Putting stencil on canoe

[Doug Brentnell]

Hello I am building a canoe for my daughter and she has a design she would like to put on canoe. Has anyone done this making a stencil and fiberglassing over thanks for the our advise in advance

[Stephen]

Hi Doug

I was hoping someone who had done this would answer for you, but since it's been a couple of days I'll pass on some (secondhand) information.

Nick Offerman did this several years ago and posted a build log. Starting on page 162 he describes transferring a photocopy to wood. If the image has writing in it it would need to be reversed for the photocopy. I think if it was me I would try the technique on some wood I didn't care about before I did it on a canoe. The build log is 300!! pages long so don't get too distracted ;)

https://app.box.com/s/fwkhd0r9uzo7r2wvxpu1de0ftpw63mmv

Stephen

edit: I would also experiment with removing the image from the wood I didn't care about to see how hard it would be to fix if I made a mistake on the actual canoe. That is, does sanding remove the toner/ink cleanly or grind it into the surface?

[Doug Brentnell]

Thank you for advise I will check it out. I have heard but not verified that a image could be printed on overhead projector plastic then exposed onto canoe then fiberglassed over will have to try a sample. Thanks again I will back for advise and posts any results I try.

[Cruiser]

Hi Doug,

I somehow missed this ... if you are going to try any of the general techniques you will find with google search, make sure you try them first ... do a complete run off boat FIRST.

I did this successfully using a thin crepe style paper and an ink jet printed sheet.
- taped the light paper to a regular sheet
- printed the image and let dry for a couple days
- trimmed excess from edges
- applied with initial coat of epoxy



Things to watch for:
- chose a paper substrate that will largely go transparent (you may have to visit an art store and try a few)
- most inks are soluble in epoxy, if you apply on a vertical surface, the epoxy flows and may make the image blur
- trim the edges to minimize any "halo" like effect from the paper

Like I stated, whatever you do decide on, do it completely off the boat first, duplicate your boat application site as near as you can, including the surface orientation ... I wish you good luck and please post your results good or bad, so I can learn a bit more about this

Thanks

Brian