The boat is progressing.

Canoe project

I've embarked on a canoe building project.   The design is called a Geodesic airolite.   see http://gaboats.com/ 
Its partly because I am on the lookout for lightweight boat options, but also because its a building design quite different than some I've tried before.

I started with butternut stringers to run the length of the boat.  Its lightweight, strong enough, and I had a board long enough for this project. ( That board came from a tree that fell down in the woods).   I had to steam bend the ribs, so some nice green ash would be nice..... so off to the woods.   I found a stunted tree 6" in diameter that had a nice straight base and not much future in its location.   Turns out it has been struggling to survive for a long time.... it was 80 years old.  

I split the log, ran it through the bandsaw and tablesaw, and two hours from leaving the house to get a tree, I had a pile of 3/8" square pieces ready for the steam box.

With the stringers on the forms and glued to the stems, its time to bend the ribs.

  

The Steam box is just a hotplate, an old pot, a funnel, and a length of PVC pipe.

I needed a lot of little clamps so I cut a whole lot of rings off a scrap 2" pvc, then split the ring and voila....

Now I need to wait a few days for the ribs to dry out a bit before the next stage which is sanding and gluing in the ribs, then removing the forms.  Then   kevlar roving....  I'll explain later.