A find in the UK

[alick burt]

Today as it was pouring with rain(and still is!) I decided to work on the bottom boards.I started by cleaning up and fitting the clips.I found a seam on the old jeans I used to polish them came in handy to get into the corner.

I have four of these clips and the holes are still there so they were easy to locate and put them back on.

There was also one end clip that I cleaned up and I still had the little block that went under it, but at the other end the clip was missing.

I decided to make another clip out of the nearest thing I have to them which is an off cut of stem band.I took a piece cut it to length and filed the ends to a rough curve just like the original.

Then I carefully drilled it and bent the ends carefully with it held in a vice to prevent the drilled middle from bending.

I made a little block to go under it and fitted it in place which leads me to my question for this post.
I do not have the bottom boards and have been making a template of the shape.My question is have I got it the right
shape? (Bearing in mind it is a half template currently over length, so I will be duplicating each end.
I have extended the end past the clip about 8 inches and the curve tightens up towards the end to about a 2 inch radius. I made the curve go to almost as far as the side clip.
I have left the width of the stems in the middle about 30mm between the boards and am thinking of making this a straight line and the one on the outside between the clips would also be straight or should I curve them at all? say cutting in around the stems a bit or curving out slightly beyond the clips towards the centre?

Many Thanks

Alick

 

[alick burt]

Hi Folks
On Sunday I took her out for a paddle.I began by leaving her in the water for a few hours to see if she was watertight.When I returned there was some water coming in but not much so I took my sponge and went for a paddle.I have written the full tale and you can see pictures here.

https://www.woodencanoes.uk/single-post/2017/05/22/Felixs-Canoe-She-Floats

The leaking continued throughout my trip though it was easy to deal with using my sponge. I have been thinking the only thing I can do is continue with more coats of varnish in the hope that eventually the leaking stops.
She was in the water for a total of around five hours after which I returned her to the workshop and dried her off with a towel.
Today the outside of the hull felt dry, incidentally there was no squeeze out of varnish at any joins.

It has been a warm day so I decided to give the outside a coat of varnish in the afternoon.(this is the tenth coat).

and so to the questions...

1.Am I wasting my time continueing with this strategy? (If not, I was thinking I might put more coats on the outside this week.)

2.Should I perhaps leave the hull longer to dry out or even put her in the sun for a few hours? (assuming it comes out again this week

Many Thanks

Alick