Advice from Ted to a builder in Greece

Nice to hear about your canoe building plans - you sound very determined so I know you will end up with a canoe we will all be proud of.  The small village in northern Greece caught my attention. If I was able to travel I would entertain the fantasy of giving you a hand with the layup. We live in Westport ON, a small village on the Trent canal between Ottawa and Kingston. I have lived in the city but a village suits me just fine. 

Since this is your first canoe, something more than a 'yes' to the question of using 1 meter wide cloth could be helpful.

Choice of design. I gather that you are looking at building the 'Bob's Special'. It is a good model and was a fisherman's favorite because the low bow/stern made it easy to work their line around the ends of the canoe. That said, the tumblehome on the sides complicates planking (hard to keep the first few planks tight to the mold) and is tricky to get the glass to follow the recurve. If you are set on that model, I am sure you can do it but it would not be my first choice. Suggest looking at the 15' Ranger - similar size and displacement, easier to build and to my eye, a cleaner more Canadian look.

Planking material. Western red cedar is very Canadian and that might be important to you. On the other hand, something from Greece could be worth considering. Is there an attractive softwood available that comes in at about 25lbs/cubic foot? 

Using 1 meter wide cloth. No problem but not as convenient to use as 60". The 60" cloth is simply draped over the hull and will stay in place as you apply the epoxy resin. The 1 meter wide cloth will be overlapped about 1" down the centerline. The trick is to keep the edge of the cloth on the centerline without sliding off. My suggestion would be to apply some resin down the centerline as an anchor and stick the cloth into it. An extra pair of hands would be useful in getting the cloth lined up. Begin applying the resin in the middle of the hull and work out to the ends. If you begin applying the resin at the end, you will end up with extra cloth with no place to work it into. See Canoecraft for details on squeeging. When you squeegee the centerline, be careful not to tangle the fibers at the edge of the cloth. If they are bunched up, the cloth on the other side will not lay down and will trap air under it. 

Apply the cloth on the other side while the resin on the first side is still sticky and wet out and squeegee as you did the first side. That is all there is to it. When the epoxy has cured, carefully feather the overlapping glass and finish with two more coats of resin as described in Canoecraft. 

Note on buying epoxy and glass. Make sure they are compatible - all glass is not compatible with epoxy. 

I hope this will get you started. If you come up with other questions, feel free to get in touch. During 50 years of building, many problems have come up but there has always been a way of faking an appropriate solution.

Regards,

Ted