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We decided on the shape of the sheer at the gunwales, and cut it before putting on this inside layer of fiberglass.
Getting the glass trimmed to fit accurately into the ends was tricky. We did not cut it to shape while it was draped
over the outside of the inverted hull as suggested by others, but we should have. It's getting colder out: instead of
the 75-80F of the previous epoxying, this was in the 60-65F range. The clear coat epoxy set up OK at that temperature,
even without turbo cure.
Not shown yet... Bias cut strips of glass were put on the inside of the ends, before the second coat of epoxy.
The 6" to 9" wide glass strips were wet with epoxy, and then put in the boat, being careful to get it all the way into the
narrow crevice. The strip went into the stern easily, but the slightly higher bow made it very difficult to put in place.
I was unable to push it in with any implement without having it pull out when the implement was removed. Finally, we
cut two cardboard pieces to the curve of the bow form, covered them with (Saran) plastic wrap, and draped the epoxy wetted
bias cut strip over the edge. The strip was first stretched out sideways to make it quite short and wide, and then pulled
along the curve of the cardboard until wrinkles disappeared. Now the cardboard was pushed into the bow of the canoe,
the cardboard layers were separated and rubbed to seat the glass. If we had better covered the cardboard with plastic,
the cardboard could at this point have been removed, leaving glass and plastic wrap undisturbed. As it was, the plastic
wrap was a bit too narrow, and some epoxy had found its way between cardboard and plastic, so the position of the glass shifted
as the cardboard was removed. Gloved fingers smoothed out the glass, removing most of the bubbles and wrinkles, and
the epoxy was allowed to harden. This was the trickiest operation so far. After the epoxy hardened, the plastic
wrap could be peeled off, but not easily as it tore into shreds as we did so.
While the end reinforcement was hardening, we gave the entire inside another coat of epoxy (viscous SB-112,) being
careful to squeegee it to a very thin layer and then brush it with a dry brush to make it even. We are using electric
space heaters in the garage to keep the temperature at 60-65F. Even so, either the thicker epoxy at lower temperature,
or a bad batch of foam brushes, made it so that many of the brushes broke, and sometimes small bits of foam from the brush
came off and needed to be removed from the boat. We did not have this problem on the outside, where we put on a thicker
layer at a higher temperature, completely filling the weave with the second coat of epoxy.
The hull should now be stable. I think we will move inside and work on the seats, gunwales, yoke and decks where
it is warm.
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