Improvisation

So last week I glued in the mast step and despite my best attempts to mark out the correct placing I didn’t quite get it right, close but no cigar. So I had to find a way to shape the hole so that the mast will fit. Only problem is how do you reach all the way down a 80cm hole?

Well finally my hording paid off, I had kept all the cores from making the mast step. I had figured on using them as wheels on a trolley… So I got them all together, threaded them on to a big nail and wrapped them all in a sheet of sand paper and presto the perfect sander for the job.

 

With a few seconds of sanding the mast was fitting nice and snug.

Then it was on to cutting the top section into shape, aligning it and marking that position.

Then it was onto more glue work. First up was gluing some support struts to the underside of the seats. I decided to use strips of the remaining ash from the gunwales, it’s nice strong and light timber. Four pieces evenly spaced apart make a nice strong and light seat. So after neatly aligning on sheets of oven paper, I donned my gloves and mixed up a batch of epoxy to coat the underside. Of course I had to pick each piece up so all my efforts were for naught. Oh well.

With the undersides coated I mixed in my glue powder and attached the upper section of the mast support, filleted the front of the splash guard and glued on the two parallel supports that the aft seat will rest on.

Sunday morning I took her outside to check the mast fit… Again it was tight, so using the rubbing on the wood as a guide I enlarged the hole until I had a tight fit. I suspect that I’ll need to make more room as I intend to coat all the timber in epoxy to make it waterproof and prevent warping or rot. I’m also thinking of lining it in leather to protect the mast. We’ll see.

Checking the aft seat for fit:

Then it was off to the park for some family time.

When we got back I had enough light to drill holes into the side of the hull for the iako lashings, sand them smooth and coat the insides with epoxy. I’m also worried about the strength of the upper mast fitting so I laid a strip of fibreglass over its’ forward edge to reinforce it. I also glued in the support struts for the forward seat. Next week I will sand the top of the seats, fillet the supports with a wood and epoxy blend and then glue the seats in.

So at the end of week twenty four a lot of small fiddly bits have been completed and we are slowly inching forwards. On a side note it is looking more and more likely that I will not follow through with my original plan to install a middle bulkhead for extra storage, I like the un-interrupted flow of the hull as it is and have developed quite an aversion to blocking it off and compartmentalizing it. It’s so un-canoe like!

Pink Gloves and Duct Tape

This was a week of little jobs. On Monday I went to NZ Fibreglass to get more glue powder. While I was there I also picked-up a couple of paint rollers for when I glass the ama and a couple of big (60ml) syringes Which I’ll use for mixing small batches of epoxy.

Well silly me, at bath time I showed Nico one of the syringes and how to use it. That was the end of that, think Nico would give it back? “No share Papa!”

As it turned out I had to go to Mt Wellington again on Wednesday so I stopped into NZ Fibreglass again and got a replacement syringe. On a whim I bought some more epoxy hardener.

“Do you want fast or normal setting”

“Fast setting as in for cold weather, so I don’t need to heat the garage?

“Yes”

Hmm let me think about that…

“Fast thanks”

Saturday, after a week of glorious weather turned out to be a typical Auckland winters day…. Cold grey and bouts of showers. I spent most of it visiting Oma with Nico, playing with the train set or cooking. Didn’t get much done on the canoe.

Sunday the weather did another back face and we were back to a beautiful day. So I got to work and cut and shaped the mast step, the base it rests on, the mast support for the wae and the splash guard.

By the evening of week twenty three I had the splash guard on:

 

 

And the mast step in place. As you can see it’s a deep one as recommended by Gary. The base is glued on with a fillet of sawdust and epoxy to fill the gaps then on top of that a strip of fibreglass which extends to the hull sides. The rest is then glued on with glue fillets and a strip of fibreglass wrapping around it and attaching to the ring frame.

Not Much Done

Saturday morning started off with the best of intentions. Nico and us hit the road early enough… Well tried to anyway; my car wouldn’t start. No surprise really it hasn’t been used for three days and the nights were cold, not a good combination for a diesel engine. So with a quick change of car we were off.

First stop Onehunga to the Powertool centre to see if they sold drill stands. No luck there, so on to Carbine Rd in Mt Wellington where there is a secondhand tool shop. “Let me see, I saw one recently on the floor, nope its gone”. Just my luck.

So on to NZ Fiberglass to get more glue powder. On the way there is another second hand tool shop so I quickly stop into that one. Still no drill stand but I did get a nice second hand Stanley plane.

On to NZ Fiberglass and my luck is holding; they are closed! Well that limits my options for the weekend. I went to Mums’ picked up her jumper leads, got my car started and with the whole family went to Spotlight in Manukau. After spotlight we went to Bunnings and I bit the bullet and purchased myself a drill press. I also got a round bastard file which I’ll use to shape the cut-outs for the storage hatches.

The rest of the day was spent planing the gunwales flat and sanding back the splotches of epoxy.

Sunday I assembled two saw horses I purchased a couple of weeks ago and swept out the garage. I fitted the rear bulkhead hatch cover and marked out where the calculated Center of Effort is.

What’s that you ask? Good question; the Center of Effort is the geometric center of the sail, its where the main driving force of the sail is concentrated. The push of the wind forces boat to turn into the wind. To prevent that sail boats have a keel or centerboard. On the Ulua the centerboard is mounted on the side of the hull and is called a leeboard. As a rule of thumb, the leeboard needs to be mounted 5% of the hulls water length behind the center of effort. With a canoe it is also important to make sure that this is at the widest point in the hull. To complicate matters, because the hull is long and narrow, crew position will have a big impact on the real waterline so in practice we’ll be able to balance the helm with our seating position.

At the end of week twenty two this is what she looks like:

No More Glue

As in I’ve run out! Fortunately I had enough to finish the starboard gunwale. So the first job next weekend will be to go to NZ Fiberglass and get more glue powder. Not being able to make any glue meant that my plans were cut short somewhat. So instead I cut lengths of timber for the seats and the mast step.

Speaking of the mast step, this is a part that I’ve been mulling on for a while now. Gary’s plans are for a plug to fit inside the mast but I’ve been reluctant to use that for my canoe because of the difficulty of drilling a clear straight hole through the middle of the plug and making sure the base is flush for a level mounting.  So instead I thought about getting a length of PVC or aluminum tube that the mast could sit in. I discussed this with Gary and he didn’t recommend PVC as it wasn’t very strong and epoxy didn’t bond well with it.

Then I came across this blog: Blue Peter and in particular, this picture:

and thought “now that’s an idea!” So I asked Gary if a block like that would work on the Ulua, he thought it would, but recommended a depth of 75mm to help hold the mast in during a capsize. I decided to go for 80-100mm. Originally I planed to use laminates of the 4mm ply I have, but that would require me to cut 20 strips so instead I used 20mm pine from a board I had. I will also laminate two pieces to be added to the wae for the upper mounting block.

What I also like about this picture is the tidy gear station with compass and space for a GPS and sundries. Something to keep in mind for after I've had a bit of experience on the water with her.

End of week twenty one, and no photo sorry; there isn’t much to see to be honest and we left early for pork roast dinner at Mums’.