SASSAFRAS 12 CANOE PROJECT

Day 36 – 1.5 Hours

Started smoothing out the outside of the hull. Thickened up some epoxy and filled some of the gaps in the joints. This was really necessary at the stems to smooth them out for the glass tape to be applied. This will probably take a few days to let the epoxy cure and recheck the results.



Day 37 – 1.5 Hours

Sanded the filled areas and found a few more areas needing some work. This is where you have to decide on how nice you want the results to look or get the project done sooner. There is still ice on the water here so I might as well take my time and make it better. More filler and another day to let it cure.



Day 38 – 4 Hours

Finished sanding on the outside of the hull (still have a few divots) and preceded to fiberglass the middle planks. Following instructions it didn’t go too bad. Next to tape the stems and apply the fill coats.



Day 39 – 1 Hour

I did the stem tapes today. I didn’t have any tape left to use so I used some of my straps from the hull. I cut the strips on the diagonal, as described in the manuals, and found they conformed beautifully to the stems without any folds. I used two strips on each end. I will let them cure and then start on the fill coats.



"The most important things are length, width and weight," Kitt says. "You have to get the right boat for the right job. The main difference is distance. You have to determine how far you want to paddle. A longer boat goes farther with less effort".

CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT - SASSAFRAS 12 CANOE PROJECT

Day 31 – 2 Hours

The first fill coat is applied to the inside of the hull. The stains from the drips are gone! I do have some excess epoxy under some to the glass, but that has never been my strong point. I think it looks great. One more coat and I can start on the outside.

Day 32 – 2 Hours

It has been too darn cold to work in my small room so I moved back into the larger. Applied the second fill coat to the inside of the hull. The temporary brace is gone, the hull is solid. I also cut and drilled the thwart. I was afraid that the screws would split the wood without predrilling and I counter sunk them for a smooth finish. I will coat it with epoxy before I install it under the inwales. Hopefully the replacement outwale will show up soon and I can complete the hull. I am thinking I will drill the 1" holes in the bulkheads for the drain plugs tomorrow rather than later since I will have to seal the edges of the holes with epoxy. That should make sanding a bit easier in those areas.

Day 33 – 1 Hour

Since I am waiting for parts, I decided to install the misc. components to check fit and see how they look. Thanks to the angle adaptor on my Dremel tool, the thwart was installed. I drilled the openings for the drain plugs and installed. Finally, I installed the seat back and set the seat in place. Looks good. Now to remove everything and epoxy the thwart and all the hole edges.

Day 34 – ½ Hour

The replacement outwale arrived and I epoxied it together. Now I must let it cure. All for tonight.

Day 35 – 1.5 Hours

I have shaped, cut and mounted the last outwale and it didn't snap. My faith in wood has returned. Now I can begin on the outside of the hull.



"The most important things are length, width and weight," Kitt says. "You have to get the right boat for the right job. The main difference is distance. You have to determine how far you want to paddle. A longer boat goes farther with less effort".

CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT - SASSAFRAS 12 CANOE PROJECT

Day 27 – 2 Hours

I have cut the outwales to length and now must round them over. You see my completed jig. It allows me to mark the sides of the outwales so I can accurately plane off the same amount from either edge. After I install them on the hull, it should be a simple matter to sand them smooth.

Day 28 – 2 Hours

I got one of the outwales glued and mounted. That went well. The second, as I was clamping it to the hull split in two. This is the second piece of mahogany that has failed in this kit and I have to believe it was just too dry. I have contacted the manufacturer and am waiting for their reply. I think I will spend some more time working on the drips on the inside of the hull for now.

Post Note: CLC got back to me before the end of the day and replacement parts are coming.

Day 29 – 3 Hours

The first outwale look fine. As I am waiting for the replacement for the snapped one I have been sanding the interior of the hull. Lots of work but it looks good.

Day 30 – 6 Hours

Finished the sanding on the inside of the hull and smoothed out the fillets at the bulkheads. I then taped the edges and applied the fiberglass to this inside of the hull. Looks great. Removed the tape and the surplus glass and touched up the edges. Ready for the fill coats tomorrow.



“The most important things are length, width and weight,” Kitt says. “You have to get the right boat for the right job. The main difference is distance. You have to determine how far you want to paddle. A longer boat goes farther with less effort”

Kitt suggests 12- to 14-foot boats for beginners. For the average woman: a 15- to 17-foot kayak that is about 22-23 inches wide is suggested. An average man would use a 17- to 18-foot boat 22-24 inches wide. But Kitt says an individual’s height and weight should also factor in choosing the correct boat.

“Make sure you sit in the boat before you buy one,” Kitt says. “That’s pretty important. You have to make sure you physically fit in it.”

Camillus Kayak Shop

CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT - SASSAFRAS 12 CANOE PROJECT

Day 23 – 3.5 Hours

Before I outline today's work, I feel it is time for me to redefine why I am writing these reports. It is not to show how good a boat builder I am or to flaunt the merits of a particular kit but to point out the pleasure of building your own boat and the moments of not so much pleasure. Today is a good example of that. Parts of this build have been very rewarding, today's was not. Learn from my errors, don't repeat them.

Today I sanded. Not the boat, the fillets and I am not done yet. The instructions say to thicken your epoxy with silica to the proper consistency, which I did (I thought). You then fill the fillets so that the normal wetting action of the epoxy, as it dries, pulls the epoxy up the sides of the adjacent plank forming a perfect curve. The problem is the epoxy supplied with the kit is slow cure (which is GREAT to work with). If you do not get the consistency just right, when you come back in 4-5 hours so see how everything is going, you find the wires have formed smart little dams and you have a neat set of terraces parading down the length of your joints. Some have even held back enough epoxy to run down the side of your hull making even more of a mess. I might suggest not filling the areas completely up to the top of the planks. Apply enough epoxy to seal the seams. Remove the wires after it cures and then complete the fillets (thickened a bit more). This would also make removing the wires much easier.

Grinding them back down to size is another problem. This stuff is hard. I ended up using my Dremel tool to reduce the amount of material and I did get some gouges in the surface which will have to be filled and leveled before painting. This has not been a great day but the hull is coming along.

Day 24 – 1.5 Hours

So I didn't miss them, I marked all the low spots on the fillets and imperfection with painter tape before I mixed the epoxy. I then mixed a very thick solution of epoxy and silica and started to fill the areas. It was thick enough that I was able to use one of the stir sticks to spread it out, trying to blend it in with the surface. Tomorrow I find out how it worked.

Day 25 – 2 Hours

Well, it came out pretty good. I did a light sanding with 220 grit paper and there are a few areas that could use a little more work, but not bad. Next step is to shape and install the outwales.

Day 26 – 2 Hours

Started working on the inside of the hull today. I still have more to finish the outside but it can wait until I am ready for the fiberglass. The temporary brace was removed and replaced with a new one that isn’t epoxied in place. Lots of internal runs! If you don’t have one, purchase a cabinet scraper. It reduces the runs down to a workable size quicker than anything I have tried before and is gentle to the wood. I did cut the outwales to length and started to make a jig to help in rounding them over. I will show more of this later. This was a good day.

CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT - SASSAFRAS 12 CANOE PROJECT

Days 19-20 – Hours 6

I finally have all the wires I can remove done. This was tedious and my hands are all little red punctures. Not the part of a “stitch and glue” project that you really enjoy doing. I did have some seams at the center edge of the hull that just didn’t want to seal. I finally added more silica to the epoxy and filled the worst gap with some slim wood shaving and it did stop leaking. Now I will let it cure and start the sanding before adding the out Wales.

I also just realized that my temporary spacer across the hull is now permanently epoxied in place from the internal leakage. It should be fun removing. I should have placed some waxed paper over the ends before installing. Thinking about it, the spacer is also probably why I had trouble sealing the seams at the center of the hull. It puts a lot of extra pressure there. At least it won't slip out of place by accident.



Day 21 – 1.5 Hours

I moved the hull back into the other room and started the sanding. Didn’t go too bad, but I have to clean the epoxy fills between the planks. That is not very easy to get real smooth during the pours. One side is done and one to go with the rough sanding. I am still finding wires!



Day 22 – 3.5 Hours

More sanding and most of the hull exterior is done. Now I am getting into the fillets between the planks. It is tough to get them level the full length of the plank. It will probably take some more thickened epoxy to do the job. At this point I am not concerned with how many hours it takes to complete the project, I want it to look right. Then I can start on the inside.

Camillus Kayak Shop Demo Day 2018

CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT - SASSAFRAS 12 CANOE PROJECT

Days 14-15 – Hours 6

I installed the fillets for the stems and bulkheads, one each night, and applied fiberglass tape to the stems. I did have to install clamps on the sides to bring them into the bulkheads. This was a lot of work in my little room and didn’t go easily. I pleaded with my assistant and got permission to move the work to the larger room as long as no sanding goes on there (dust).

Day 16 – Hours 2

I move the hull to the larger room and after leveling the sawhorse I applied the fillets to the inside of the bulkhead compartments. I started to coat the inside of the compartments, as the instructions say, but realized I was going to have a real problem removing the staples if I epoxied them to the hull. I can always complete this later.

Days 17-18 – Hours 6

Started filling the seams with epoxy. I do like the syringes supplied with the kit. They are simple and easy to fill by drawing the plunger up from the cup of epoxy. It is still a messy operation and runs will occur but I plan on painting the outside so it will work. It is difficult to get all the planks to seal well to each other. I had installed some additional wires is areas and tape in others where I could see light coming through from above and they still leaked. See photo. That did however seal the areas and the second apply of epoxy seems to work well. I hope to finish the seams by tomorrow and I can work on removing the wires. This will not be possible on the stems as they are bedded into the stem fillets. I do hope they will sand down smooth.



"The most important things are length, width and weight," Kitt says. "You have to get the right boat for the right job. The main difference is distance. You have to determine how far you want to paddle. A longer boat goes farther with less effort".

CHESAPEAKE LIGHT CRAFT - SASSAFRAS 12 CANOE PROJECT

Days 8-9 – Hours 6

I have moved the project to the new room and you can see it’s much smaller. I have tightened my wires and CLC advises that the replacement parts are being shipped tomorrow. I have also started installing the bulkheads. The instructions advise that you will have to push the sides of the hull in to meet it and they were not kidding. It will take some clamps to encourage them into place. Now all I can do is wait for the replacements parts to show up so it looks like I am going to take a Holiday break. I will be back on the project after the holiday. Merry Christmas!

Report 4 – 23 Hours to date

Days 10-12 – Hours 3

I have received my replacement parts from CLC. I was concerned about the shipment being damaged and was pleasantly surprised just how well they were packaged. Nice Job!

Now I removed the damaged panel and using it as a template, epoxied the panel and inwale together. The hull looks a little strange without the panel, but it will survive. I also used the old panel to allow me to predrill the holes necessary for the wires. My only concern here is do I have enough wire to mount the new panel to the hull.

I didn't get as much done the week as I had planned but I had to wait for the replacement parts to be delivered and we also got over two feet of snow so I have been shoveling.

Report 5 – 40 Hours to date

I have reinstalled the new plank 5 onto the hull. Looks good. The hull looks fair and I spent a lot of time tightening the wires as equally as I could. I did run out of copper wire but had kept what I hadn’t used on the last project. I added some additional wires at the stems and behind the bulkheads. The ones on the stems are for security. A lot of pressure on a little bit of wood. The ones at the bulkheads did a pretty good job of pulling everything together. Tomorrow I hope to get started with the fillets in the stems and the bulkhead areas.