New Project Boat

I am such a sucker for a canoe....

Obviously its missing a couple of parts, but I should be able to find aftermarket thwarts to stiffen her up a bit. I tried to do some research on the canoe and company but apparently Herter's no longer is in business. I  haven't found enough information to identify it... For now I'm just going to call it the 17' beercan canoe. This canoe does have one feature I haven't seen before, it has a chine at or just above the waterline. I would assume that this is to give the boat additional initial stability. When I get it out on the water, we'll see if it feels tipsy or not...

Please leave a comment if you know anything about these canoes!

bOOOORING!

Sand, sand, sand, sand, sand... boy I sure hate this part of the process but it is totally necessary to lay the base for that nice final finish. I start with an old paint scraper that I have sharpened the blade into a convex shape that fits the internal curves of the hull. This takes off the big glue drips and cuts some of the unevenness off. Then we are off with 60g sand paper on my random orbital for the leveling grind, then smoothing with 80g paper until I'm just sick of it. The final sanding is with 120g paper to make sure all the scratches are gone. This process takes an entire day to complete, an extra pot of coffee helps a lot.

And She's gone....

Good by Queen Charlotte, thanks for spending time in the shop. I hope you enjoy your new fiberglass and graphics....

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak of the graphics i am putting on the QC project. I had some custom

stickers made and did a little painting with plasti dip (cool stuff). I will seal everything with one more coat of varnish then reinstall all of the hardware...

QC Progress

I was playing around with plastidip and came up with a great idea for the back deck of the Queen Charlotte. Its a little rough at this stage, but we really needed something to dress up the back deck.

A little masking tape, ruler, protractor and a straight edge and there you have it..