Building a Glued Lapstrake Rangeley Lake Boat

Page 14: Sand and varnish and sand… and varnish… AND sand… AND varnish…

We got the second coat of varnish on all the bits and pieces (thwarts, seat parts, knees, oarlock pads, etc.), and sanded the interior with 80 and 120 grit. We coated all the interior plank edges with epoxy to limit water penetration into the end grain. It should be cured enough for final sanding tomorrow.

Third coat of varnish on all the small pieces

Here's a photo of all the little bits, starting to shine a bit after three coats of varnish.

Yesterday we coated all the interior plank edges with epoxy, but the cool weather has slowed the cure rate, and it wasn't ready to sand today, as we had planned.

A few days later

Sanding the third coat

We sprayed the interior with coat three of the varnish a few days ago. It has cured hard enough to sand, so this afternoon we'll spray another coat.

Ready for the fourth coat of varnish

The small parts are all sanded, ready for coat five. We'll brush those, since it is much more pleasant to brush varnish than spray it.

Gluing up the oar blanks

The trip to Port Townsend (see page 13) yielded some Sitka Spruce that seems happy to be made into oars. Two pairs are ready for sanding, although we might take a bit more off them with the planes and spokeshaves first.

The spoons are slightly dished

It doesn't show up very well in the photos, but the spoons are slightly dished as well as swept, so the blade is actually spoon shaped. Many "spoon" oars are not, since it is a bit more work that isn't readily done by machine. They will be really nice with a bunch of varnish.

The oars are ready for sanding

The flat blades are not really flat; the cross-section is a slight diamond shape. That makes a good compromise between light weight and strength.

The fourth coat of varnish

The hull has four coats now, and we just finished sanding it all again. We will get the final coat on the interior tomorrow.