Group #2 Fits Together Their Peace Canoe

Akeem looks on as George leads the group in attaching the sides of the canoe.

Nine members of Group 2 were on hand Saturday, March 14th to construct their canoe into looking like a boat. The group followed the same steps as Group #1 the week before and here is what they had to say:
Keshawn- Today we put together the boat using 5200 glue and drilled together the pieces.We also sanded the support boards for the seats.
MJ- Sanding was fun, we made a mess, while we were smoothing the pieces.
on the other hand Akeem agreed that sanding was messy, but found it to be hard work.
Anthony- It was exciting putting the boats together and sanding the boards. I like drilling the screws into the boat.
Perry- I liked putting the boat together with the screws and glue. There wasn't anything about the day that I didn't like.
Mauricus- We connected the boats and saw how they bend together.
T. Graham- We got to do more than we usually do. I liked it when the boat crackled.
Maurice- I learned something new today. The plane is used like a chisel, it shaved off pieces of wood and made the boat smooth.
Tammy- I had a fun time and am optimistic about the completion of the project.

Group #1 works on piecing together their Peace Canoe
Today the group of 12 participants worked on attaching the sides of the canoe to the bottom piece, so it would take shape. First, task was to put the seats onto the sides of the canoe. This is where our group met with their first challenge: the side of the canoe do not pleasantly fit into each other due to the bending of the wood. Thus, the kids had to work as problem solvers. They learned through trial and error, that they needed to find a way to angle the screws to fit the sides.

The next task the group faced was shortening the legs of the saw horses so that they would be able to work on the boat and be able to look inside it, while atop the saw horse. After our volunteer Greg measured the bottom of the saw horses the kids used the Japanese saw to cut off the necessary length of the legs.

Comments from the day:
Jalyn and Alicia - We put the seats on, screwed them in, and put on the glue, so they would stay.
Jaquan - I also helped put the seats on, glued, and nailed them in.
David- I sawed the legs off the horse so we could see into the boat.
Mekhi and Tariq- We learned how to saw and then helped saw off the legs so that the horses where short and short people can see inside the boats.

The group ended the day by creating designs that will be voted on the next time. The winning design will be painted on the canoe, May 2nd during the Maryland Maritime Heritage Festival.