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The Form |
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| Canoe Project Home -
The Strongback - The Form
- The Mold (part 1) - The Mold
(part 2) The Layup (part1) - The Layup (part 2) - The Layup (part 3) - Project Finish |
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| I used 5/8" plywood for the form stations. The form is the skeletal structure to which you attach the foam board at this stage all I had was a strongback and some lumber. |
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| The plans called the book has a suggested layout for the stations on the new plywood if you use one of the included plans. The suggested layout makes good use of the plywood with little waste. The first sheet was cut into three 16" strips, the second with a 21 strip cut down the length. I ran into some problems even at this early stage. |
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| My cordless saw would only cut one strip per battery. This was most inconvenient. I had to finish a cut with the jigsaw. I was lucky in that my neighbor hearing the noise of the saws came by with a 'real' circular saw. My neighbor being in the construction trade with his saw helped me make light work of of the stations rough-cut. I had to stop at this time for family duties, with intent to continue the project when said duties had been fulfilled. |
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| The next step is to 'loft the plan' to the plywood. This of course is just cutting one copy of the plans long the outside station and transferring this line to the plywood that you rough cut for that station. First you cut the plan in half (along the center line to separate the bow from stern templates) Here I again ran into an issue. The bow stations on my plan are numbered backwards. Station 6 should be on the far end of the plan (I had that as station 1). It of course became readily apparent that the plan's station one would not fit on the plywood rough cut for station. |
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| Having sorted this little mistake out I traced edge of the plan with a marker to transfer the shape to the correct plywood. I made a mark at the upper middle of the plywood and marked where the cutout for mounting the station to the strongback. Once one side is transferred the plan template is flipped to trace the shape again and gives you the symmetrical width of the canoe. |
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Starting with the outside station template give you
an idea of the width of the canoe in a real sense. This is one of the
stations near the middle of the boat. I only had the time to trace
out this one station before lack of light and lack of further
willingness to feed the local mosquito population caused me to stop for
the day. |
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| On 07-16-2005 I finished tracing the plans onto the plywood for each station. If I were going to build another boat using this method I would use full size plans instead of cutting them in half for bow and stern. This would necessitate cutting out a slot in the pattern to mark the strongback line, however there would be no need to flip the template. If you build a boat using this method be sure to use a fine tip marker, I did not at first and that choice presented me with too wide of lines. |
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| I started cutting the stations along the pattern lines on July 16 (2005), but had to finish on the 17th. I found that I am no better with the jigsaw than I was with the circular saw. If I can not fix my mistakes with the construction foam placed over the stations (or the joint compound over the foam) I will have truly unique canoe. |
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| I used a scrap of 2x6 plank to mark the cutout to mount each station on the strongback. The most difficult part I found was to get the strongback cutout to be perpendicular to the center line of the station. I drew a line down the scrap 2x6 to line up with the center line of the station. |
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| I finished cutting out the notches for mounting the stations on the strongback. I cut the notches a little wider than the strongback plank in order to give me a way to adjust any particular station right or left (so it is centered). Looking back at it I guess I should have purchases a small carperter's square in order to make sure my cuts were true. I am sure this would be no problem with someone with carpentry experience, yet I have none. |
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| 07-25-2005 - back to work on the project. oops, I noticed that I was not to cut out the notch to mount on the strongback in stations 1 and 13, therefore I needed to re-cut them. |
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| I was a bit confused about the transfer of the bow and stern profiles to the plywood from the pattern. I do hope I did it correctly. After I thought about it for a while it seemed straight forward. |
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| My bow and stern have the same profile, thus are interchangeable. I measured 1 1/2 inches into the leading edge of both bow and stern to mark the start of the taper. The book calls for the mark to be 1 1/2 - 2 inches. I decided that with a 1 1/2 inch mark I would have the ability to taper further back later if I wished. |
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| My boys helping do some of the work with the block plane. If I ever build another canoe using this method I will more careful to select clean (without knots) pieces of plywood for the bow and stern forms. |
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| This is a picture of the tapered profile of the bow. I was not careful enough when tapering the bow and part of the tip was removed with the plane |
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| The next step was to attach the bow and stern templates to stations 1 and 13 respectively. Careful consideration need to be given to being sure the bow and stern are mounted in the center of the first and last station. Notice that there is no notch cut out to mount the station on the strongback. |
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| Here are the finished bow and stern mounted to the first and last stations. These stations are then attached to the ends of the the strongback. While therer are no notches cut out to mount an the strongback for these two stations the strongback mark was put on both sides to help line it up. |
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| I used three screws to mount the bow and stern to the end stations and 6 - 8 to mount the assembly to the strongback. |
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| I had to stop for the day after I marked the strongback with the station mounting locations. The weather forecast calls for heavy rain for the next few days, however this is Michigan and if we wait for 15 minutes the forecast will change. I hope to finish the form tomorrow so I can start making the form into the canoe mold. |
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| 07-27-2005 the form is now 'finished'. The plans call for a strip of wood to hold the stations together while the foam is glued to the form. |
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| Here is another view of the finished form waiting the construction foam. |
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| We have had a lot of rain and the form was damaged by the water. Here is a picture of some of the damage, some of the stations were warped. I can only hope that I can fix these issues with the foam and drywall compound. Lesson learned, the for is now covered with a tarp. I have to find the guide for my saw before I can cut the construction foam, that is the next page of project. |
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| my canoe project home | Previous: The Strongback | Next: The Mold | |||||||||
| Canoe Project Home -
The Strongback - The Form
- The Mold (part 1) - The Mold
(part 2) The Layup (part1) - The Layup (part 2) - The Layup (part 3) - Project Finish |
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