After many interruptions and delays a new Chestnut Pal a la Alex Comb has been completed. This one is entirely out of white cedar with ash inwales and stems, cherry outwales, curly ash for the seats and thwarts and curly maple decks.
I have wanted to do a dacron canoe for some time since my wood canvas canoes seem to keep getting heavier each time I pick them up. The canoe weighed 50 lbs before it was covered and the outwales installed. Finished weight was 64 lbs. An identical canoe covered with canvas weighs 75 lbs.
The finishing materials came from Stewart Systems and were very nice to work with. The folks at Stewart are very helpful as mixing the catalyzed polyurethane color coat is fairly touchy. They even gave me a free sample of their new product which is a white filler. It was sprayed over the gray to provide a better undercoat for the red top coat.
I also experimented with what is supposed to be the same thing as Behr's Spar Varnish. According to the Wooden Boat Website, True Tone Varnish is the same thing. It is available in satin. It's the only time I've ever seen a true resin spar varnish in satin. I used it as a top coat over Epiphanes and in really looks great. The True Tone goes on very nicely and dries quickly thus minimizing the dust issue. We'll see how it holds up, but if it does, it will make a believer out of me.
Got it in the water for the first time yesterday and it handled beautifully.
Hoping to bring it to the Assembly.
I have wanted to do a dacron canoe for some time since my wood canvas canoes seem to keep getting heavier each time I pick them up. The canoe weighed 50 lbs before it was covered and the outwales installed. Finished weight was 64 lbs. An identical canoe covered with canvas weighs 75 lbs.
The finishing materials came from Stewart Systems and were very nice to work with. The folks at Stewart are very helpful as mixing the catalyzed polyurethane color coat is fairly touchy. They even gave me a free sample of their new product which is a white filler. It was sprayed over the gray to provide a better undercoat for the red top coat.
I also experimented with what is supposed to be the same thing as Behr's Spar Varnish. According to the Wooden Boat Website, True Tone Varnish is the same thing. It is available in satin. It's the only time I've ever seen a true resin spar varnish in satin. I used it as a top coat over Epiphanes and in really looks great. The True Tone goes on very nicely and dries quickly thus minimizing the dust issue. We'll see how it holds up, but if it does, it will make a believer out of me.
Got it in the water for the first time yesterday and it handled beautifully.
Hoping to bring it to the Assembly.
