I've been busy lately.  Continuing from the last post, I put on 4 coats of primer.  After the first coat with a foam brush, I switched to a 2" brush for the remaining 3, alternating up/down and fore/aft strokes.  The primer went on much thicker with the brush, and the weave is finally filled, and the color pretty uniform.  (Looks like I forgot to get a pic with just the primer done - here is one with one gunnel mounted and the other clamped.)

After priming, time to put the keel on.  I unwrapped the keel and gunnels I picked up from Island Falls Canoe last spring.  The keel screws will need to go through the canvas and I was worried about pulling the dacron.  So, I positioned the canoe right side up, put blocks underneath to just flush with the bottom, under a rib, and drilled through the dacron using the existing screw holes as guides.  For the new ribs, I again blocked and drilled through so they are ready also.  No problem drilling  through with a backing - without the backing the dacron was stretching in an uncomfortable way...

I'll note here that Island Falls sent v-washers to protect the ribs from the keel screws.  These were finishing washers originally (you can tell from the size of the indentations) and I went out and got some of these to use instead.  I do not like the idea of countersinking the ribs as much as would be required without the finish washers.  Of course, these will be a bit proud, but the original indentations are a bit deep, so I'll see how far I can sink them when I install the keel.

The stem bands also came in the mean time.  I decided to carve out the tapered portion of the keel so the stem band ends flush with the bottom of the keel (once they get mounted).  Then I positioned the keel evenly fore/aft, and centered and held it on with straps, got under the canoe and tapped a punch through each  rib to mark where I need to pre-drill for the screws.

I put a coat of 50-50 thinned varnish on the sides of the keel and gunnels that will be hidden to protect them from the elements -hopefully.

Then, for unknown reasons (or perhaps just because I did not have the proper caulking yet), I decided to mount the outer gunnels.  It is a bit of a chore getting them flush with the already installed ribs, but a bit of adjusting, and moving from the center to the ends, and it went pretty well at least to the curved ends of the canoe.  For each screw, I positioned and clamped the gunnel, aligning to be as flush as I could with the rib.  Then every other rib (odd ribs, starting at the center thwart rib) I used a punch to position the hole, drilled just through the gunnel with a large drill, drilled through the rib and into the inner gunnel with a smaller drill, countersunk drilled to get the head just below flush, and then put in the 1.5"x8 slotted screw (leaving the slot parallel to the gunnel of course). Interestingly, or perhaps naturally, I managed to hit the old holes on the inner gunnels most of the time.  This all took a much larger toll on my forearms than expected, They are still a bit sore...

This all went fine, right up to the ends  where the canoe curls up quite a bit.  It is certainly nice that Island Falls pre-bent the ends of the gunnels - I'm not sure it could be done if they were not.  Even with the pre-bending, it was hard to the curve of the new gunnel to align with the deck and ribs.  I got as close as I could, and then it came down to sanding and a bit of leveling with a chisel to touch things up after I got the ends rounded.

After getting to the ends, I was left with a bit of a mess to close out.  Clamping across the boat I could get the two sides close, and got screws into the last rib on each side.  The thickness of the stem and planking turns out to be wider than the stem band, so the gunnel cut-out does not close at the bow and stern.  I wound up cutting the gunnels to roughly parallel to the curve of the bow, and hand carved some of the rib white cedar to fill the gap, hopefully enough for the stem band to cover.  Then some sawing off of corners, planing and a lot of sanding to get a rounded shape on both ends.  I think the stem bands should cover this reasonably well, at least good enough for me!

Then some sanding of the new wood, and leveling at the ends to bring the gunnels down to the ribs where needed, and a coat of 50-50 thinned varnish to seal, and voila.

I noticed in prying the ends of the gunnels around, a 'sag' appeared in the dacron at the bow on the port side.  I am not  sure why it came, but ironing (at 5.5 setting) seemed to take it right out, even with the filler and primer.  So far, the dacron remains nice and tight otherwise.

I think that covers most of the latest activities.  Now it is on to installing the keel.  I got the special 3M 5200 caulking to hopefully keep leaks from the keel screws (and then the stem bands when I get to them).  Then on to touching up the primer and painting the hull.

Quite a few more supplies this period...(I'm not sure what has been reported before, but here is a list that goes back a bit...)

Stewart Systems

1 qt Dacron filler (Ekofill)                                 48.00   

dacron cloth 15/ydX7 yds                                 105.00

Dacron glue (not used)                                        12.00

Katz Hardware

Primer (Zinzer 123) 1 qt                                     12.00

3" foam brushes (2)                                               3.00

Island Falls Canoe

25 Keel washers (wrong ones)                               6.25

25 1"x8 screws (keel)                                            6.25

30 oval head 3/4"x4 screws (stem bands)             6.00

100 1.5"x8 screws (gunnels)                                19.00

2 stem bands                                                         50.00

1 Qt Hatteras Off white - Interlux Premium Yacht Enamel     45.00

shipping                                                                34.00

Katz Hartdware

25 brass finish washers (#8)                                   11.25

2" foam brush                                                           1.29

Home Depot

3m 5200 Marine Sealant 100oz                               18.50

NHBragg

3m fine line 218 3/4"x60yds masking tape              20.10    (12.75 + shipping)