What Jobs Absolutely Require Two People?

[Its Me]

You could say no job ABSOLUTELY requires two people. Which is fine. But what functions during the process of building a canoe really go much better with two people? The streaks in the glassing and epoxy mix timing made me think that maybe glassing is a two man operation.

[John E]

Every Job should be dry run to see if you need additional help or need to figure a way to do it using clamps, better planning , or a different method.

Large jobs that can be done by one but better by two are anything involving large pieces of cloth like the layout and layup of the cloth to the hull. During the wetting out of the cloth you really can use a second pair of hands that can follow your directions as to how much epoxy to mix and when to mix it. I used my 12 y.o. son for that task and made the set up almost fool proof by Telling him how much of each to measure, He would repeat it to me, then bring both resin and hardner, after he measured, to me for confirmation. Then he would only mix when I said to. He did very well and I didn't really have to double check when we were getting done, but I did it just in case. We practiced the mixing process during the seal coat so he could get comfortable with it and we could concentrate on the layup better with out worrying over the "Right Mix' on the epoxy.

We had one accident which resulted in the loss of about 6oz of hardner when he spilled the entire measure on himself and his pants. (Keep acetone on hand in quantity it really did clean out the hardner from the pants) I was able to mix the last batch up while his mom got him cleaned up so no interuption to the layup and he learned a quick lesson on how to pay better attention.

[Glen Smith]

I can not provide an answer because I have never had any help when building either canoes or kayaks.

[Jim D]

I have always thought that it would be nice to have two people, one being the boss, that would be best if it were me!... Seriously, two people for cutting strips, bead and coving, laying out the cloth, and wetting out the cloth. Safety should always be an issue!

[John in WI]

Its -

I'd add that another set of hands is useful when removing the boat from the forms.

- John

P.S. Someone else that likes to sand might be nice too. :P

[Steve Lansdowne]

Unless your weather is cool and/or you use an epoxy with a fairly long set up time, I'd say that the most helpful task someone else can be useful for is wetting out the cloth and applying subsequent coats of epoxy. One to mix and time, one to spread. You can even use 2 or more helpers, but make sure they all know their role!!

[Mike Stenger]

I haven't fiberglassed my Bob's Special yet, but found a helper to be a huge advantage when cutting the strips and then when doing the bead/coving operation.

[Kurt Loup]

I prefer to work alone. However, I like help when I am ripping strips and routing the bead and cove. Milling strips are faster with two. The worst fiberglass job I did was when I let someone look over my shoulder to learn how to do it. I accomodated him by fiberglassing in the middle of the day in 95*+ heat rather than that night when the temperature cooled off. Sweat ran off my arms and left white spots in the epoxy. I have to look at the spots everytime I get in my kayak.

Kurt

[Dana]

I cut and routed my strips myself with no problem at all. Long infeed and outfeed tables are a must and lots of featherboards on the saw and router table. I push the wood into the machine at first, then walk around and pull it through the rest of the way with no problems leaving the wood still while I walk around to the other side. Seldom was there much of a mark left on the bead or cove which isn't seen anyway and I put the strips through a thickness planer to clean up the faces and take them down to 1/4 inch.

I'm still on my first boat and will happen to have help glassing and removing it from the molds althogh I could probably do it myself if I had to I expect.

Dana

[ropegun]

After two canoes and a kayak with zero help, I can only guess that certain jobs would be safer or more efficient with an extra set of hands. Alternatively, I can only blame myself for the less than perfect job...