Dave Boat 2 is done and ready to go home. An advantage to using a water borne finish is the speed at which they dry. I had finished sanding on Thursday and was able to get a diluted coat of oil based urethane on the boat on Thursday and Friday.

Sand, sand, sand. Take a break, drink some coffee and sand some more. With a random orbital sander I'll make one pass over the hull with 120 grit and then go back and do it again with 150 grit. I'll then vacuum everything and go over the entire hull by hand with 150 grit on a soft sanding pad. The last time around by hand will let me look for anything that I missed with the power sander. Getting closer. Sand, sand, sand.

Dave boat two has gotten all of the epoxy resin that she'll get and it's time to sand, sand, sand. The hull is made of western red cedar and the gunwales are made of white oak. A nice contrast in colors.

You can see from the accents stripes that Dave was a clever fellow. What you can't see from these pictures is that Dave built all these strip boat without using any staples. Those who have looked into the "strip built" technique know that the standard method is to staple the strips to the forms as you are glueing the strips together and then removing the staples before applying the fiberglass. It is the way that I have built every boat.

I was able to return canoe #1 and pick up canoe #2 for completing the finish. That means more epoxy resin on the hull and lots of sanding.

Dave Boat No.1 is ready to go home. I've got multiple coats of the water borne laquer over a coat of solvent based urethane on the entire boat. I've got to say again that I couldn't be happier with the finish, it is easy to apply, looks great and it is tough as nails.

Finally. I've gotten the interior sanded to my satisfaction and it is time to start with the finish. I'm using a water borne finish, "Exterior 450" by General Finishes for the topcoat on this boat. I think it is classified as a water borne urethane and is part of a group of finishes that I have fallen in love with. I mentioned earlier how hard it is to keep the floaties in the air out of a solvent based varnish because varnish takes so long to dry. That isn't a problem with the water borne finishes because they dry so quickly. I'll spray the topcoat with a High Volume Low Pressuure sprayer system which does a really good job with these kinds of finishes.

Had to break out the big guns. The first three or four boats that I made I sanded everything by hand. When I finally got a random orbital sander my life changed for the better. They're a lot faster than working by hand but are easier to control and not as agressive as a belt sander. Dave had finished the boat exterior as he had the interior, just one coat of resin resulting in a rough surface. I took it on myself to add more resin so I could get a smooth finish on all exterior surfaces. I think it will be a nice contrast between the two.

Not much to report on the Dave boat, I'm still burning through the sandpaper in preparation to getting a finish on the boat . I did get out yesterday for an early morning row even though the wind was more than I like. I've got three lakes close by that I rotate through depending on which way the wind is blowing. The wind isn't your friend in a small boat.

Lots of elbow grease in my near future. I've got all of the epoxy resin on the boat that I'm going to and now the sandpaper, rasps, planes and spokeshaves get to do their part. Next week I should be getting finish on the boat.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to fiberglassing a wood strip canoe. One school calls for only one coat of resin when applying the cloth. This is done to leave a finish with some texture to it which would end up with a non skid type surface. It is very hard to squeegie the resin out of the cloth and end up with a consistent surface. Dave, the builder of these canoes was of the one coat, rough surface school and I'm leaving the interior of this first canoe as is as he did a very good job of ending up with a uniform, consistent surface.

When it rains, it pours. After a couple years of no boat activity in the sawdust factory I now have more on my plate than I can say grace over. I got a call yesterday with an invitation from the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute in Adrian, Mi. to show some of my work in a new exhibit "Veterans Woodworking".

I’ve found myself in an interesting situation. I got a phone call a couple weeks ago from a woman who said she had gotten a business card from me at the Quiet Water Symposium some years ago. Her husband had built 4 canoes to varying stages of completion and he died unexpectedly last fall. None of the boats are completely done and she would like to finish the boats and give them to her kids which was the original plan.