JEM Watercraft

I was going to keep quiet but !!!!!!!!!!

I agree with Jack , PAINT a wood boat ????? ..... WHY?????

As far as staining it ... When you add the epoxy to the wood (as in saturating it ) the shade of the wood will be at lease two shades darker then the bare wood.
I would suggest doing a small (scrap) piece 1st and then deciding if you want to stain it. Or do two , one with some stain on it and one without any except for a coat of the epoxy and see which you like .

Chuck.

So, it sounds like I should try the wood finish first--which would be my preference, if I'm capable of making it look good. Then, if it looks good after fiberglassing, then it's a go--if not, it could be painted over at that time, right (since the fiberglassing becomes the outer surface)? No real extra work up to that point (unless I tried a water based stain first). Is that correct?

Keeps my options open...

Yep. You're correct.

JT,

My first boat was what we call a 50 footer. Looked pretty good from 50' out, but lost a lot of attractiveness as you neared it. After four boats, I've improved down to about 25'-30'. And still, my clunky boats get "OOooooo's" and "AAhHHhhh's" when on the river.

Boats of fiberglass, plastic, aluminum, carbon fiber, etc. slide by unnoticed by fisherman and others. But a WOODEN boat........ always attracts attention. Every time.

Do yourself a favor and can the idea of luan and any other cheap wood. Get some good wood that (1) is easier to work with, (2) is more dependable, and (3) of which you can be justly proud.

50 feet , Jack .... What in the heck have you been smoking , the one of your boats I saw was more Duct tape then wood and more like 16 feet at 4 feet away , not 50.
Grant you at 50 feet it did look really sea worthy , close up it had me really worried.

This was on the last trip when you wanted to paddle against the tides to go camping at Outhouse Key.

Mine ( the Freedom) was made out of the Luann and it looked like a wood boat , nice and slick with all the wood showing , not a duct taped wood boat from the expensive wood , like your's patched with all the tape .....

Mine ........... Without any tape and it still does not require any tape , even while made from the Cheep wood. Well not that cheep it was $9.95 a sheet for the 4X8 panels.

My guess is that it is the builders ability.....



All I use is the Luann and so far none of my homemade ones have required any tape to hold them together , all 10 of them.

It is up to the builder on how or what he wants to use to make them , then it is his or her's responsibility to maintain then or tape them so they can be paddled.
Yes, the better the wood the easier it is to make the boat but then the cost increases. Make one cutting corners on the wood , then 20 years later make another with the more costly wood so you can get 20 more years of use.

Wood is wood unless it is something else. It is what you do with it that counts.

Chuck.

Speaking of what you do with the wood--I saw Chuck's paddle on the other forum--the one made with strips of wood epoxied in a contrasting pattern--beautiful work. Saw something similar in a canoe building book at 1/2 price books where a deck had been made the same way--absolutely gorgeous stuff. Got me to thinking about decorative, but functional touches--(I know this is way ahead of the game, but I enjoy tinkering with the ideas while waiting...).

Would it be possible to similarly build a gunwhale using 3 (or more) such strips (perhaps from the moulding dept) to create a contrasting look--or would the epoxy stiffen it up to much to bend as needed? Or could it be done somehow at the same time it was attached to the canoe (and still bendable), maybe by epoxying each individual piece and leaving a gap to be filled with epoxy and a darker wood flour to create the line?

The second paragraph is quite doable and should mighty spiffy.

jt wrote:Speaking of what you do with the wood--I saw Chuck's paddle on the other forum--the one made with strips of wood epoxied in a contrasting pattern--beautiful work.

Thank you for the kind words , the paddle was nothing more then left over wood put to a good use. Believe it or not , the 1st one I ever made.

As far as building wood boats , I like to say they only thing holding a person back is there lack of imagination and the 2dn worse thing is there rush to build the boat without thinking about it.

When you decide on what you want to build then give it a lot of serious thought on how you want to do it. Read the instructions , several times , then re-read them and do more thinking about the process and what you want the boat to be and look like. ...

NOW... Build it the way you have it pictured in your mind. This is NOT a off the shelf Pre-made one .. NO SIR ... It is a custom , made the way you want it by none other then .......... YOU.
One of a kind and no matter how hard you try to make another like it .... It will never be like the one you have made.

Each boat we make is as much as being an individual as we are. That is the reason we make our own boats , they show our personality and thought process in a beautiful way.

Just my 2 cents worth... By the way....... No matter how or what you do to it , when it is done then you are going to say.........

If I would of just done this or that and then build another one that way.

Welcome to the world of sawdust , wood and epoxy , it will take you on a lot of river trips and offer a lot of relaxation , both in the building and later in the enjoying and paddling out on the waters.

Chuck.
PS.. That was just some southernpaddler philosophy , for what it is worth.

Seems like everytime I get on this forum (or that "other one" over at Southern Paddler) I come away with more ideas and confidence than when I'd sat down at this "satan's box"....I mean computer!
Chuck's two cents are always gems. When you figure in that two cents and adjust everything for inflation-over-time you walk away with at least a buck-fifty and change!!
(how's that for a left-handed compliment??)
But really, I want to encourage anybody visiting, (who's thinking about building thier own boat) to do just what Chuck said. Then look at Matt's site and order the plan.
Once you take a bunch of flat pieces of wood and stitch them together, you'll never be the same.(in a really good way!!)

Thank-you Matt, and thanks to all the rest of you guys who've led this little piece of "come-on-in-the water's-fine" forum.

With Gratitude,

Lee