The seats...

Because the project's due date was approaching quickly, I was not able to cane my own seats, like I had wanted to. However I was able to buy pre-made seats. Even though they are made out of ash instead of white oak, the white in the ash provides a nice contrast from the red in the cedar. Now that the yoke and seats were ready to be installed, all I needed to do was to install them.

Building the Yoke

 After the gunwales were smoothed down, the next step was to build the yoke. The yoke differs from a thwart in that the yoke is used to portage the canoe while the thwart is used mainly for a third seat. I wanted to add a yoke to my canoe because I thought it would serve a better purpose. Following the plans from Chris Glad's Yoke Design, I adapted them a bit to what I wanted. Cutting the drawn out design on a band saw, I then sanded them down on a horizontal orbital sander. Then after it was sanded I routed the edges so it would have curved edges, which won't hurt my neck when I portage it, as seen below. When the yoke was finished, the next step was install it and the seats.

Sanding down the Sheer-Line

The next step was to sand down the sheer-line of the canoe. Because of the crude surface where the gunwales and the cedar sides meet, they needed to be plained smooth. First, sanding down the sides with a belt sander, I got a rough smooth sides in which I could then scrap with a cabinet scraper. The flush gunwales's sides could then be sanded down to round them out. Even though this step did not take a very long time it was necessary for the installation of the seats and thwarts.

Installation of the Gunwales

 After the decks were installed, the next step was to install the gunwales. The outwales were installed before the inwales, because I wanted the stainless steel screws facing the inside not the outside. The gunwales extended from stem to stem and after being epoxied on were screwed to the frame with 3/4" screws. The inwales were more difficult to install because they had they had to be cut down because of the decks. After cutting the correct angle with a dremmel (as seen below), the inwale was epoxied and clamped to the sheer-line of the canoe and then screwed in with two 1 1/2" stainless steel screws every scupper. The starboard (right) side was finished first and then the port (left).  The crude sheer-line of the canoe needed to be sanded down flush to ensure a smooth curve.

Installation of the decks

 The next step was to install the decks of the canoe. Because of the moderate recurve of the canoe which is the area exposed to the wind, the longer decks were not conducive to the the canoe's current shape, so i had to cut down the canoe's recurve to fit the deck. After mixing up some epoxy, I put placed it on the place where the decks were going and tried to screw them in with brass screws. Yet, because of the strength of the white oak, I had to use steel screws. The decks had to be installed first, before the gunwales, which was the next piece to be installed.

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.

Building the Gunwales Part II

 The second step of building the inwale was to make the scuppers. The scuppers are helpful in to ways: they enable the water to drain out of the canoe when flipped over and they allow gear to be tied down. Scupper lengths vary from an inch to multiple inches. My scuppers were 3 1/2" long and were spaced 3 1/2" away from each other. The scuppers were not only cut on the chop saw but also routed to give them a curved edge, which would complement the whole curviness of the canoe. They were then glued onto the inwale outer strip at the correct spacing and then clamped down with multiple binder clips from Staples. After the glue dried, it was  sanded with a belt sander to ensure a smooth surface. Then finally the next step was to build the deck.