After this morning’s appallingly early 5am rowing test (to catch the right light for video) I think I have the info I need to start on the next generation of outriggers and oars. I’m finding that with the outrigger mounted conveniently at the rear seat hanging block location the boat hunts just a bit....
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Video: Breaking down the canoe rowing rig
Set up, breakdown, and transport matter every bit as much to me as performance on the water. I do everything I can to incorporate deployment efficiency into the design of the boat itself because boats that are quick to deploy are boats that get used more often, plain and simple. I may have unscrewed...
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Video: A quick sail test with the rowing outrigger installed
While I wait to carve the next oar I grabbed an older set and a newer version of my outrigger and brought them down to the dock for some testing on the medium size boat. It was blowing about 12 when we got there so I rowed upwind for 10 minutes and then sailed...
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Video: A rainy evening test paddle
Yesterday evening we said goodbye to our local urban paddling spot, Smith and Bybee Lakes, which will be an unnavigable tangle of weeds by the end of the week, and then a slow transition to dry land until next winter. Nestled between the railroad tracks, the freeway, and adjacent to the airport landing approach,...
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Video: A quick view of our pop up sail rig
Just a quick video of our pop up sail rig. The rig tucks tightly out of the way and doesn’t interfere with normal paddling until you’re ready to deploy it. One hand pops a ball bungee, then a quick tug on the halyard with the other and you’re ready to sail. The sheet can...
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We spent the last couple days building the sail
We spent the last couple days building the sail rigs for the latest canoe set. This simple pop-up sail rig is some thing that I worked very hard designing as a way to take advantage of favorable winds without resorting to the sort of aggravating canoe sail contraptions that usually don’t work very well...
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The perfect board
One of the worst things that you can have in any woodshop is a perfect board. Having bought it in a fit of lust it then sits for years in the corner stoically taunting you with its perfectly straight clear grain that is simply too perfect for any project you happen to be working...
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Video: Just a couple quick clips from the rowing test of the new canoe
Just a couple quick video clips from the rowing test of the new canoe. Here you can see the massive difference in thrust between paddling a canoe and rowing one. Kind of a neat evening on the water, pouring rain, a huge double rainbow and a single flash of lightning and thunder clap. Now...
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A quick report from our test row of the largest canoe
I’m a little short on time to put together a video post today, but I wanted to throw up a quick report from our test row of the largest canoe of the triple nesting set. The short answer here is that this thing had us grinning from ear to ear the second we put...
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Video: Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 10
Drilled for the seat, installed the brass stem bands, and built the prototype rowing outrigger. Details on the outrigger in yesterday‘s post, rowing report tomorrow....
Spent the afternoon making a simple rowing outrigger for the new canoe
Spent the afternoon making a simple rowing outrigger for the new canoe. The geometry on this is actually a bit trickier than you would think to get all the appropriate clearances in all the right places. Like everything I make, I designed this to be simple, inexpensive, easy to build, and easily removable and...
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Video: Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 9
I put four thick coats of two-part polyurethane on the canoe today which took about five hours. I won’t need to do anything else to this until the skin needs to be replaced after about 5000 miles of paddling. When you compare this to the finishing marathons that define every other kind of boat...
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Video: Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 8, continued
Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 8, the sequel: TIME TO DYE! I painted on some fabric dye to make the boat a pretty color. That is all. For those who are interested there are more details about this process in our last full-size canoe photo documentary series a little ways back...
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Video: Largest of the triple nesting canoe set, Day 8
Skinned the canoe this morning as per our usual method. For more information on the size of this canoe you can find that in the first post of the series and for more information on our skinning technique you can find a comprehensive write up in the photo documentary that we did for our...
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Trying to copy a canoe in skin on frame
I just want to take a minute here to share a couple photos of a lovely little tandem canoe that a prospective student sent to me asking if we could rebuild it in skin on frame. Generally I make no promises about being able to match shape or performance, but in this case we...
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