The breast plates will be mounted at the very tips of the bow and stern. The manual suggests that they be stained a dark color and so I used ebony stain. I did this early in the process so that I could apply epoxy that was left over from other tasks.
I screwed some drywall screws into the bottom of the breast plates to give them legs. I then arranged the seats, thwarts and breast plates such that I could apply epoxy left over from the butt joints. I sealed the exposed ends of the seats and thwarts and applied a coat to the top and sides of the breast plates. When the epoxy had cured, I removed the screws from the breast plate and applied a coat to the bottom and then a second coat to the top and sides. |
Well, I got really tired of working on the floor and so I assembled a table made from 2 X 4's and sheets of Oriented Strand Board (OSB). I found the table to be much better for doing the butt joints since I could actually nail the panels in place and be much more sure of good alignment. It is also much easier scraping and sanding the joints at table height rather than kneeling on the floor.
When all the butt joints were finished it was time to drill the stitching holes. The manual shows how to make a drilling jig. The jig makes it very easy to drill the holes the correct distance from the edge of the panel and at the correct spacing. Then the stitching begins! I have placed the two panels that make up the keel on some small boxes and inserted the wires from underneath. You can see the ends twisted together in the middle picture. I think this is the most exciting part because I know that a pile of panels is suddenly going to become a canoe before my eyes. |