New Solo Canoe - Freedom 15'3" and 16'2"

[Patricks Dad]

The center of station 8 mold should be on the station line. other forms should have the face of the mold closest to the end of the canoe on the 12" line.

In other words, the surface that touches the strips should be on the station line.

Hope this helps.

[Cruiser]

Just to clarify this a bit, since the canoe curves end to end, the strips actually only touch 1 corner of each mold ,,, except the center mold where it will lay pretty well flat across the mold.


Brian

[Jim Dodd]

I've always set the center of the middle form over the center mark.
Then from the face of either side of the center form, I measure, to the far face on the next form.
On your build measure and set the forms 12.75" from face to face.
The fact you are using 1/2" thick forms makes no difference. A 1/4" difference in form thickness has no effect.

Good luck on your build !

Jim

[GP Stick]

Thanks, that’s what I finally decided. It’s working well and makes sense.

[GP Stick]

OK, I’m finally getting close to glassing the hull and am wondering how others have handled the section where the tumblehome starts. I don’t think the glass will follow the sharp edge and still lay flat and tight on either side of the break, especially into the curve up towards the sheer.

Joe

[Patricks Dad]

I softened that sharp corner by sanding a small corner off creating a surface for a 3/8" wide strip. I started with that strip and went both ways from there. That allowed me to have a fairly nice rounded corner instead of a sharp corner. I wasn't so much worried about glassing it but being a target for dents as well as scrapes for my fingers as I paddled.

But if you have already stripped it sharp, you can round over the corner a small amount and regular 6 oz glass will follow the curve (the outside will be easier than the inside). As far as getting the glass to stick to the tumblehome (it will have a tendency to pull away due to the weight of the glass itself), you should cut the glass fairly close to the sheerline but then watch it like a hawk as the epoxy sets. Don't just glass and walk away. You will need to watch for any places where the glass starts to pull away and keep pushing it back onto the hull. This will take a couple hours or so (depending on what epoxy you are using) to make sure it's not coming off. Just lots of attention...

[GP Stick]

Thanks

[GP Stick]

Now that the outside is glassed and filled, which went very well(no problems keeping the material down in the tumblehome section), I'm preparing for the next steps as I scrape my way through the inside. I'm thinking about seat placement and have decided to stick with the design as shown on the plan but I went for the 16' length which means, to me, that the COB and thus forward location of the seat will naturally change from the plan. Using a simple proportion calculation I derived the forward seat location to be 9.1' aft of the bow but would like a more concrete measurement. The LOA came out to be 16' 4 1/4" instead of the 16' 2 1/2" stated on the plans. IF this information is somewhere in the forums I am unable to dig it out.

Thanks

Joe

[Cruiser]

The only issue with "calculating" the seat placement, is that it assumes the canoe is built complete uniformity.

The advice I would give, get the glass on the inside done .... get the gunnels on, then worry about determining the COB. The easiest way I have found is to just cut a stick to length, so it fits under the gunnel around where you think the COB will be, then just move it and determine the point empirically. Then just mark back ~8" towards the stern and that is your seat front edge.

I did a fairly detailed build blog on my last canoe, the determination of COB is found here : https://www.canoetripping.net/threads/l ... ost-111398

Brian

[Jim Dodd]

If you build a 13' solo, or stretch the plans equal to a 15' canoe ?
The seat location should be the same.

I make my seats deep enough to allow me to shift my weight comfortably, so I can adjust trim.
The front edge, 5-6" aft of center, has worked for me.