Canoe Build – Gunwales and Glassing

Day two of our canoe build and things are now looking good.

After a good night in the cottage I got up at 5ish and waited for it to get light enough to go for a run. Nothing too mad, just a short 3 mile run around the local country lanes with just the pheasants for company. There was then time for a shower and breakfast before we headed off to the secret Orca Adventures workshop.

On arrival the couple that were camping outside our cottage had tales of a sleepless due to the party going on in the main house. We knew there was a party and were aware of the fact that there were people around, but hadn’t heard anything overnight. The thick walls of the cottage must have played a role in this.

Gunwales

We made a coffee and after some instruction and tips from our instructor Steve we were soon marking up, drilling, countersinking and finally attaching the gunwales to our canoe. These not only added aesthetically to the look of the canoe but more importantly added some much needed rigidity. It was a little fiddly at first but with three of us working together we soon got the hang of it. Adding the gunwales and perfecting the bend in the wood whilst manoeuvring the clamps gave us a chance to get intimate with the 3-dimensional nature of the various ‘unique’ curves of our individual canoe.

With that done things were looking much more canoe like and the addition of handles and triangular decks at either end added to the effect.

Handle and Deck

Handle and Deck

After a quick lunch it was time to start glassing the chine lines – or, the joints between the various planks we cut out yesterday. This was an easy process too so Morgan and Anna did one side while I did the other meaning we were done pretty quickly and could get on with planing the bow and the stern and then adding a bead of resin paste to them. See, it must be looking like a canoe as we’re beginning to use nautical terms like ‘bow’ and ‘stern’ to describe it!

Progress

Next up was a few tweaks here and there and then we got a bit of a head start in tomorrow’s tasks by filling a few small gaps.

We are still amazed by how good our canoe is looking. As Anna has just pointed out, we started out yesterday with four sheets of plywood. We then chopped them up, stuck them back together again and now we have what looks pretty much like a canoe – clever hey?

End of Day 2

End of Day 2

Retail Therapy

We were finished by 3pm again so headed off to the Jersey Ice Cream Farm for an ice cream and then into Penrith so that Anna could go to Go Outdoors. She wanted some battery powered heated socks but they didn’t have any so she got some warmer socks and some disposable hand warmers. We also bought a couple of buoyancy aids and it gave Morgan and I chance to be silly in a ‘department store’ which is customary for us country yokels – we just can’t help ourselves. Morgan even modelled a cool bushcraft hat that he could use on our forthcoming canoe adventures!

It was then back to the cottage to cook a Gousto moussaka meal and to chill for the evening.

Another good day and progress on the canoe is impressive. We are already making plans for the colours and design and we’re probably going to call it ‘Fingers Crossed’.

3 Responses

  1. Avatar forComment Author Mum says:

    Sounds like you are all enjoying making the canoe, and looking forward to using it. Cottage looks and sounds nice too 🙂
    It was a wonder though that Morgan didn’t get stuck in the tractor !

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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