Flipping the canoe

I flipped the canoe over, and inspected the misalignment problem. It's easy enough to fix. My idea was to fill the depressions (4 of them) under the tape with epoxy/wood flour putty. fmiles on the forum suggested using strips of plywood bedded in putty as a filler less expensive than straight putty. I laid a strip of scrap plywood by the deepest spot, but it was too thick. But it was a great idea.

When I was butt splicing the panels together, I coated the bottom panels with leftover epoxy, so as not to waste it. These panels have little bend, so it didn't affect anything. But because it has cured, I have to sand for adhesion of the next layer.



I sanded quite a while, mostly smoothing down putty that squeezed through the joint from the inside. The putty spots are hard, jagged sandpaper-shredders. I prefer hand sanding: there is just something relaxing about it that quietens the mind and puts everything in perspective. I think I look forward to fairing. You can see in the picture how the 60 grit sandpaper has scratched up the smooth epoxy surface.

I spread epoxy putty in the depressed areas, as wide as the tape will cover. The idea was to build up the area under the tape level, and let fairing putty fill the space in between. 12 ounces of epoxy putty took care of the problem.

Unfortunately, in one area I took care of the problem too well. I built it a bout 1/32 inch too high. That would be a problem in fairing, and I certainly didn't want to sand through fiberglass tape. I knew this stuff is hard, but it hard to realize just how hard. 45 minutes of hard sanding by hand, with 3 paper changes, and I had it level. The high area was only about 6 square inches.

This is the result: