NC16 nearly completed, just lacks paint

[Deadgobot]

Splash photos here:
http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.php?album=511

This was the learning boat. I learned a lot. Mostly I learned that no mistake is so bad that the angle-grinder and lots of wood-putty can't fix it. Next weekend I'll start painting it.

edit to add: Oh yeah, the Greenland-style paddle drive it quite nicely. Some details of construction: the plywood is radiata pine--heavy, and soaks up the epoxy; final build weight, somewhere between 70-75lbs; the rub-rails are cedar strips I had left over from a plant bench I build for the wife, worked great, a bit fragile, don't care they're rubrails; used just under 2 gallons of epoxy, many mistakes were made; this was huge fun, the FL12 is next.

[robbiro]

Nice Build. It is great to know that there is another builder in the Jackson area. I am working on a GF-16 and am in the process of filleting and taping. Keep on with the great work and I agree with the W.A. quote. I work with a group of people that resemble that remark. I also got to be a volunteer when we hosted his show on our campus.
Keep on Building!!

Robbie

[ks8]

Good splash photos...

When to start the FL12 build? Is this NC going to get painted or stay bright as is?

Enjoy.

PFD - perfectly fine day

[Toni V]

The canoe looks nice.

The GP paddle looks very nice too. Do you have greenland style kayak or did you just make the paddle for this canoe?

I have currently south east greenland kayak "under construction" (=maybe for next summer?).

One small pic is here;


It's fun project, the bottom is plywood, sides plywood strips and carbon fiber skin. Should end up being quite much lighter than my orca's.

[Deadgobot]

Keep on with the great work and I agree with the W.A. quote. I work with a group of people that resemble that remark. I also got to be a volunteer when we hosted his show on our campus.

Very nice! When you get to the point where you're sanding/fairing don't hesitate to call me. I'll come over with beer and watch you sand.

When to start the FL12 build? Is this NC going to get painted or stay bright as is?

It will be painted. My filleting job was not so good that I'd feel okay with letting it stay bright. I will leave the thwarts, backrest and rubrails bright, however. It will be light tan on the inside and red on the outside.

The GP paddle looks very nice too. Do you have greenland style kayak or did you just make the paddle for this canoe?

I made it for this canoe. It's very easy to make (if you cheat a bit and do some rough work with a bandsaw ). I used a middling grade spruce 2x4 and did the final shaping with a small block plane. (I recommend it to anybody making an NC16--not only is it useful, it gives you something to do while epoxy is drying! ) I knocked out the knots and filled the holes with wood putty, then epoxied the whole thing. It needs some sanding and cleanup, but it's fully functional. As you can see from the picture of my 2-year-old niece swinging it around, it's very light.

That kayak looks incredible. I want to build an Orca as well, but it's on the end of the long list. The NC16 is practically an "open-faced" kayak, so I figure it will salve my paddling urges.

Since you're a kayaker, you should pick up this book: http://www.upress.state.ms.us/catalog/s ... _time.html I met Scott Williams at a wooden boat show and picked up his book there. It's a great read; quick, interesting, and compelling.

[Deadgobot]

3 coats of primer inside and out; 3 coats of Duralux "Signal Red" outside; 2 coats of Surekote "Shrimp boat white" on the inside; Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane on the bright bits.

I've also got a Rube Goldberg contraption to hoist it to the ceiling in the garage for storage.

[ks8]

Very Nice! Paddle hardy...

[Charlie]

70+ lb. is a little heavy for a greenland paddle. They were intended for kayaks that weighed less than 35 lb. and had a lot less wetted area than your canoe.
When I put my Cheap Canoe in the water five years ago I used a kayak paddle for lack of anything better. It was so short that the off blade had to be raised well overhead and a constant stream of drops landed on my head.
Now I use a big bladed paddle that is much longer and can keep the paddle more horizontal so the run-off falls outside the boat. Also, the big bladed paddle gives me more leverage when I take a bad line on a rapid and have to paddle like crazy to avoid the rocks.

[rudar]

You mentioned in your splash day pictures that she tends to turn into the wind---I picked up some books on canoeing just for fun while waiting for my epoxy to arrive (and for me to find a supplier for plywood locally; I got one quote but then found it was some ungraded 3-ply okume, rather than BS6566 as I had foolishly assumed without asking explicitly...), and they mentioned that by moving your weight a bit forward of centerline in a solo canoe, you weight the front down, get more sail area on the stern, and the canoe moves up into the wind all of its own accord. Likewise, if you slide back a bit, it stably tracks downwind. So maybe your back-brace addition puts your weight slightly forward.

I'm still trying to decide what this new information means for my Cheap Canoe portaging system. Perhaps a fixed centre thwart is a bad idea after all. Not sure if one could make a clean and tidy removable thwart. Perhaps a few more hours of browsing and searching the galleries will inspire me. Perhaps one of these days, I'll get off the intarweb and finish my d&$*%&#'d phd thesis like my supervisor keeps suggesting. Nah.

Edit to add: Did some back-of-envelope calculations which suggest the distance from the seat reinforcement to a hypothetical thwart mounted flush with the gunwales would be 251mm, while the distance from my shoulders to the top of my head is about 325mm. This suggests that possibly the best portaging option is just to carry the thing on me head. Am I crazy? Seems that would sorta do the same thing as using a tump strap on a higher-sided canoe as far as weight distribution is concerned...

[Laszlo]

That's how I carry my CC14 - just lift it up and put my head inside right at the butt block. If it's more than 100 feet or so, I wear a hat. Very easy to balance and control, also a good reason to build it light.

And yes, a fixed center thwart is not really necessary or wanted. Resist the urge to put in extras - it just adds weight and labor. Stitch and glue is very easy to modify, so build it according to the plans, try it out for a season, then add (or delete) your customizations.

Have fun building,

Laszlo