levelling strongback

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sluggo
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levelling strongback

Post by sluggo »

I'm in the process of leveling my strongback right now. Wood is spaced in between the stands and boxbeam to level everything from bow to stern. Wood is also placed under the stand feet to level from port to starboard. Fixing the bow/stern level spacers should be easy. I'm not sure about the starboard/bow. Canoecraft suggests setting things in epoxy. I'm sort of tempted to pour something over the stand feet but i want to be able to remove and re-use the stands again. Any suggestions on this is appreciated.

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Adamv
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Post by Adamv »

My shop actually had a fairly uneven dirt floor, which I'd covered with a large blue tarp. You can imagine the leveling nightmare that that meant. I actually was able to get it surprisingly level bow/stern and starboard/port with a bunch of shims and a lot of patience (actually it didn't take all that long). I also did not glue it to the floor. My strongback was made out of 1/2" MDF, so was very heavy, and was fairly stable throughout the building process even without gluing it to the floor.
Who travels not by water knows not the fear of God --- 17th Century Sailor
Dell Littlefield
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Post by Dell Littlefield »

After levelling, I placed some U shaped pieces of 1/2 inch plywood around the feet of the strongback to keep it from moving. I used silicone caulk to glue them down. Once the canoe was completed, they were easily removed and didn't leave a mark on the concrete floor.
Charles G. Clark, Jr.
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Post by Charles G. Clark, Jr. »

My shop floor has an epoxy coating on the concrete. I build the strongback and then used silicone glue to glue down 4 x 4 blocks adjacent to the strongback legs. I used shims to level the strongback. Once it was level, I screwed the legs to the blocks that were glued to the floor.

When I finished, I unscrewed the strongback from the blocks, wacked the blocks with a hammer to break them free of the floor, and cleaned up the glue mess with a chisel.
Rick
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Post by Rick »

I drilled holes in the concrete floor and then used those super-hard screws (forget the name) to attach metal brackets to the legs. The holes are still there, somewhere, and ready for the next canoe.
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Patricks Dad
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Post by Patricks Dad »

We used the "U" shaped plywood glued to the floor approach to hold our stongback in place. We used gorilla glue. We haven't removed them yet but I'm sure they will scrape off fairly easily. The strongback has been there for almost 3 years now. When we started our most recent build it was still rock-solid and level. It made getting started very quick.

Sluggo, how high is the top of your strongback? From the picture it looks pretty high (but it's hard to tell). Remember that you will want to reach fairly easily to the top of your forms as your strip/sand/glass....

One other suggestion, build a rack for your strips above your strongback/forms so you can get them down easily (from either side of the canoe) to avoid stepping on them or dripping glue on them. I used some plumbing flanges with some copper pipe to build some (upsidedown) "T" shaped hangers hung from the ceiling. They worked great to keep the strips readily available and safely out of the way.
Last edited by Patricks Dad on Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Randy Pfeifer
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sluggo
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Post by sluggo »

Some good ideas here, thanks.

Randy, what is the height of your boxbeam (top surface of your strongback) and how tall are you?

thanks!
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Patricks Dad
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Post by Patricks Dad »

My strongback is ~29" above the floor (more on one end, less on the other to make it level with my sloping garage floor). I am 5'9" tall. When building our first canoe (Redbird) I found it to be a bit high when working on stripping the canoe bottom and found myself standing on top of a 6-8" tall tub of drywall screws to compensate many times.

Of course, I wished it were higher when putting on the first few strips. But the area that takes the most time is the bottom.

One more tip: Get plenty of good lights lined up for when it's time to sand, glass and varnish.
Randy Pfeifer
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ealger
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Strongback

Post by ealger »

Sloggo, from the craft hanging in your workspace, it appears you've been through the building process before.

It's hard at this point to get a perspective on your braces without seeing molds on the strong back.

I wonder if the lengthwise braces next to the floor are going to be ankle knockers? The strongback legs seen in Canoecraft are more typical. Two or three of these legs with narrow feet are easy to adjust and tie down to the floor and they are out of the way. The last thing I want to do is trip over leg braces in the heat of laying on epoxy.
Ed..
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Snowman
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Post by Snowman »

Sluggo,

I agree with Ed's comments. You might find the legs a bit restrictive. My other comment is that you seemed to have created a very complex system to level. I made my box beam very similar to the CanoeCraft design and used two feet. As long as your box beam is stiff enough with two feet, it is very easy to level.

As for fixing the feet in place, I also used four U shaped pieces of MDF glues to the cement floor (similar to Patricks Dad and Dell Littlefield). This was secure enough to prohibit location/leveling migration.
Snowman back East
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Bassbug
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Post by Bassbug »

Our strongback was built from Canoecraft. During the first build it was attached to the floor. However on the second canoe, I needed to push it aside occasionally. I place four small swivel wheels onto a 2X12 the length of the strongback feet width (one for each strongback foot) and slid it under the feet when I need to move it. Otherwise the strongback was off the wheels and just sat on the concrete floor without any attachment. The strongback remained stable and I do not believe we compromised integrity in the build. I was please how well it worked and will continue using this mobility in the future.
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sluggo
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Post by sluggo »

hmmm, I'm not sure what to do...

I originally built this strongback from things I read in kayak building. It is about 6" wide by 6" tall, so it's a bit smaller than the one in canoecraft. It has a bottom to it, unlike the one in canoecraft which means that I can't do the same attachment as shown in the book without removing the bottom panel. I need to make some changes to it though.

1. my middle section is a bit undersized. when I first cut the middle section it was too tight, so I removed some wood. Now it's too loose and there is too much play between the two halves of the strongback. Once I fasten everything with screws it's okay, but I noticed that the two sections are slightly twisted from each other. I can either re-do the middle section, or add some shims to the middle section prior to screwing so that the two halves are tight and aligned

2. I think I will make new stands for the strongback. I'm not sure if I will use the kind in Ted's book because I would have to remove the bottom panels.

Any thoughts on this are again appreciated.
Our strongback was built from Canoecraft. During the first build it was attached to the floor. However on the second canoe, I needed to push it aside occasionally. I place four small swivel wheels onto a 2X12 the length of the strongback feet width (one for each strongback foot) and slid it under the feet when I need to move it.
Did you have everything level with you attached your molds? I like the idea of rollers, but I was thinking that when setting up the molds it would be easiest if everything was level. Once the molds are aligned then level shouldn't matter as long as everything is stable. I don't think I could get a level strongback with using rollers because my floor changes too much.

thanks
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Patricks Dad
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Post by Patricks Dad »

Sluggo, I would suggest building your strongback on the ground/floor, getting everything level and true and THEN adding rollers when needed (rather than building with rollers up front).

If you already have a bottom on your strongback, you could cut some slots in the bottom to make room for lets to be inserted or simply attach the legs to the bottom (with some blocks to make the joint. Our strongback is built per Canoecraft with the exception of a 3rd "leg" in the middle to support it. I was worried about it sagging where the joint between the two 8' halves was. I simply built a 3rd leg and insterted it in the middle. I did the levelling with the two end legs and then screwed the middle leg in place to support the middle.
Randy Pfeifer
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sluggo
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Location: Vancouver BC

Post by sluggo »

Patricks Dad wrote:Sluggo, I would suggest building your strongback on the ground/floor, getting everything level and true and THEN adding rollers when needed (rather than building with rollers up front).
When I first joined my strongback I didn't try to do any particular levelling. I was actually just putting it together to get it out of the way for a few weeks. That's a good idea to shim/screw the beams straight and level on the floor (it's a 3 beam design: 2 end joined with a smaller insert beam in the middle).
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Bassbug
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Post by Bassbug »

Did you have everything level with you attached your molds?
Yes, the stongback was level on the ground, then we put on the forms, leveled them, then put a strip down the center to hold the forms in place and began stripping. After a few days of stripping, we were comfortable sliding the wheels underneath.
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