17' 6" RedBird

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Bassbug
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Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:09 pm
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
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Post by Bassbug »

First, thanks for the comments. Secondly, I've added additional photos of the bird on my website http://bluestempaddler.com/redbird/index.html.

The cherry gunwales were, hummm.... challenging. We scuppered the inwales with 3/8"walnut strips (and cherry at the ends) and tapered the ends to 3/8". This created difficulties since the inwale at the end was onlythe glued 3/8" cherry spacer, and we needed to bend this end. However we found that with Gorilla glue, we could steam and bend the inwales without compromising the integrity of the inwales. We did have a problem cutting the inwale to length - we worked hard to insure it was correct - measured it in place, several times, then cut it. When we clamped it end, yep...it was about 1/2" too short. We never did figure out what went wrong. But now in the stern we have two short inwale pieces for humility sake.

Both the outwales and inwales did not bend well. The wood was kiln dried, which was probably part of the issue. We steamed them adequately by placing them in a rain gutter downspout attached to a tea kettle boiling on a Coleman stove 45 minutes, then bent them over the form, and let them dry for 48 hours. About 30% of the bend came out. I did not want to use screws to attach the outwales to the deck area, but was forced to do so in order to hold everything in place while the epoxy dried.

Thwarts: We had a major problem with inward curling on the hull. We fiberglassed in July (in Lincoln, NE it is very humid). I did not get around to fiberglassing the inside of the hull until October, and did not spread the hull until after fiberglassing (we learned much in building...). Thus the hull curled in nearly 6". In fact, one of the redwood strips split while I was sanding the inside - there is a thread on the forum concerning this. The gunwales took much of curl out, but I thought the extra thwarts were needed. I have not removed them, just leaving the carrying thwart in place to see what would happen, but this is on my list of things to do. I really like the carrying thwarts I constructed near the deck. It give a nice place to grip when two folks are carrying her, but the real reason I placed them in was to afford to place to tie the bow down to my car.

Finish: I put only two coats of epoxy over the glass on the inside, leaving the weave texture of the glass in place. However, with 4 coats of finish, the weave disappeared. This I did not expect.
Rick
Posts: 727
Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 9:23 am
Location: Bancroft, Ontario

Post by Rick »

Good job on the color selection and strip layout! I hear you on the problems wrt inwale bending, one broke while I was building my Huron... steaming would have made that a lot easier.
patrick
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2004 1:25 pm
Location: Arizona

Post by patrick »

yes, i definetly agree, good job. especially on the color matching/selecting. that is one thing i wish we had done a bit better on. looking back on ours, i see there is one board that if switched with one other board would have made the matching better. But whatever, it is fine. I really like the look of the redwood with the walnut stem the contrast is cool.
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mtpocket
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:48 pm
Location: Indiana

Redbird

Post by mtpocket »

Here are a few of my construction photos mixed in with some after completion.

http://photobucket.com/albums/v507/mtpo ... interval=3
Last edited by mtpocket on Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Glen Smith
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Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Strip Clamps

Post by Glen Smith »

Mike are these strip clamps homemade?


Image
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mtpocket
Posts: 562
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:48 pm
Location: Indiana

Post by mtpocket »

Well, yes and no. I made them myself but not at home. I made them at work when my boss wasn't looking. Don't say anything. They are conduit hangers with an extra nut welded on one side. This allowed me to insert a screw through the nut to put pressure on the little blocks. The blocks hold the strip while the glue dries.
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pawistik
Posts: 323
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:20 pm
Location: Saskatoon, SK

Post by pawistik »

Here's my version of the Redbird. You'll notice that it's a bit different from some of the others posted here.

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It is a 1:12 scale model. Here's another picture of the canoe together with a model of a CLC Chesapeake 17.

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You can find more info at the woodworking section of my web site.
Cheers,
Bryan
scott49carroll
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:40 am
Location: San Diego, Ca

Redbird Section 8

Post by scott49carroll »

I am new to the group.

I am building the Redbird from the plans published in the Canoecraft book. I lofted all of the stations in AutoCAD and cut them out on a CNC table router. I have mounted all of the section frames to the strongback and am working on the inner stems.

All of the station frames look great, except #8. It does not want to fill up to the top or bottom of the stem frame. It appears as though there is a concave curve through frames 7, 8 and the stem. Is this correct?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Scott...
Scott Carroll
Redbird builder
Lakeside, Ca.
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Glen Smith
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Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Post by Glen Smith »

To position station 8, line up the waterline on the form with the waterline on the stem form You did draw waterlines, didn't you? The top of the form normally ends up being just below the inner stem.

Many of the Bear Mountain canoe designs show some concavity at the ends and I believe the Redbird is one of them. It does make the stripping a bit more difficult because the strips will have a tendancy to pull away from station 8 when building without staples.
scott49carroll
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Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:40 am
Location: San Diego, Ca

Station 8 and stems...

Post by scott49carroll »

[quote="Glen Smith"]To position station 8, line up the waterline on the form with the waterline on the stem form You did draw waterlines, didn't you? The top of the form normally ends up being just below the inner stem.


Thanks Glen,

Yes, I did transfer the waterline to the stem molds and station 8 molds.

As I mentioned to Randy Pfeifer in an off-line email, the plywood that I used for the stem molds was ¾” birch ply from Home Depot, very poor stuff. When I programmed my CNC router to cut the station molds, (months before I purchased the lumber) I cut back 3/8" from the centerline, assuming 3/4" plywood. I have since measured the birch at a little over 0.60” thick. This would account for .181 short on the top and 0.310 short on the bottom.

As I was setting up the inner stems last night I noticed that the outer edge of the stems sat about 0.380” above the apex of the station 7 molds. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the outer edges of the inner stem should come close to lining up with the tops of station 7. Canoecraft indicates a screw through the top of station 7 into the stem so this must be the case.

I will remake the stem molds tonight from a better grade of plywood, shortening them by 3/8”. I will also remake the station 8 forms, removing exactly half of the actual thickness of the stem form plywood from the centerlines.

With these two changes everything should line-up and the stems that have already been fabricated will still fit.

Bst rgds,
Scott…
Scott Carroll
Redbird builder
Lakeside, Ca.
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Patricks Dad
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Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Post by Patricks Dad »

I believe our Stems landed about 1/8" above the apex of station 7 mold. A careful measurement of the plan support this difference (for some reason). There is a thread on this topic on this website at:

http://www.bearmountainboats.com/phpbb2 ... hth+height
Randy Pfeifer
(847) 341-0618
Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
scott49carroll
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:40 am
Location: San Diego, Ca

Post by scott49carroll »

Patricks Dad wrote:I believe our Stems landed about 1/8" above the apex of station 7 mold. A careful measurement of the plan support this difference (for some reason). There is a thread on this topic on this website at:

http://www.bearmountainboats.com/phpbb2 ... hth+height
Thanks Randy,

I read through the thread. I have also read through Canoecraft several times and it mentions that the inner stems will be shaped to a point rather than the 0.125" flat, close to station 7. It said that the point at which the flat goes to a point would "become obvious", ( Since the book covers several designs I suppose they could not give an exact location.).

I have also looked at all of the pictures that you have posted of your Redbird. That is one beautiful piece of work! I can only hope tht mine finishes out half as nice!

Just an aside, Did you have your Redbird clear coated / varnished at an auto body shop?

Bst rgds,
Scott...
Scott Carroll
Redbird builder
Lakeside, Ca.
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Patricks Dad
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Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Post by Patricks Dad »

I just looked at my pictures and found one with a tape measure showing the distance between the point on the stem at station 7 and where it becomes obviously flat. It's between 3" - 3.5" (picture 124 of 243 in album 2).

On the finish of our Redbird, It was done at a local body shop (3 coats of clearcoat). We were really pleased with the result. He even came to our house to touch up the dowel joints after the seats were installed later.
Randy Pfeifer
(847) 341-0618
Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
scott49carroll
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:40 am
Location: San Diego, Ca

Stem moulds

Post by scott49carroll »

Let me preface by saying that I am building from the Canoecraft book alone, not from plans.

I made my stem moulds from ¾” plywood because that is what looks like the moulds in the pictures in the book are made from and it will support the ¾+” wide stems.

I have marked off the center 1/8” on the stems that the strips should come to. In order to get a fair curve through stations 6,7 & 8 to the beveled stem piece, it is necessary to remove a lot if the plywood stem mould as well. The book does not mention this. Does anyone have any experience / guidance here?

Bst rgds,
Scott Carroll
Scott Carroll
Redbird builder
Lakeside, Ca.
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Patricks Dad
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Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Post by Patricks Dad »

We used 1/2" stem molds. Even at 1/2", we needed to remove some of the wood on the stem mold to create a fair curve as we shaved down the stems. Your 3/4" stem molds will need to have more wood removed.
Randy Pfeifer
(847) 341-0618
Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
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