Since the last blog post, Jay had a few more tasks to finish. He had to screw the gunwales together through the hull and he plugged up the counterbores. A final sanding before the epoxy work on the gunwales. After that it was just a waiting game of varnish and wait. He said that for every layer which only takes 20 minutes he will have to wait 24 hours for it to dry. He has finished the seat webbing as well.
I asked him if he had to sand between coats. He replied, "Not necessarily. I did after the first coat. I did not between coats 2 and 3". The following are reasons for sanding:
1. If you have a long time (@36+ hours) between coats. No chemical bonding.
2. If you have a bug or some other blemish to sand out that happened in the previous coat.
3. To knock down high points. Not so much of a problem when varnishing over epoxy since the wood is sealed and has been sanded after the epoxy coat.
4. I always do it prior to the final coat.
Jay sent me a message that after nine coats he is finally done with the varnish! I can pick her up!
Here is the finished canoe, picked up today from Jay and Ann's home. Thank you both for putting up with the canoe in your garage all these months. And Jay, I can't thank you enough. My canoe will give me many more years of adventures thanks to your hard work.
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