How To Build A Fiberglass Canoe

In the last week, my Twitter feed (@sfriedscientist) has been flooded with photos of half-built canoes. Well, we’ve finally finished the boat, so here’s Bluegrass Blue Crab and scientist Southern Fried’s guide to building a low-budget plywood canoe. To think you live near the water, you need a boat. It doesn’t have to be a boat, just enough to take you, your beverage fridge, a few fishing poles, and a sane disregard for personal safety far enough that you can’t load twitter on your smartphone (about 4 miles offshore for Droid users, 600 meters for iPhones). So why not build a canoe? Reading: how to build a fiberglass canoe You need very little materials to build this boat. The whole body is made of two good, flexible outer plywood panels (I used 1/4 inch Lauan plywood). A 2 x 4 and some nice wood chips are good for accessories. This is a stitch-and-glue boat, so you’ll need zip ties, fiberglass tape, epoxy resin and hardener, wood pulp or putty system, and plenty of canvas, paintbrushes, and discarded cups. to mix. You’ll also want varnish and a good top coat of enamel. If you’re going to use screws or nails for anything, get them brass, not steel. This method is simple but not as easy as brewing beer, in the end, you will need some planning. topqa.info has a good free plan available for a cheap canoe. In fact, you can skip the rest of this post and just follow their plan.

Bow – front of the boat
Stern – the back of the ship
Port – left side of the boat, when facing the bow
Starboard – starboard side of the boat, when facing the bow
Center line – middle of the boat, run from the bow to the stern
Athwart – perpendicular to the centerline
Rubrail – a thin piece of wood that runs along the sides of the boat for extra strength
Thwart – a thick piece of wood that runs in the middle of the boat for extra strength
Bresthook – a small piece of plank in the bow or stern
Butt block – a piece of wood used to join two parts of a boat together
Chair – it’s what you sit on
Hull – that’s what floats

You’ll need a few tools for this project, but nothing out of the ordinary. A jigsaw, drill and orbital sander are required, along with a paint brush for turpentine and a putty spreader.Start by measuring and cutting your panels. Stitching and glueing is pretty easy, so minor changes won’t affect the final product. It’s important to make sure all the pieces are symmetrical. boat2 Line the panels up and glue then down with epoxy and confronting blocks. Let this cure for the amount of time recommended by your epoxy mix, usually at least overnight. Put some weights (high-impact diving dumbbells) down to keep pressure on the joints. Once they harden, it will resemble a piece of wood. boat3 Now we come to the stitching part. Drill small holes in the panels near the edge and zip your panels together. After you’ve sewn it together, cover the outside seams with duct tape to prevent the sap from leaking out. boat4 The inside of the boat is epoxy painted at every seam. Then spread putty over the seams, making sure to keep them clean and smooth. Lay fiberglass tape along the seams and paint epoxy on top, filling the pipes with fiberglass. boat5 Once the fiberglass is laid down, paint the entire interior with epoxy to seal the hull. After it hardens, flip the boat over and place both fiberglass and epoxy on the outside seams. boat6 Now it’s time to add any accessories you want. I built an obstacle and a seat, but you can also leave the boat empty. After the epoxy cures, sand it down. Then sanding further. Then sand again for good measure. Read more: How to change the oil for 4-stroke mercury boards boat7 Epoxy glue sticks the rubber sides in, clamping carefully as you move. I used homemade PVC clamps for two reasons. One, they’re cheap and plentiful, and two, epoxy doesn’t stick to the plastic, so they come off easily. boat8 Remove the clamps, install the locking pins and you’re ready to paint.Final product. The interior is covered with a semi-gloss paint, the outside is covered with Duke Blue enamel paint. Rubrails is oak, bresthooks is birch. The divider and seat are old 2 x 4 and some plywood is left over.