Coppermine

[Joerudolph]

Good Morning,

I am a newbie, I have completed on stitch and glue kayak, but I bought a set of plans for a "Bob's Special"; I've built it about a three dozen times in my mind, as well as watched every youtube video I can find. HOWEVER......I am really interested in getting the plans for the "Coppermine" and beginning construction - I love the idea of the transom and being able to mount a motor. Here is the question burning in my OCD brain......unlike a symmetric boat with inner and outer stems, I am assuming that the Coppermine will have a finished transom in place on the strongback as a first / last form. The strips will glue to the side of the transom? The question is, what else happens? Is the bond between the strips and the transom enough to maintain the strength when the motor is running, is there some type of trim that is applied to the transom to hide the edge of the strips, are fillets applied between the transom and the inner side of the strips before fiberglass???? I'm sure this is a pretty common detail, but I am thinking I'm kinda crossing the threshold between canoes and small boats, and I haven't found a detail that explains it to my little brain. Any pointing in the right direction will be much appreciated.

[Cruiser]

Pretty sure that is taken care of when you apply the fiberglass layers. You are making a composite hull here and the wood bears very little of the load, that is the job of the glass and epoxy layers.


Brian

[Joerudolph]

Appreciate the reply. I understand both sides are covered with fiberglass and that strength; I'm just curious how it physically goes together....kind of hard to tell from the pictures on the website

[Cruiser]

Sometimes I forget the degree to which i over thought things when I first started building .... with the apparent scarcity of build threads for this boat and since I haven't actually built it, I can only tell you how I would tackle it, it may give you the idea of how to do it or later you may find I was full of it ...

The transom will form the stern stem as you surmise, once ready for glassing, I would cut three pieces of glass one to fit the bottom of the hull, another for the back of the transom and a 3-4" strip cut on the bias and long enough to apply to the transom/strip joint.

I would lay out the bottom glass first and get it situated square to the transom edge or back just a little (say no more than 1/2", try and stay near the edge).

I would suggest that process wise, it may be best to start at the stern and wetout the transom piece and a few inches of the bottom glass, then apply the bias strip, then move forward with the wetout. When the epoxy starts to "kick", you can squeegee the whole backend area together (which would seem easiest). Whether the bias strip is applied inside or outside the other pieces will be mostly preference IMO ... I picked outside as the edges will need to be feathered and that would present the easiest edges to work on.

A bias strip will be able to handle that sharp bend at the transom, but the glass cloth can't be applied that way, so I suspect some version of this process will be required, this sort of laminate will be just as strong and all but undetectable in the finished boat,

Hopefully, I understood the question this time ... so basically you will use bias cut strips to go around the corner at the transom.

Brian

[Joerudolph]

I appreciate the reply Brian....good info, but I think I'm asking the question the wrong way.....when I zoom up on the pictures on the website, from the interior, it looks like the strips run around the side of the transom. Front the outside, it looks like the transom is covering the end of the strips. I'm sure this is covered in the drawings, but in the boat description, it notes that there are not complete written notes to go along with the drawings. Again, I'm just trying to get my brain wrapped around how it's put together, pre-fiberglass. Thanks

[Jim Dodd]

Me ! I wouldn't rely on just the glass to hold up to the forward, or the side thrust of an Outboard motor, on a canoe's Transom !

Few of us have built hulls with transoms, for outboard motors. Me included.

So what advise I'm about to offer should be taken with a grain of Salt.

First I would consider additional support for the transom, to the hull. This is accomplished with Knees. Knees are used for bracing the hull and transom at the Shear, both Port, and Starboard. There is also a Knee at the junction of the Transom and Keel, just like those of a traditional wooden Dory. These Knees should add a lot of strength, in addition to the fiberglass.

I would build with much thicker strips. Not to mention adding a lot more layers of cloth, both inside and out.

I'm sure the are some great build threads out there, that can guide you through construction.

Good Luck ! This maybe one of the few canoe building sites that might Allow such a building Thread ! So Please Share with us your Build !

Thanks !

Jim

[Joerudolph]

I just ordered the plans, and I found a couple of non-bear mountain boat videos on youtube that will satisfy my curiosity until the plans arrive. Thanks all