Varethane

With the inwales attached, the next step was to apply a coat of urethane.  We used the Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane.  It's designed for marine applications. 

This took considerably longer then we were expecting (about 4 hours for a single coat).  We opted to take our time and put on a thin coat, as we both have an aversion to varnish drips.  We were sure to get all the lashing, underneath the stringers, and pretty much anywhere else.  We started with the frame upside down, worked our way from one end to the other, then flipped the boat and worked back again.

Once the first coat dried, we sanded the inwales.  The outwales were left rough, as they would be covered later on.  It's really difficult to sand everywhere.  The lashing makes this impractical.  With the first coat on dryed, we installed the breast hooks.  We mounted leftover pieces of stringer to the inwale with brass screws.  The screws were predrilled, and we used the below flexshaft on a cordless drill to drive them.

With that done, the breast hooks were sat in place.  Some minor adjustments were made with a rasp to the shape (unlike plywood, the angle of gunwales was not square).  There is a notch cut out near the stem on the front and back to make it easier to drain the boat.  The finished product was ok, but aestically, something about it bugs me.  I think it's that the sharp lines on the edge of the breast hook contrast too much with the rest of the organic lines of the boat.  We may shape this a bit more with our microplanes/dremel.

With the breast hooks done, we decided where the thwarts, yoke, and seats should go.  This was done mostly by looking at pics of other canoes, and actually taking the frame down and sitting in it.  The final layout might yet change.  But before we get to that stuff, we have to install the floor boards.  We gave them a coat of urethane and set them to dry to the right.

Inwale

The next step is to install the inwale.  The inwale give the gunwale a bit more structure.  We cut it to size, then used our microplane to shape the end so it would fit well between the filler and the plywood stem (no pics).

Then we glued the inwale and held it in place with clamps.

Then we used brass canoe nails from the inside.  They were a bit long.  Traditionally the process is called clinching nails.  Basically, the nails are designed to go all the way through, then bend back on themselves creating a staple effect:

https://www.bob-easton.com/blog/2009/534/

With the inwale attached, we trimmed the excess off the ribs.

To smooth out the gunwale, we used a small plane.  There was a little bit of tearout on the far side of some of the ribs, but it was minor.

After the glue dried, we were a little unsure of how well the lashing would hold the entire gunwale on  to the stem, so we decided to put a brass screw in each side.  We carefully drilled a pilot hole, making the port side higher then the stern so our screws didn't collide.  Then very slowly, we put in the screws.  Worked like a charm.

Then we touched it up with an orbital sander.  A few more pics of the final product.

Half Ribs and Filler

While we decided what to do about the filler pieces that were too thick, we went to work on the half ribs and the floor.  The first step was to put the end ribs in.  These start at the stem, and connect to all the stringers and gunwale.  Following the videos, we glued the two ribs in place on the stem.

Once the glue had dried, we drilled and lashed them (insert pic).  

I was skeptical that these short ribs would be able to make such a sever bend without steaming.  In the end, they peeled away from the stem a little, but worked much better than I imaged.  I also considered making a little block to go between the rib and the stem, but once the rib was bent, the angle was very complex so I decided to leave it.

While at the Vancouver Boat Show, I had the chance to take a look at one of the Dream Catcher boats built by Brian Chandler himself.  I was interested in the bow and stern ribs.  He's done them quite differently than in his instructional video as you can see in the pic below.  His are more straight, and ours come up on a curve.  However, I'm sure both styles are fine.

Then it was on to the half ribs.  The point of half ribs is to give the floor a bit more stability.

Here we are with all the half ribs cut and zip tied in place.

We lashed them in place with this new and improved lashing pattern.

T = Top

B = Bottom

L = Left

R = Right

u = Under

o = Over

TL u BL o TL u BR o TL u BR o TR u BR o TL u BL o TR u BL o TR u BR - over to next TL

Now we turn our attention back to the filler bits that sit a bit proud.  We decided that we will belt sand them down until they are flush with the ribs.  In a perfect world, this shouldn't be necessary.  Anyway, at the end of the day, they came out pretty well, and the filler was flush with the ribs.

Filler

So with the stringers all attached to the stems, it is finally time to take the canoe of the strong back, and work on it right way up.

At this point, the ribs are still not attached to the gunwales.

To attach them, we applied glue and staple them.  The staples will eventually be covered by the outwale.  Because there's not a lot of rigidity yet, some of the staples did not go in all the way.  We'll fix that later before we put the outwales on.

With regards to positioning the ribs, we started out measuring on the gunwale, but eventually gave up and just faired them a little bit by eye.  This worked much better.

When all the ribs were attached, the next step was to add the filler pieces in between them.  We started at the end (we haven't determined which is bow and stern yet).  We used the microplane to get the filler to fit into the stems.

We used small spring clamps to hold the filler in place after it was glued.

We continued until all the filler was in.

But when we were done, we noticed a problem.  The filler wood was thicker than the ribs.  This meant that we would have a gap in the gunwale if we left it like this.

Attaching the Stringers to the Stems

With the stringers lashed, the next step is to attach the stringers to the stem.  This is done by trimming the stringers, then pegging and lashing them to the stems.

The first step is to cut all the cable ties except the ones on the last station molds and the ones on the gunwale.

Then, we trim the stringers.  This part didn't go as well as we had hoped.  The video that came with our Dream Catcher supplies shows a method where you trim the stringers to just past the stem, then use a discarded piece of stringer to mark the good stringer.  The problem with this is that the stringers are about 1/2".  So at 1/2", it's a perfect angle, but once you bend it into the stem, the angle is off.  This is (somewhat) easily fixed by using the blade of our microplane to make the fit better.  I'm still trying to think of a better way to do this, maybe using some sort of template that accounts for the change in angle when the stringers get bent.

Another problem that was a minor complication for us was that the stem will move a bit from side to side.  To counter this, I built a little jig to hold it in place.  The jig is just 3/4" ply with a slot cut out just wide enough for the stem.  We screwed it to the underside of the strongback.

After way more sanding, microplaning, etc, we got the stringers to lie reasonably flat against the stem.  Next we cable tied the two opposite stringers together to pull them in tight to the stem.  

We noticed that the top stringers weren't tight enough into the stem, so we used a clamp on them.  Then we drilled holes, being careful to keep the drill parallel to the ground.  Once the first hole was drilled, we applied glue to the peg and inserted it.  It was loose enough that it didn't have to be hammered in.  

We continued to drill and peg all the stringers in.

Once all the stringers are pegged, we lashed them to the stem.

The next step is to flip the canoe, insert the for and aft ribs, and start on the gunwales...

Lashing

The next stage of our canoe is the lashing.  I admin I was skeptical about if it would be strong enough, or if the ribs would move.  I originally though that we might need to do a few more wraps than shown in the instructions, but after we completed one rib, I was convinced.  The lashing holds the ribs in place.  It does allow for minor movements, but I think this is by design.

The method is to start at the keelson and move toward the gunwale.  Then repeat on the other side.

Stringers and ribs

The stringers are 1/2" square.  They go lengthways along the boat.

The stringers are zip tied to the station molds.

The ribs are about 1 1/4" and 1/4" thick.  They are bent and placed outside of the frame to dry.

Our steaming setup is a 3" galvanized pipe about 5' long.  We put it over a kettle and sealed it with a dish cloth.  It did manage to scratch up the kettle quite a bit.  

The steamer took about 20 minutes to fully heat up.  Once hot, the average time was about 5 minutes in the steamer for each rib.  For the two end ribs that have steep bends, we left them in the bender for the whole time (probably half an hour or more).  Typically you can't bend them enough to make contact with the keelson.  In this case, you put a block between the keelson and the rib.  However, our bending was so awesome that the end ribs rest right on the keelson.

The ribs are bent around the outside of the stringer and the ends are tucked in behind the gunwales.  This helps them keep their shape as they dry.  In some instances where the wood wouldn't stay down close to the stringers, we zip tied it.  You can see this in the photo on the two end ribs.  

Once the ribs had a chance to form and dry in place (about 20 minutes or so), we moved them to underneath the stringers where they will ultimately go.  Then we zip tied them in place.  The rest of the ribs on the boat have had this done.