After trying to buy as much stuff as possible, I am finally ready to start building my first canoe ever, a Selway Prospector 15'8''. I will try to document as much as possible. Although not really relevant for a broader audience, I will also list all of the costs associated with the canoe (exchange rates actual at the time of writing). Although this is my first attempt at a canoe, woodworking has been my hobby for years and I'm hoping this will help at least a tiny bit. Funny enough, the canoe will be international, as I currently work in Slovenia and Germany, so I'm in either country for a couple of weeks at a time. I plan on cutting it up in Slovenia and stitching it together in Germany.
Initial costs
I had a surprisingly hard time tracking down the plywood, but this varies a lot from place to place, so it's mostly irrelevant to you. The lumberyard claims the plywood is marine grade, but there are no markings on it to prove that, so I'm not sure. The guy working there said he can't tell the difference and he simply trusts the bar code. Either way, it was the only one I could get, so I didn't have much of a choice to begin with. The 6.5mm is their minimum thickness for marine birch. I'll probably regret it once I'll start carrying it around, but again, I didn't have much of a choice.
The plywood itself has different quality sides; one side is B/B and the other one is C/D (you can find the grades online, A is top notch, D is lowest). They had about 30 sheets on hand and I insisted on picking them myself. They weren't happy about me shuffling through the stack, but with the money I was paying, I didn't really care. I think I've ended up with three good looking sheets. The ply itself has 5 layers. You can see the layers as well as the "good" and the "bad" side in the following images:
B/B side:
C/D side:
Marking the sheets
The first step involves marking all the sheets for cutting. I've only managed to mark the guide lines today. I'm doing the build alone, hence the extra accessories. I'm not sure if it will make any difference, but I've used a Class 1 tape measure when marking the lines, so I'm accurate within half a millimeter (I've even used a 0.2mm pencil lead!). I'll see if the extra precision will do me any good once I start stitching it together.
Tomorrow, I'll draw the canoe template and if the weather holds, I should start cutting the plywood as well.
Initial costs
- Selway Fisher plans with his book on building canoes (€110 / £80 / $122) - bought from Selway Fisher, UK
- 2kg high quality epoxy with 500g of hardener ((€50 / £36 / $56)) - bought in Germany
- 100m 80mm wide fiberglass tape ((€36 / £26 / $40)) - bought in Germany
- 3 sheets of 6.5mm birch plywood, supposedly marine grade ((€100 / £73 / $111)) - bought in Slovenia
I had a surprisingly hard time tracking down the plywood, but this varies a lot from place to place, so it's mostly irrelevant to you. The lumberyard claims the plywood is marine grade, but there are no markings on it to prove that, so I'm not sure. The guy working there said he can't tell the difference and he simply trusts the bar code. Either way, it was the only one I could get, so I didn't have much of a choice to begin with. The 6.5mm is their minimum thickness for marine birch. I'll probably regret it once I'll start carrying it around, but again, I didn't have much of a choice.
The plywood itself has different quality sides; one side is B/B and the other one is C/D (you can find the grades online, A is top notch, D is lowest). They had about 30 sheets on hand and I insisted on picking them myself. They weren't happy about me shuffling through the stack, but with the money I was paying, I didn't really care. I think I've ended up with three good looking sheets. The ply itself has 5 layers. You can see the layers as well as the "good" and the "bad" side in the following images:
B/B side:
C/D side:
Marking the sheets
The first step involves marking all the sheets for cutting. I've only managed to mark the guide lines today. I'm doing the build alone, hence the extra accessories. I'm not sure if it will make any difference, but I've used a Class 1 tape measure when marking the lines, so I'm accurate within half a millimeter (I've even used a 0.2mm pencil lead!). I'll see if the extra precision will do me any good once I start stitching it together.
Tomorrow, I'll draw the canoe template and if the weather holds, I should start cutting the plywood as well.