Flaw in the Rubrail

Flaw in the Rubrail
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

In a continuation of "back to basics" week, I will discuss this rubrail in a bit more detail.

We purchased 10-foot sections of oak, which is obviously too short for the entire canoe. We compensated for this by angle-cutting the oak sections and joining them together with epoxy. We did the joints at port-bow and starboard-stern, for load balancing. This way if we hit something that would break one joint, they both wouldnt break.

This spring, my boat hit a rock in rapids, and popped the rubrail joint. I tried patching the popped joint with gorilla glue, but that was inadequate for the job, and the joint popped again, (on a much smaller rock, at a much lower speed.)

As you can imagine, I was starting to get a little frustrated over my canoe continually "breaking." I figured it was time to do the job right, so I decided to sand and re-epoxy the joint from scratch.

Unfortunately, my daughter wanted to help, and due to a perfect storm of circumstances, I didnt quite mix the epoxy right, and it never quite set. Growing even more weary of this ongoing problem, I sunk a couple of bronze nails into the seams, figuring that would do it. Thats when I sanded and painted the boat, and when I noticed the flaw in this picture. If you look VERY closely (not the best picture), you can see that theres no epoxy bonding the rubrail to the hull. Once the paint dries, but before I stain the rubrails, I will bond the rubrail to the hull with a thin line of unthickened epoxy.

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The Outside of the Hull is Glassed!

We reached another major milestone yesterday... we finished glassing the exterior of the hull. Now were on to the long task of fairing and sanding. Based on our current pace, I expect this to take about three months.

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Back to our Regularly Scheduled Program

We laid some more glass yesterday, but Im going to digress a bit.

You may remember in an earlier post that we had a couple of spots where the fiberglass didnt adhere to the plywood. Our initial plan was to drill small holes in these areas and fill them with epoxy. Greg changed his mind. Instead, he cut out these areas with a knife, and filled it with a mixture of epoxy and fiberglass filler. My camera batteries were dead, so I dont have any pics of this, but I will attempt to get some pics posted soon.

After the fiberglass filling, we did a little last-minute sanding, and laid fiberglass on one side. Weve now got about two-thirds of the exterior completely fiberglassed. We still have one side, and both transoms to do, but that should go relatively quick. Of course Ill post pictures.

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Back Ta Work Ye Scurvy Dogs

After our relaxing canoe trip, Greg and I returned to work. Greg has been putting in a lot of time doing finish work in preparation for painting the hull. Hes still got a few areas that hes not happy with, but were seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I cant wait!

Last week we installed a skid guard on the bottom of the hull. Since its a flat-bottomed boat, its designed to coast to shore, allowing our more dainty passengers to go ashore without getting their feet wet. In order to protect the hull, weve installed the skid guard.

The installation process was pretty straight-forward, but required some precision. First we sanded the area where the skid guard would be placed, and then cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol. Then we test-laid the skid guard, and once we were happy with the layout, we traced a pencil line around the skid guard, so wed know exactly where to lay it. We then applied part one of the two part adhesive. Part two is applied directly to the skid guard from the factory. After this, we were finally prepared to install the skid guard. This process was a little tricky, because the bond is instantaneous. We ended up a little bit off from the line we drew, but it still looks okay, and it will definitely perform to our expectations.

Once again I neglected to bring the camera with me, so youll have to wait in suspense for a little longer before you see the changes.

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We Re Interrupt this Program

Shower Repair 8
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

For an update on my shower repair. You may notice that my last update on this was in Mid-December. Since then I have had precious little time to work on the shower, and when I did work on it, the progress was slower for various reasons...

The patch job still isnt re-grouted and re-sealed, but thatll come in the next couple of days. And of course, its not perfect, but its designed to be a semi-permanent patch job, not a total reworking.

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Back To Basics

Back To Basics
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

Building the Nice Canoes was our experiment. We built the canoes first, so we could get an idea of how much work building the GT-23 would be, and to make sure we were up for that kind of work.

Ive had my canoe for about a year and a half, and Ive used it a LOT. She was starting to show her age...

It was time for a new paint job. I sanded down the entire exterior, including the rubrails. This photo shows the paint job. Today or tomorrow Ill do a bit more painting, a little touch-up, and then its into storage.

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