wildindigo

Hi Bill! She's beautiful! I just finished the construction of Moccasin 14 hull no. 2. Your process photos on b&b have been very helpful - thank you! I just primed my moccasin a couple days ago so I am getting ready to paint (hopefully this weekend). I'm currently working on a more in depth blog of my moccasin 14 build, but I will post some pictures here till I'm ready to release it to the world wide web. She's ending in at 46 lbs - the extra sheet of fiberglass along the bottom belly plus a keel and an extra coat of epoxy added up quickly. The gunnels are radiata pine, thwarts are old barn cherry + maple and the breasthooks are cedar + maple. I'm a female in my mid 20's and an amateur boat builder for sure. Building this canoe alongside my mentor, Jody, build has been one of the most thrilling endeavors of my life. I'm almost sad to be finished - but that just means maybe I should build more boats! Anyways I have a couple of questions for ya: 1. Are your canoe skirts custom made? Could you point me in the direction to where you bought them? 2. Have you had a second person in the canoe with you? If so, what is your seating arrangement? I made my removable back seat rest from leftover plywood along with little rest support notches glued to the inwales (see attached photo) in the center of the hull (little closer to the stern) - and just using a boat cushion to sit on.. its actually pretty comfy.. but if I do have a passenger in the boat I'm wondering if you have any easy advice. 3. Did you do any fairing? I used west systems fairing compound to smooth out the glass tape on the inside and outside of the hull - afraid that the 2" fiberglass tape seam line would show through paint/varnish and I wanted to give my thickened epoxy radius along the chine a smoother curve. I wanted to varnish the inside but changed my mind thinking you could still see the fiberglass right through. Fairing also made that impossible because it is such a dark color. So I'm painting! And happy with that - yet another extra seal. Your varnish looks incredible on hull no. 4 Thanks again for posting! Following your work intently! - Elizabeth