the stems several inches.
Use 17 mm brass canoe tacks to attach to each rib and ½-inch SS #4 screws where necessary and to ensure holding power at the stems. Use a 5 oz. hammer and don’t hit so hard that dents are created. Shallow dents can be steamed out with iron and wet towel but big cats eyes are there for good.

Once a couple of top planks are placed on one side, move the strongback to the other side of centerline and place two planks on that side. Then relocate the strongback to the centerline. Keep the wedges in place throughout the planking process and keep the hull bottom forced down. The wedges keep popping out as the hammer blows are struck but keep hammering them back in as necessary to ensure a good downward pressure.

Do not permanently attach planking to the stems with tacks or nails of any kind at this point. Use #4 screws to hold temporarily in place and don’t worry about planking gaps at the stems. Try to eliminate them as possible by moderate pressure on the planks but undue force will result in buckling in later life. Gaps that are left will be filled in with wedge shaped planking. Sounds difficult but is isn’t so don’t worry; be happy.

As you work downwards, move from one side of the hull to the other to keep the stresses even and the stems aligned in a perfect vertical. Stagger butt joints so they don’t all align and create weakness. I used a 45-degree chamfer at create the butt joints. Use three tacks per rib and stay ¼-inch away from the edge of the rib. BUT go to within 1/8-inch of the plank stock to ensure flat attachment and no future curl at the edges. At butt, stay ¼-inch in from ends of plank to avoid splitting and you can drill tiny pilot holes if splitting is a problem.

After getting 5 or 6 planks tacked into place on each side it will be necessary to install goring planks to make up the difference in coverage at midship verses that at the stems. Make the goring planks long enough to come to within about 3 feet of the canoe ends. Use two pieces if necessary to get the length required and don’t forget to stagger the joints which will occur near the centre of the canoe. It is convenient if the additive ends of the goring planking can combine to produce a width equal to a full width plank with which to carry on the planking to the stem. But this is not absolutely necessary and creative joint shaping can be done to accommodate any mismatch here. I did not run the goring planking far enough along the canoe so that the 2nd picture below shows only three gore planks and ending short of where they could have done. There could have been four if I had run them further along toward the stems thus producing more coverage amidships with the goring.
It all worked out anyway but I would do it this revised way in another canoe.

A hardwood cap will have to be made to cover the stems and tapered to a 3/8” thickness to accept the canvas and eventually the brass stem caps. I made each of these caps in two pieces. One piece was made on the stem mould and made of laminated ash which runs down from the deck height and just past the point of curvature at the stem bottom. The radius of curvature of the cap is slightly larger than the actual stem so it must be stood off from the stem jig by about 1-inch as it is laid up. I accomplished this by creating a stand-off made of laminated material and glued it up on the jig. It is only about 2/3 as long as the stem and a little longer than the cap you are creating now.

The laminated stem cap must be cut to tapered shape on the bandsaw in the same way that the actual stems were previously. The base width will be the stem outer edge plus the width of the planks either side and it should taper to about 3/8” as indicated above.

The second piece was made in solid ash and shaped with a rasp and spokeshave. This second piece runs along the stem bottom just past the innermost rib which was bent over the stem notches. The cedar must of course be carefully removed along this area of the hull bottom to the depth of the stem assembly to accommodate this solid section of cap. Try not to damage the ribs which are bent across the stem in this area in removing cedar material.


15) Fair the Planking

Trim the ribs using a Japanese saw to within about 1/2-inch above of the inwhale.

Reset any tacks that are looking questionable from the inside or outside. It doesn’t hurt to reset them all actually but get a helper. You can’t reach far enough with the clinching iron in some places yourself.

Fairing the planking is a big job and is best accomplished with a long base oscillating sander using 80 grit paper. I did not have such a machine so I used my 3”x 24” belt sander and this is both tiring and risks gouging the planking. However it can be done by continuously moving the belt sander fairly quickly and carefully following contours and keeping things square and not accidently tilting the machine. The canoe can be turned alternately to give the easiest approach to the work.

There will be some planks which cannot be brought into flush without removing too much surrounding material and this is solved by a little use of automotive body filler but don’t exceed 1/16”. Put this filler on BEFORE you seal the outer surface of the planks to ensure it bonds with the raw wood surface.








16) Install Decks and Carrying handles


Light ropes and a piece of scrap and C clamps are placed across the inwales to pull them into position for measurement of the decks prior to cutting. A good fit here is paramount for appearance sake. Poor fit will stand out like the proverbial sore thumb.

I used black cherry for the decks and ash for the carrying handles. The deck stock is 1-1/8 thick and can be shaped to give a slight crown and decorated with a heart shape as shown. The carrying handles are 1-inch square stock carved to a comfortable shape and set back from the decks far enough to allow easy hand placement. Seal the sides and the underside of the decks. Seal the ends of the handles.

The handles are attached with 1-1/2” # 8 SS Screws although they could have been brass screws or even bronze bolts for a little more visual impact. The decks are attached with a total of six 1-1/2” # 8 SS Screws to ensure there will be no failure there.





17) Coat the inside of the Canoe with Spar varnish

Sand the interior of the canoe with an orbital sander with 180 grit. Don’t sand across the grain of the cedar. It will leave scratches which are almost impossible to get out.


Four coats of a good quality spar varnish sanding lightly between coats with 3M fine abrasive pad. Get a good amount down into lower section of the stem area. And get up into the high inside sections of the stem even though they are hard to get at. Dry rot can occur here if not properly coated.

18) Seal the Outside Surface of the Planking

As with the inside surface of the planking described earlier, one coat 80% linseed/ 20% varsol. It is important to delay this step until the ribs have received at least one coat of varnish because the sealing material can run through and stain the ribs.







19) Install the seats and Thwarts

I purchased the cherry caned seats and the ash carrying yoke. These were the only items I bought pre-made.

Pull the hull into shape with light rope in a zigzagged fashion across the inwales.
Make sure that the line of the gunwales is continuous and not uneven.

The centre thwart should be fitted first followed by the quarter thwart(s) and then the seats. The centre thwart should be installed at the centre of gravity and this can be tested by hoisting the canoe from a line to the ceiling of the shop. The seats will make little difference to the c.g. and if anything will make the canoe a little stern heavy which is beneficial for solo carrying. ( this is because the stern seat gets installed a little farther toward the stem than the bow seat).

Once the centre thwart is in, install the quarter thwart, then the seats.

The seats should be installed low for good stability but still 10 to 12” off the hull bottom so that you can kneel and get your legs and feet under the seat.



20) Apply the Canvas Covering

Using a marking gauge, cut back the top planking by 3/8” from the top of the inwales. This will allow the rabetted outwhale to set down over the planking and provide a protective and decorative cap.

Canvas application was the most amazing step in the building of the canoe. If I hadn’t had an expert to help me here, I wouldn’t have obtained the very good results which I did get.

It is a matter of stretching the canvas using a “come-along” in the axial direction ( long dimension) and vice-grip metal edge bending type pliers in the vertical direction.
Obtain Canvas about 18” longer than the longest dimension of the canoe ( measurement taken stem to stem at the turn of the bilge).
# 10 canvas was what I used and is commonly used for general canoe building.

Get “clothes-pegs” and C clamps ready and come-along and tackle ready.
Fold the canvas in half.

With canoe inverted apply canvas so that centerline of fold is in line with centerline of the canoe.








Grasp everything as best you can and turn canoe right side up onto saw horses.




Attach canvas into close-pegs one end at a time and ensure that clamps are tight and won’t slip.

Apply tension slowly with the come-along

Set several cans of paint or other weights into the bottom of the hull to create a downward force. I estimate about 100 lbs total was what was used.

Trim excess canvas along long edges so that about 3 or 4 inches is left above the rib ends.


Starting at centre and working with two people ( one either side), stretch the canvas up with the vice grips prying against a wood scrap plywood block ( approx 3” W X 5” L) to get good tension in the canvas and staple two or three monel metal 5/8 staples very near the top edge of the planking at each rib location. Stay high so that the outwale will cover the staples. As you work your way along towards the canoe ends, pull the tension on the canvas with the pliers in a direction that is mainly upwards but also gently in the direction of the stem ends. Stop one foot short of the stems with this stapling, disconnect the tackle and invert the canoe.

Stelmock and Thurlow’s book describes the exact steps in overlapping and cutting and trimming the canvas at the stems so I won’t attempt it here. It’s too involved to repeat.

Use ¾” cigar box nails and lots of them ( @ ½ “ spacing) at the stems to hold the canvas to the stem caps. Right at the point of initial overlap, use a stronger nail type. We used about 5/8” long taper cut upholsterers tacks. These give a good nail head head surface over the canvas at this point of high pulling stresses. The little cigar box nails wouldn’t suffice here.

Use a sealer between the canvas and the stem caps and between separate layers of canvas to ensure good adhesion and water proofing.




21) Apply Filler to the Canvas

This is a mixture of silica, oil based paint and boiled linseed oil.
I do not know the proportions.


It is necessary to stir often, brush on well and then and rub in well with a canvas pad
( scrunched-up canvas) so that the weave is almost completely filled. It will take about three liters of the mixture to do the job.

Let dry for at least one day.


22) Paint the Canvas Cover the first Three coats

Sand the filler coat with 100 grit without cutting through the weave. Vacuum well.

I used four coats of Impervo 133-4B “Chrome Green” exterior oil based paint available from the local Benjamin Moore dealer. Formula is Yw-4, Bk-24,Tg-2X10, and Wh-12.
It took 2 liters and left me with about ½ pint to do touch-ups. Filter the paint. Keep it warm so it flows well particularly on the final coat.

Cut the paint with about 10% boiled linseed oil to improve the flow characteristics.
I used a medium quality 2-1/2 “ wide genuine bristle brush. Clean in gasoline between coats.

Allow 2 days to dry between coats to ensure the paint is dry.

Sand between coats with 100 grit sandpaper on a sanding block changing the paper often as it tends to gun up. Sand in the long dimension of the hull.

Between coats 2 and 3, sand with an air powered oscillating sander using 80 grit and make sure that it isn’t operating too fast as it will melt the paint and pack up on the sandpaper. Be careful not to sand through the canvas.
Follow up with hand sanding using 100 grit.

Take the paint right past the stapled portions of the covering to ensure complete coverage.

Sand the stems between coats in a way so that the overlapped thickness remains at right angles to the long dimension of the hull. It can get to be on a bit of an angle if you are not careful and then the stem bands will not lay correctly.

23) Install the Outwales

Turn the canoe right side up.

Ensure that the 3 rd coat of paint is sanded up to the gunwales and down about 6 to 10 inches before fitting the outwales. See next photo.

Trim canvas with sharp utility knife using top edge of planking as a guide. Pull the canvas slightly with tension upward as you go.






Make sure that the rabbet cut of the outwhale results in a flush fit against the ribs and against the hull and will rest flush at the same level as the inwhale.

Attach the outwhale starting at the centre using C clamps and leveling blocks to ensure that the outwhale is pulled up flush with the inwhale. Work outwards toward the stems adding more C clamps. Ensure that there is enough overlap at the stems before drilling for # 8 brass slot head screws with combination taper drill countersink bit. Place a screw at the centre rib, then at every 2nd rib. Mark screw locations carefully using pencil and centre punch to ensure accurate location of each screw. Move clamps and leveling blocks along as you work toward the stems. Use masking tape along top of inwhale at the stems to mark the location of fasteners to avoid hitting same with the brass screws. Get as close as reasonably possible to the stem ends with the final brass screws. Use a steel screw run-in first to cut a thread in the ash for the soft brass and dip the brass in grease to aid in setting the screws without breaking them. A broken brass screw is a big problem to remove and replace.
Once you have one side on completely, trim the ends long enough to allow the other outwhale to pass by at the stems. Repeat the other side.

Finally, cut the outwhales off flush using the stem as a guide as you cut upwards.
Fill any gaps at the stem ends with filler reed material carved to form a tight interference fit. Fill ant additional small gaps with mastic putty.

24) Apply Fourth Coat of Paint

Invert the canoe and look at gunwale to hull fit. If there are any gaps, fill with mastic putty and wipe the gunwale clean of all traces of putty using varsol. Paint will not stick to putty residue.


Mask the outwales so that a 1/8 “ gap between the hull and the bottomed varnished surface of the gunwale is created. You want the paint to form a seal between the gunwale and the hull. Don’t use excessive paint at this joint however or you might get paint running down the ribs or planking and it would be hard to clean up.

Use two containers for the paint and a battery blanket to keep the paint warm as you switch from one can to the other to ensure good flow characteristics for this fourth and final coat.


Use a fresh brush for this final coat and watch carefully to avoid creating runs. Brush the paint out well. We put an in-car heater under the inverted hull to create a little more warmth in the hull temperature to help with good paint flow.

Leave to dry two days before further handling to ensure the paint has hardened enough.

After 2 days, remove the masking tape by pulling slowly at an upward angle. Clean up any paint irregularities on the underside of the outwale with a razor blade or other fine scraper.











25) Install the brass stembands


Buy two 4-0 ft pieces of bronze stemband and polish on a buffing wheel. Bevel the ends. Mark out the locations on the bore holes approx 1 inch in from the ends and then at 6” spacing. The trailing edge gets one additional hole about 3” in from the end to prevent catching and pulling up the stem when bottoming on a beach.
Lay the stem on the deck and determine the sharp bend location at the prow and mark.
Bend slowly by clamping in a vice and striking light blows with a deadblow hammer.
When it is right, try for fit and correct as necessary to get a close conformance.
Determine the location of the slight kick up where the stem runs across the deck and gunwhales and mark and bend carefully. Check the marked locations of the intended bore holes against the actual canoe stems to make sure that the screws will not encounter any existing fasteners by slowly rolling the stem bands around the curve of the canoe stems. You should record the locations of any fasteners holding the stem caps before canvassing.

Bore and countersink the stems to fit a ½-inch #4 flat head brass woodscrew. Check for screw fit as you go to ensure the depth of counterbore is sufficient to completely set the screw. Don’t go too deep however because it will weaken the stem material when bending and possibly crack it. Install the stem bands starting with the canoe upright and setting the first two screws at the deck end. Run in steel screws prior to the brass ones to cut the thread passages and avoid twisting off the brass screws in the hardwood stems.
Work downwards a screw at a time and use the deadblow hammer to conform the brass to the hull gradually as you go.
After about 4 screws had been set in, flip the canoe and install the remainder, bottom side up. Make sure to use a weather proofing type seal on all the screws below the waterline. Also make sure to sight along the canoe bottom to get the stem band alignment exactly along the long axis of the canoe. The last four screws or so will set this alignment. These last screws should be ¾” long where they are aft of the hardwood stem caps to ensure a good grab into the underlying material.







26) Final sanding of gunwhales and varnish same

Three coats of spar varnish sanding between coats with a fine abrasive 3M pad.
Allow one day between coats and at least two days after final coat before heavy use.

That’s it. Bobs your uncle; you’ve got a canoe!

The canoe cost about $1100 plus $200 for the mould. A similar canoe sells for $4400 at a local dealer tax incl.