Welcome Joe

Thanks Wookmaster.  So excited about my upcoming project..   joe   

Welcome Joe!

Your prior experience with tools & projects will serve you well in this new endeavor!

You used epoxy before?

I'm 70+, built my first (so far) watercraft in 1972-73 from plans published in Popular Science magazine. Learned to sail it with help from a couple of seasoned friends.

Those experiences 'set the hook' so to speak yet it's taken me 45 years to get to a point I'm ready to build my second watercraft, one of CLC's offerings the Waterlust sailing canoe.

Much of those 45 years were occupied with working for a living whilst also 'remodeling' the house wife & I were living in... you know, basic stuff like adding a second floor, two new rooms & full bath, replacing foundation under two walls, all the kitchen cabinets....

So this Waterlust thing's my 'swan song' semi-retirement project I suppose!

   SP.   epoxy, other than the small home gluing jobs, no.   I think epoxy and fiberglass are the 2 things that make me a tiny bit,,,,,, nervous.  Ordered the study plan a couples days ago, not much there, but it got me to order the the build manual to add to my research. Looking forward to receiving it.   Joe 

Yeah, I'm on that 'apprehensive' page w/you over epoxy & 'glass cloth too.

Done some furniture part lamination with epoxy, a 14' scow 50+ years ago with polyester resin & 'glass (stinks to high heaven), lots of two-part tube-packed stuff.

But the scale and rather structurally critical demands of a watercraft built with epoxy holding everything together gives one pause....

Forums like this'n, and the folks who relate their experiences of successful projects is a profoundly different climate in which to take on something like this. Nothing like the 'old days' of working in relative isolation unless fortunate enough to have a friend or acquaintance as a guide, that's a 'cert!

Agreed, the internet and forums like this are a big ego booster.   Looking forward to our move in the spring and when settled in, the beginning...

   Welcome to the fun Joe.

The JS2 is a great place to start. You will find that the kits are well thought out and will give you a boat shaped object quickly. 

The epoxy is not the stuff you have probably used before. With temps in the sweet spot (65 - 75F) you have at least 40 - 50 min. before it starts to complain. The most important thing with the MAS is to stir it thoroughly enough. With a 6 - 8oz.batch you will want to stir it carefully for at least 4 min. I used a cheap battery clock with a sweep hand to make sure I was patient enough. "The Tips for Boatbuilders" tab at the top has great sections for the basics of working with epoxy.

As for structural integrity, I built a Peeler with a 15 HP and found that the boat can take a beating a lot better than my 70+ year old joints. The only water I've taken on in two seasons was when I forgot the drain plug.

When it comes time for the finishing touches, remember the 10 foot rule: If it looks good from 10 feet away, it looks good. Remember to allow time when launching and recovering for people to tell you how great it looks and don't show them where you may have messed up.

The only down side, if you can call it that, is this can become addictive.

Enjoy the journey and have fun.

Bob

Good advice Bob,    I like the 10’ rule and a slowwww launch.  lol

...and, remember, a well shaped boat, as CLC's tend to be, looks as good (or better) with a well-done paint job as with varnish.  I think this is especially true of the lapstrake boats, where a simple white paint job for the exterior allows the shadows along the plank laps to really show off the curvaceous beauty without distraction.  Even the simpler shapes, such as the Jimmy Skiff or Autumn Leaves, show the designer's skill getting 2D shapes to look right in 3D (a mighty tricky business) without need of embelishment to distract from curves that may not look right from certain angles.  In my crackpot opinion, varnish is a tool of the devil, straight from the workshops of hell, meant to ensnare mankind by his own vanity.  Paint, on the other hand, is a gift from the hand of the Lord to poor, fallible boatwrights, the better to cover their imperfections.  It's a plywood boat, not a Martin guitar, for all love.  <;-)

.....Michael

 On  Boat#5 things I've learned; neatness and patience mean more than woodworking  skills,tape off filets, sandpaper sheets sprayed with adhesive  folded in half and cut to size works at least as well as an electric sander ,know whats been on any, rags you use (that was a hard lesson),these boats are beautiful but they're boats get it built and use it don't be afraid of an occasional  scratch  or ding and if it's not perfect you'll probably be the only one who ever notices 

Joe,

Welcome to the fraternity. As Kenneth Grahame stated so well: "there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.".

I agree with Gramps about the advantages of paint over varnish, Today we hauled my Peeler Skiff, About Time, after a full season exposed to seagulls on a saltwater mooring in Fishing Cove in Wickford, RI. After a quick freshwater rinse with a hose, her Interlux Brightside polyurethane painted finish looks as good as the day she was launched in 2014.

Enjoy the build and enjoy the boat.

Cheers,

Dick

   I don't get the hostility to varnish. It's just a form of paint that let's the patterns of the wood grain show through. The swirls and curls of those patterns can cover up a multitude of small sins. They trick the eye into focusing on the beauty, not the flaw. 

The real purpose of paint/varnish is to provide UV protection for the epoxy/fiberglass.

Birch,

I don't think that it's hostility to varnish, at least not in my case. I'm 73 and, as much as I liked brightwork on the boats of my youth, I don't want to spend the time and labor brightwork would cost me. I understand that today's varnishes are far more durable than the ones I grew up with and I applaud those whose boats look like fine cabinetry.

I truly enjoyed building my boat and will probably build another in a few years. However, I built the boat to be out on the water and I had a wonderful time fishing and boating with friends and family this season. The boat lived on her saltwater mooring and had to be run up on a gravel and shell beach to be loaded and unloaded. Her workboat finish held up beautifully, while requiring minimal maintenance, and handled all the inevitable bumps, knocks, and seagull droppings like a champ.

Regards,

Dick

Varnish has its place of course, as previously stated by others.

Whether it's suitable for a given project to my thinking hinges on the quality and figure of the wood its applied to.

(If there's little or no figure to what's going to be exposed, why bother with the labor necessary to impart a furniture-quality finish?)

Okoume may be a thing of beauty to some folks but for me I won't mind putting an opaque, perhaps tastefully colorful finish on exposed surfaces to protect both the 'glasscloth and epoxy layers applied to the plywood 'neath it all.

To each their own.

I plan on “some what” taking it slow and gaining patience.  I want to make it as nice as I can but, foremost want it to sail well. (Since I’m new to the game).

I have already decided to paint her, I have always like the look of a deep blue hull not just to hide any imperfections, but just cause I like the look.

Even though I have many tools on hand, starting to collect the little tools I’ll need over the winter.   My wife asks why I am gathering tools needed now rather than wait until we move. Really didn’t have a great answer other than it just small stuff I really don’t have. I never had myself a really good plane. Picked up a nice pair of lineman’s pliers which fit my hands a bit better, need to pick up a better pair of side cutters,,,, you know stuff like that....tired of the research and want to get in action.

Thanks for the tips folks.

Joe,

As to tools, before building my CLC kit I was able to visit the 2013 Wooden Boat Show at Mystic, a common piece of advice from people who were displaying the boats they had built was "Get a good sander!".  Most often recommended were products from Festool.  I bought a Festool 5" random orbital sander, a Festool finish sander, and a Festool Mini-Vac.  One of the smartest things I did in the whole project --- the sanders workeed extremely well and there was no epoxy, glass, or wood dust  in the air and in the work area.

A word of caution. The friend I built my boat with is a veteran of many, mostly auto and motorcycle, restoration projects and has recently been diagnosed with lung issues. He had been casual with breathing protection. The HEPA filter on the Festool Mini-Vac minimized our dust exposure when we built About Time.

Cheers,

Dick

I'll second what Dick said about protecting your lungs. Probably the best purchase I made for boatbuilding was a 3M dual filter respirator.  Use it (or a similar product) when sanding or painting . . . or even mowing your lawn in dusty conditions. Surprisingly comfortable.

I'v got mixed feelings about power sanders. I did buy (and use) a 5" radom orbital sander. But I now prefer sanding by hand. It's much more pleasant -- quiet, meditative, easy on the arms. I get more control. And I can control dust better. Wet sanding (essentially a warm water bath) is especially fun. Probably should wear rubber gloves for that, but I never did.

Birch,

kudos to you for having the patience to forgo power sanders. My Peeler Skif just had too much surface area. I'd still be sanding instead of boating and fishing.  I've always admired hand craftsmanship, but I'm weak and impatient. I did hand wet sand between coats of Brightside polyurethane. There are some things even impatient people should do by hand. The finish looks like gelcoat.

I probably failed to make clear that a Festool sander is connected by a hose to the Mini-Vac and that the sanding disk and sandpaper have holes in them through which the Mini-Vac sucks the dust. Whenever you pull the trigger on the sander the Mini-Vac starts as well. All the dust ends up in the vac's container and it exhausts the air though an ultra safe HEPA filter. There is no dust to control. For a married man, that distinction was critical.

Regards,

Dick

   Building a Jimmy Skiff

 All good advice, I am not used to wearing a respirator but it will on my list. I also like the quality vac to go along with the sander....

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   I started with a Jimmy Skiff 2 as well. Seemed liek a good start for me, as i have no real prior expeirence doing anything even remotly like this. 

I have gotten to the point im almost ready to start painting. 

Sure i got some ugly things in the inside id love to paint over, and keep a varnished look on as many good surfaces as i can. After reading some of this thread i belive i decdied to do just that.

   Ditto,  I do plan on painting the exterior but will try to keep all inside varnished... I am having a hard time waiting to order my kit until after I move... at this point I am rethinking selection. 
Before I chose the Jimmy skiff ll I was set on a glen L 14... a frame boat.   For some reason I am thinking i can put a more personal touch to the glen l frame build. But, I guess I have time to ponder it.