2nd Post: Gilpatrtarick's Book and Getting Started

Here is the Gil Gilpatrick's Book Building a Strip Canoe.  I hope to build something along the lines of what appears on the cover of the book, but I may have to use Pine because it is more readily available.

Cutting the 1/2 inch plywood into 5 1/2 inch wide x 8 food long pieces.

Oh, forgot to show you the saw horses that will be used to support the Strong Back once it is built.

Once the plywood was cut into the 5 1/2 wide pieces I cut one in half to make two four foot pieces, another two I cut into a 6 foot and a 2 foot piece.  To get an 18 foot long strong back I first placed an eight foot piece of plywood, then another 8 foot piece butted up against it and finally a 2 foot piece butted against that one.  Then I used glue and 2/3 inch screws to bond a 4 foot piece to the first 8 foot piece I referred to, then butted an 8 foot piece to that 4 foot piece, and then finally butted a 6 foot piece to that one.  Once done, I had staggered joints along an 18 foot long doubled layered section of one of the sides of my strong back.  Then I added a third layer on the first two, once again staggering the joints, but this time using 1 inch screws to held hold the glued plywood pieces together.  That meant that once all three layers of one side of the strong back has been glued and screwed together, I had built a 1 1/2 x 5 1/2 (2 x 6) solid piece of planking.  Make sure that as you glue and screw each piece in place that you make sure that it is flush on each side to ensure that the plank runs straight and true.

Here is a close up of the 2 foot piece of plywood that I staggered joined at the end of the 18 foot long section
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Above is the 4 foot plywood piece that was glued first on the opposite end of the same 18 foot section.

As mentioned above I then glued and screwed a third layer to these, also making sure to stagger the joints.

Above you can see the three layered 2 x 6 plank on its end,  also below is a close up of the triple layer that makes up the plank.

Now have to do that one more time to get the second plank ready.

Getting Started...Saw Horses and Strong Back

Since moving back to Newfoundland, and finally getting a garage built, I wanted to embark on attempting to build a canoe.  I discovered Gil Gilpatrick's book on canoe building when looking through books at the library, gave it a read out of interest.  So come hell or high water, I thought I give it a go, and if it is high water I hope the bloody thing floats.

So far, I have gotten a couple of saw horses built, nothing fancy just good sturdy saw horses.  Yesterday I began to rip 1/2 inch plywood into 5 1/2 inch wide 8 foot lengths to get ready to glue and secure together to make the forms for a 18 foot strong back.  So off to the garage on a rainy day in March.  I am hoping to get this done soon because I have to then clean up the shop to get my motorcycles out and serviced prior to the arrival of spring and May 24 weekend.

I will keep you posted and provide images of how things are going once I down load a them from my camera.