Gideon wants to build a canoe for a school project. As it turns out, Gideon's grandfather (AKA "Poppy") has been building and racing canoes for years. And what do grandfathers have a lot of.... Tools and Time. Follow along as they construct a 14 foot canoe from scratch.
Laid out canoe hull on 4 ft x 16 ft 4 mm Okume Marine Plywood.
Cut out majority of hull pattern.
Some planing edges and sanding.
DAY TWO: Steps 11-29
More planing of our cuts from yesterday
Steps 20 - 22. Bevelled the Stems getting ready for stitching together
We finished the cutting out between bottom and sides, then planed same
Steps 14 -19. Marked and drilled holes for small tie wraps
Steps 23 - 29. Closed up the Stems
Oops...Possibly a little too fast, or bad piece of plywood?
Let's try the other end
That's better, wet all the stressed areas this time. No mention of needing to do that in the book, only "You may hear a slight cracking at the end of the lower stem at this point. Press on regardless!"
The fix, hoping it will work. Built in the curve and glued it back together in final shape.
Back to Step 23 once "The Fix" dries. Lots of hot water this time.
DAY THREE: Steps 30-46
"The Fix" worked out
After taking the morning for worship and family time we attempted to tackle the other end, now known as the Stern
Always have your back to "The Fix"
What the bottom looked like when we took "The Fix" apart.
Soaking down with lots of hot water.
Looking good!
Stem and Forefoot almost stitched up.
There we go, disaster averted.
Ok, on to Step 30 - 33. Close up the Chines.
Step 34 - 39. Setting the Rocker and Bottom Arc. That's what the paint cans and tool boxes are for...weight. Didn't have any 50 lb sacks.
Moving right along to Steps 40 - 41, 42 - 46. Insert the Amidships Frame, and start to temporarily install Outer Rails.
Yes I did more then take pictures!
DAY FOUR: Steps 47-72
I forgot to mention, the canoe now has a name... "The Heisler". Good boat building heritage.
Finished temporarily installing outer rails to align the hull
We were up bright and early and got in 2 hrs before Gideon left for classes
I know that is hard to believe for those that know me well. But I was up before 7, made breakfast for us both and still working by 7:30. The gunnels were on the night before but only clamped for to mark
Step 55 - 61. Cut the sides in half? No Cut the Side Halves to length so we can Join the Side Halves
Steps 62 - 72. This took two days to accomplish. A little tricky at times. Apparently no pictures of the cutting, only the joining
Cutting rabbit joint and bolting to get check alignment.
Stitch, clamp & glue.
Appears true.
Gideon's off to class and Daniel and I are off on a material run!
I had told Keith that the sides just rolled up into place. NOT SO. Had to cut them when flat, join them by overlapping excess,
then fit and mark and cut excess and then butt join. All done with lots of clamps at times.
Took some time to sand and but patch on outside of hull (Stern).
Long night, West System Epoxy applied on sides and bottom, 10 PM, 1 AM, 5 AM, 7:30 AM.
Sides joined waiting for epoxy to dry so we can put fiberglass strip on inside.
Temporary gunnels gone. Note the upgraded ballast.
DAY FIVE: Steps 47-72
Up early again, Had Gideon with me for four sessions today
Finishing off sides and making Bottom Pad, which reinforces the 4 mm hull
Gideon trusted me to cut the three piece, while he was off to class, no to apply epoxy coating
Where's the paint cans?
Working on the Bottom Pad.
There's the paint cans.
Bottom Pad.
Fine tuning.
Removing inside batten.
Last step in joining the sides, Step 72.
DAY SIX: Steps 73-101
Well Day 6 is done, if you don't count the two recoats required at 2:00 and 4ish
Step 73 - 86. Installing the Bottom Pad
Step 87 - 93. Fillet and Tape the Inner Chines
Step 94 - 101. Fillet and Tape the Inner Stems
Gideon and I started to prepare the bottom pad, then I installed while he was at class.
Our first selfie of the build, believe it or not!
The Pad fitted ready for epoxy.
Step 87 - 93. Fillet and Tape the Inner Chines.
Gideons back and we ready to tackle filleting. You make up a thickened mixture of epoxy and wood powder and fill the chines, where sides and bottom meet.
Step 94 - 101. Fillet and Tape the Inner Stems.
This mixture was a little uncooperative, would sag a lot, keep having to scrape it back in place.
Mom and Dad provided Ice
cream and quality control this evening.
The Midnight Stem.
DAY SEVEN: Steps 101-108
2:00 am & 6:30 am finished off the 2nd & 3rd coats of epoxy on the fiberglass strips on the inside chines and stems.
Looking great!
The long hours and lack of sleep take their toll. Just a couple of things that happened possibly due to this.
Fried eggs with garlic butter (not that bad), sliced arm on knife blade clamped in vice to sharpen pencil (not that smart) and cut off one electrical cord (not that bright).
Now that the fillets are dry Gideon can finish Step 101, cut the ties off the outside chines and stems.
Can we turn the canoe upside down Poppy? That's much better.
Ties and more ties!
Ties done.
Step 102 - 108. Cutting the Sheer. This is the first of four cuts from mid-canoe to stem. Other three tomorrow.
Looking better than Great!
DAY ONE
DAY SEVEN
I love this, Bernie, how you have captured the spirit and purpose behind this project so perfectly - thank you. You've taken Gideon's direction and ideas while providing your wealth of expertise, bringing your IMAX experience to this, as is natural for you to do, and you are pushing through the time crunch of under two weeks (also natural!) We are so grateful for the dedication that you give to your family. What a legacy boat building has left on the Heisler, Levy, Gray, and now...Vernon clans.
We're so glad you're here, Poppy!
Scott
DAY EIGHT: Steps 109-149
Well these $4.00 slippers which I had to buy from St. Catharine's Dollar Store because I'm was too cheap to pay for a carry-on bag with Swoop, have just about come to the end of the line.
Gideon with Japanese saw cutting two more sheer lines from amidships to stem and plane same.
I'm off to "The Wood Shed" for resin and harden, what a cool place.
Back now with much needed epoxy and a little more driving time returning than required. Davy Crockett, when asked if he ever been lost. replied, "No, just bewildered for a couple of days"! Took the afternoon to work on an ash yoke, Gideon had asked me if I would make for him some time back in Oct. A storm had just came through and broke off an ash branch which resembled a yoke. Took the planed branch to Riverview at Christmas and the Vernon's brought it home.
This is a spokeshave or draw knife horse, Gideon and I made in Riverview out of various pieces of wood Darren had. Also brought home to Ontario.
Split for width
Shaping
Good afternoon's work with my new forged drawknife.
After school Gideon finishes cutting and planing last part of sheer, completing Step 108!!!!
It's all hands on deck for shaping the external chines and stems, Steps 135 to 143, and 148 to 149 or as we say, fairing the hull. Yes... we've gone Rogue, now leaving out some and creating our own steps. One of which was the yoke.
Inspection of the hull
Looks "Pretty Fair" Gideon!
That was Day 8, very productive.
DAY NINE: Steps 144-160
Rogue Steps 144 - 147 and 158 - 160 Cover the whole outside hull with fiberglass, with 3 coats of epoxy.
The Cloth.
The Mixer.
The Lay Up crew.
First Coat.
Second Coat while Gideon's off to Niagara Youth Orchestra.
Gideon's back, Third Coat.
Off to Gideon's school to do some work in Woodworking Shop.
Ripped another inside gunnel, made a jig to route slots into inside gunnels to drain water out, routed inside gunnels, and made dragon's teeth for Dragon's Teeth Jig. To be seen in use in days to come.
DAY TEN & ELEVEN
Wow, into the double digits. Day 10 seems to flow into Day 11. With worship service, family time and focusing on fixing a leaky kitchen sink, the canoe day started very late. First we had to make two cradles to support the canoe right side up.
The day started with Gideon yoking around.
Then much later the cradles. Built in the cold garage. Gideon remarked that the garage was only good for making a mess, which we did. No garage mess pictures.
After much prep, sanding gunwale location, sanding gunwale, mock-up run, lay out clamps, epoxy gunwale and location on canoe, we're ready to go, now into Day 11.
Out come the dragon teeth, a very cool jig used to clamp things that are not parallel to each other. Thanks to all who lent us clamps.
Although both gunwales are on, only one is glued at a time, not enough clamps or time, other ones just for balance.
Big panic when this broke but no troubles, just extended end.
I spent the early part of the day getting material.
Gideon was home early and it was off with clamps from one gunwale and onto the other.
Gideon sanding the inside of the hull, prep for painting.
Now back to painting.
The colour is Hemp!
DAY TWELVE
Day 12 started bright and early. The clamps were stripped off the outside gunwales. Started prepping the inside gunwale to get it just so.
Had to do three fittings.
We worked on getting everything ready to install until Gideon left for class.
The trail's hot and we're running out of time. I install the first inside gunwale solo, finished at 1 PM. Pretty tricky. Worked on next gunwale prep, waiting for Gideon.
Gideon's back, impressed with my progress. We fit next gunwale then install, finish at 7:20 PM then supper. I know, looks like all the other clamp pictures but it's not. It's the last clamping picture!
After supper, Gideon starts a couple of new tasks. Plugging over screw holes in gunwales, installing yoke and brushing Varathane on
the yoke to see how long it takes to dry.
Do we Varathane in AM or launch bare wood?
No more gunwale pictures, "You said". I know, I misspoke.
That was a picture of a dry run, these are the real thing. Victory picture.
DAY THIRTEEN
Day 13, Jan 22, 2020, 7:19 AM. Clamps off, yoke dry.
DAY THIRTEEN
THE HEISLER!
Day 13 continued....After the elation of lifting the canoe onto our shoulders we got back to business, oh yes I had a turn.
Gideon started to sand down the tops of gunwale and hull edge to match, bigger job than we thought. Epoxied edge of canoe...very hard.
Then decided to hold off on using Varathane on the gunwales, just went with untreated for today's paddle.
I spent the rest of the morning trying to stay awake working on fitting the bow deck, which I did around 1 PM.
With help from Alissa we came up with this idea for tying a painter to, or tying down on car.
Brilliant.
After sanding for a hour or so, Gideon's off to class and I finished one deck.
The weather had been mild but the last several days things turned cold again. Alissa and I decided to check out our Marina which we were told we could use. Turned out not suitable for the day, spent the next 2 hrs looking for a location.
This is what we found. Charles Daley Park on Lake Ontario.
Things all came together around 5 PM and we drove to the park with The Heisler, weighing in at 34 lb.
Checked out stability in little pond, then out to open water. Initial stability so so, but secondary very good.
Boat builder...Gideon Vernon.
My turn, little swell on, got two wet feet getting in and out.
Over and out, thanks for being interested and for all the positive remarks. Will post a couple of videos on YouTube when I get home and Bruce Murphy will send link. My slippers are worn out and job is done, so I'm heading home!
Oh yes... Gordon we celebrated with Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Too cold for a picture.
DAY ONE: Steps 1-11
