Building the Decks

 The decks on the cedar strip canoe are probably the most versatile aspect of the canoe. The decks differ in length, type of wood, coaming, and end design. My decks were made out of white oak so it would compliment the white oak of the gunwales. 20 in. in length by 11 in. at the width by 3/4in. thickness, the dimensions of wood were to big to be made with one piece of wood. I decided to make the decks at the bow and stern the same dimensions to ease the construction process. Also, I decided to make the decks longer so I could hide the rough sanded and glue globs at the stems.  Since the wood was only 6 1/2 in. wide, I cut the wood with a table saw at a diagonal so I would be able to achieve the desired width. After the wood was cut on the table saw it was not perfectly straight, so I planed it flush. At this point, I did not care about cutting off the point at the triangle to fit in to the canoe but more cared about whether the sides were correct. To enable strength with the butt joint, a splice was made and a place for it was cut on the table saw so the two pieces could fit together and combine to make a bigger piece of wood. When the glue dried, I wanted to ensure that they would not break so I drilled a piece of white oak underneath. After the triangle decks were made, a curve on the bottom was cut with a band saw to help with the consistency of the curves of the canoe. After the decks were made, the next step was to install them.