The Trim, Part II

It might be taking a little longer than I originally thought it would, but bit by bit the canoe is nearing completion. In the last three weekends Tracy and I put on the final coat of epoxy on the inside of the hull. It looks pretty good, with just a bit of the fibreglass weave providing a pebbled surface for some traction. I think I finally got my squeegee technique down on the last coat and it won't need any real sanding before applying the varnish.

I spent quite a bit of time planing the tapers into the inwales and cutting and fitting them to length to fit precisely in the boat. Yesterday and today I epoxied them on with Tracy's help. As with most things on the boat, it worked out pretty well with only a couple minor problems that probably only I will notice. I bought three more clamps on Saturday morning before I put the starboard gunwale on, but found I could have used even more to get the inwale on as snug as possible. I ended up using a couple homemade clamps to get the job done and today I went out and bought 4 more clamps before putting on the port side. It's true that you can never have too many clamps. I'll put in some 1/2" stainless screws for extra strength too before I put on the outwales.