Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 3

Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 3) 4hrs.
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Today I finished and temporarily attached the stems and made what are technically the gunwales, but in skin on frame we use that term for what would technically be the sheer strake, so I usually just end up calling them rub rails.
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I’m always annoyed when I have to stop and make these right before I put the skin on and even more annoyed if I decide to varnish them and then have to pause the process for a few days, so when I update the course I’m going to recommend that people build these at this point in the process rather than later on.
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For canoes longer than 12 feet I’m making these in two pieces these days, because even if you can get 14 to 16 foot length of Oak or Ash it’s unwieldly to deal with the pieces.
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For finish I’m trying Rubio monocoat this time, because oil doesn’t hold up worth a damn, and varnishing these properly seems like a stupid amount of work for what I’m trying to accomplish.
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I’ve been blown away by how well Rubio has held up on the Douglas fir countertops we put in three years ago so I’m eager to see how it works in marine applications. The cool thing about Rubio is that it comes in these little 20 mL bottles you can get for 12 bucks on Amazon, which is exactly enough to do a set of rub rails or to coat a Greenland paddle. I’m using the indoor stuff here but it’s probably a better idea to use the outdoor formulation.
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The only hazard I ran into was while scrubbing the wax vigorously into the grain with a scrubby pad as per the instructions, I dislodged a horrific splinter and was super lucky that it slid perfectly between the scrubby and my skin. Yikes!
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ProTip (that I can’t seem to ever learn): it’s always a bad idea to wrap a rag or sandpaper or a scrubby pad around anything that has a sharp edge and scrub back-and-forth.
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Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 3. Build time: 4hrs.

Today I finished and temporarily attached the stems and made what are technically the gunwales, but in skin on frame we use that term for what would technically be the sheer strake, so I usually just end up calling them rub rails.

I’m always annoyed when I have to stop and make these right before I put the skin on and even more annoyed if I decide to varnish them and then have to pause the process for a few days, so when I update the course I’m going to recommend that people build these at this point in the process rather than later on.

For canoes longer than 12 feet I’m making these in two pieces these days, because even if you can get 14 to 16 foot length of Oak or Ash it’s unwieldly to deal with the pieces.

For finish I’m trying Rubio Monocoat this time, because oil doesn’t hold up worth a damn, and varnishing these properly seems like a stupid amount of work for what I’m trying to accomplish.

I’ve been blown away by how well Rubio has held up on the Douglas fir countertops we put in three years ago so I’m eager to see how it works in marine applications. The cool thing about Rubio is that it comes in these little 20 mL bottles you can get for 12 bucks on Amazon, which is exactly enough to do a set of rub rails or to coat a Greenland paddle. I’m using the indoor stuff here but it’s probably a better idea to use the outdoor formulation.

The only hazard I ran into was while scrubbing the wax vigorously into the grain with a scrubby pad as per the instructions, I dislodged a horrific splinter and was super lucky that it slid perfectly between the scrubby and my skin. Yikes!

ProTip (that I can’t seem to ever learn): it’s always a bad idea to wrap a rag or sandpaper or a scrubby pad around anything that has a sharp edge and scrub back-and-forth.