Here’s another month’s progress! In fact she’s now pretty much finished, as the images below will bear out. The framework complete, the next task was “skinning” it, with cotton duck – and that went reasonably well. Dampening it with a hi-tech bucket and sponge drew it all up wondrously tight and wrinkle free, and although that slackened off a touch as it dried, the paint tightened it up again and the result seems to be OK. I’ve now just a final rubbing strake to add and we’re about ready for the water.
I’ve also been carving paddles and I have two now ready to go, one in Larch, a design called an “ottertail”) and the other in Poplar – aka Tulip Wood – which is a “beavertail”. I’ve treated them with Linseed Oil – lovely stuff to use – and they’re about ready too. Paddle-making is really enjoyable aspect of canoe building which I may well decide to pursue a bit. These two initial offering are I suspect a bit chunky and heavy at just over 1kg … we’ll see.
Launching is scheduled for April 21st at Pugney’s Wildlife and Watersports Park …… all we need now is the weather, which of course might be a touch more difficult to organise!
