Finish up!

Time to put the finishing touches on My Busted Foot. This Pirogue is shaping up to be seaworthy - or at least swampworthy. Here's how I wrapped up this project:

Back of the boat got an industrial carry handle and mooring rope tucked into the hatch

My youngest was ready to go full pirate

Front of the boat also got a carry handle and mooring rope into the hatch

Happy boatbuilder!

Taped up and blue paint is on!

It did take 3 coats of that blue paint to cover all of the white paint

Gave the bottom another coat of white anyway

From the rear

It is finished!

So the finishing touches, as it was, included paint, rope, and carry handles. The finished weight is around 70 lbs. It wrapped up nice and clean, and all that's left now is a water test!

This has turned out to be one of the most fun and interesting woodworking projects I've ever done! I am hooked now. Already planning the next one.

The Flip

Well now on the Piragua we've got the bottom finished with a few layers of epoxy and fiberglass. So it's time to flip the boat right side up and work on the inside a bit. I needed to thicken the epoxy with sawdust and attack the inside of the bottom joints & seams. Then finish off the woodworking for the top and get it ready to paint.

The top front and back, with hatch holes and covers cut out

Tops cut out with a glued up bottom

The lovely wife admiring my handywork

The garden with the boat/strongback on the left

Right side up, notice the gunwale on the right separated from the top side

Happy boatbuilder

After I got a few coats of thickened epoxy on the inside I flipped it back over to start painting. Finishing was going to be an interesting part of the process.

I'm also painting the strongback

2 coats of white all around

it looks good painted!

Then after the bottom and sides got initially painted (2 coats), I flipped it right side up again to finish off the top & inside.

Attached the tops & hatch covers

Looks like the woodworking is done

Closeup of the front

Closeup of the back

Got a coat of white

Finished painting the strongback too

looking sharp!

It took almost an entire gallon of white paint to get it this far. I wanted to paint the strongback too so I can store it outside. Just using a regular white exterior housepaint here.

Really ready to see this guy wrap up and get in the water. Think it will float?

A sticky situation

My first attempt at using epoxy and fiberglass tape wasn't exactly smooth. It's really sticky stuff! My local woodworking store only had the large size left in stock for the type of glue I was looking for, so I dropped the $70. I should have just ordered something else online.

I didn't want to drop the cash on fiberglass cloth for such a small, strange boat, so I decided just to tape the seams Epoxy + tape on the seams is supposed to waterproof the joints for the bottom so that should be all it takes. I ordered the tape online, plus some supplies like mixing cups and before I know it I was getting sticky.

The technique was to apply epoxy with a brush, then force the tape into the wet parts. Then add more epoxy until the product had turned the tape clear. This LiquidWood stuff is supposed to fill and seal, and I didn't know how it was going to act. Maybe the joints weren't tight enough? Maybe it did work after all.

cut and glue

All the tape & epoxy is on the bottom seams! First coat is done.

Closeup of the stern, lots of overlapping

Closeup of the transom

Turns out I had a cure problem. The first set of those pictures were taken on 5/5/2017, and the last two closeups were taken on 5/13. This product is supposed to take 12 hours to cure hard, but after a week it was still sticky in places. I went ahead and put on the second coat of epoxy anyway. I have no idea what to do about those bubbles you can see in the bottom pic. I thought they would fill in with epoxy but it just didn't. strange.

Eventually I did figure out the solution. Sawdust. I thickened the epoxy with sawdust when I filled the inside of the same joints. It cured fine, and got pretty hard. Also filled the joints really well too. I went back and rubbed sawdust into the sticky parts that were taking a long time to cure on the outside too, and it worked great. The next day everything was smooth and ready to paint!