Canoe Boat Plans | Hull UV Protection

Canoe Boat Plans

Fiberglass over plywood is ridiculously tough.  There are wood and fiberglass boats still around after 50 years.  However, fiberglass has an Achillis Heel -- sunshine.  Fiberglass rapidly degrades with exposure to UV rays.

Thus, it is recommended to paint or varnish fiberglass with something offering UV protection.

We wanted the boat to show off its lovely woodiness, so we chose varnish.  There are fancy marine varnishes that are made for marine applications.  Spar Varnish is one example.  They are relatively expensive (though not compared to epoxy which is ridiculously expensive).  However, there are exterior varnishes that are equally good that you can pick up at the hardware store/lumberyard which are just as good.

  

In a moment of insecurity, I called and checked in with Gayle at Glen-L just to make sure. She gave me a thumbs up on my selection of exterior UV varnish.

After varnishing, it looked pretty much the same as after the last finish coat of epoxy.  But in my mind, I knew Id protected the fiberglass from its Nemesis the big ball of fire in the sky.


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Kayak Boat Plans | Fiberglass Finish Coats

Kayak Boat Plans

After the fill coat, the texture of the fiberglass cloth was still visible, so we embarked on a series of finish coats. 

I think we finally put three more coats on after the fill coat.  The Finish Coat, the Arent We Done Yet Coat, and the Good Lord Please Let This Be The Last Coat. 

I took a moment to pose proudly with my dense foam roller in my work clothes now almost completely rigid from layers of spilled epoxy.

Between layers, we attacked the bumps, bubbles, drips, and encapsulated bugs with an orbital sander and sandpaper.

And each layer was smoother and more handsome than the last.

Until finally...

 We had something that looked purdy fancy and shiny.

 Whew.  Finally.

And so we could set aside the epoxy for a while.  We thought we wouldnt need it again until we do the upper decks after the boat is flipped.  (However, we needed epoxy to do a "scarf joint" on the skegs, so stay tuned for that.)

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Boat Plans Butler | Those Troublesome Skegs Scarf Joints

Boat Plans Butler

I had to turn 14 foot pieces of lumber into 16 foot lengths for the bottom skegs. To do this we use a scarf joint. According to wikipedia:

The joint is formed by cutting opposing tapered ends on each member which are then fitted together. When working with wood, this gives better long grain to long grain gluing surface, which yields a stronger joint than would be achieved with a simple butt joint. The tapers are generally cut at an angle between 1:8 to 1:10. The ends of a plain scarf are feathered to a fine point which aids in the obscuring of the joint in the finished work.

Okay, so were going to cut the ends at a diagonal, fasten them together with adhesive, then sand down the rough parts until it looks like it never happened.

I made the first cut with the circular saw and finished with a handsaw. It was alright, but not as easy or as precise as if Id had a good mitre box and sharp handsaw.

Then we got out the gooey fiberglass resin and adhered the pieces together.  At this point, it looks like a pretty righteous mess.

After it sets, out comes the belt sander.

And at this point the scarf joint is almost invisible.

The plans called for rounding the aft ends of the skegs to a point.  Here its looking good, and Im starting to have a bit more confidence in these things.

Next, we drill the bolt holes for the skegs and finish them.


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