Taping the joints outside

My goal for this session of work is to tape the outside joints with fiberglass and do as much of the epoxy work as possible wet on wet.  I probably didn't say so earlier in this blog, but my real purpose in building this canoe is to learn for building a bigger boat.  Having a canoe at the end is a fringe benefit.

Yesterday I prepared for today's work.  I sanded the outside so that all of the epoxy was scuffed and new epoxy would adhere.  I rounded the joints outside to about a 1/2" radius with a belt sander.  After rounding the edges, I noticed several holes in the core of a couple of panels.

I had seen few voids from the cut edges, so I investigated closely.  I discovered tht I could push my thumb nail throught the veneer at these holes, across the panel, all of the way to the other edge.  I have to fill these to prevent rotting, so I got out the Dremel and looked for discolored lines or snall voids at the edges.  I routed through the veneer and first layer of the core.  I will fill the slots with epoxy putty, and cover with fiberglass tape to replace the lost strength.

Last, I laid out and cut the fiberglass tape.  Each piece was rolled like a scroll from each end to the middle, to make it easier to lay out, just line up in the center, and roll.  I laid them out, labeled.

I started early doing the outside joints.   The steps - prime the wood, fill the joints to make them smooth, and apply fiberglass tape.  Priming the wood is easy enough.  I used a foam roller.

I let the epoxy cure nearly an hour, then I mixed putty and filled in all gaps in the joints and all of the slots I cut to expose the voids.  As soon as I finished puttying, I began taping.  I taped the bow and stern (Which is which?), then all four chines.  I used  the scrap tape at the bow and stern between the chines to make fairing easier by providing a constant number of tape layers.  I also used a little woven tape to strengthen the slots cut over the core gaps in the plywood, since the plywood was only one layer thick at those spots.

I let the tape cure awhile, until it set.  Since I had time, I went ahead and filled in the weave of the biax tape with a thick wood flour/epoxy slurry.  It was closer to putty on the vertical surfaces.

Working wet on wet is definitely the right way to do this.  There is no sanding between steps, and that saves a lot of time.

Below, the canoe is all taped.