66 Canoe | Cape Falcon Kayak

Video: More first impressions on the latest solo

April 2020September 2022Leave a comment

Yesterday I talked a bit about my first impressions paddling the new skin on frame canoe: swift and stable enough, with a good balance between tracking and turning, but of course that’s just THIS canoe. Ever since I released the canoe building course I find it challenging to answer the common questions because unlike...

Video: The maiden voyage of the new solo canoe

April 2020September 2022Leave a comment

Here is some footage from the maiden voyage of the new solo canoe. For full details see previous posts. I want to tread lightly discussing canoe performance because even though I designed a canoe building system that doesn’t make me an expert canoe designer. At this point I feel safe saying that our pack...

Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 9

April 2020September 2022Leave a comment

Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 9. Build time: 1hr. Total build time 43 hours. Materials cost roughly $400. 14’9” long, 30” wide, 12” deep in the center. Weight 32lbs. Frame: western red cedar longitudinals, white oak ribs, ash gunwales, laminated walnut seat from Northstar Canoes. Skin: 9oz nylon with 4 coats of 2...

Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 8

April 2020September 2022Leave a comment

Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 8. Build time: 6hrs. Coated the canoe today with two-part polyurethane. It seems like every time I do this I decide at the last minute that the rules don’t apply to me and start off with a double batch, and then spend the next 20 minutes mutttering and...

Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 7

April 2020July 2023Leave a comment

Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 7. Build time: 5hrs. Skinned the canoe today and then colored with fabric dye in the afternoon. This time I experimented with mounting the rub rail 1/8 of an inch down on the outside. I figured this would give me a nice little notch to drop my hot...

Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 6

April 2020September 2022Leave a comment

Skin on frame solo canoe, day 6. Build time: 2.5 hrs. Did the final cleanup and shaping of various bits of the boat, marked and cut the seat to fit, and oiled the frame. The seat I’m using here is the curved laminated walnut seat from Northstar Canoes. I could build something like this...

Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 5

April 2020September 2022Leave a comment

Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 5. Build time: 7hrs Brian, 1.5hrs Liz. Tied the stringers on today with help from Liz. Stringering a boat with lots of ribs and stringers is always a little anxiety provoking because it seems like it’s going to take forever but it’s really just not that bad. It...

Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 4, part 2

April 2020July 2023Leave a comment

Skin on frame solo canoe Day 4, continued. The biggest challenge when building open boats with skin on frame techniques is that without a rigid shell the framing members are always trying to spring back into natural curves that may not be desirable for the shape of the boat. One approach is to build...

Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 3

April 2020September 2022Leave a comment

Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 3. Build time: 4hrs. Today I finished and temporarily attached the stems and made what are technically the gunwales, but in skin on frame we use that term for what would technically be the sheer strake, so I usually just end up calling them rub rails. I’m always...

Tools and worksheets from the Cape Falcon Kayak canoe building plans

Skin on Frame solo canoe build, Day 1

April 2020July 2023Leave a comment

Skin on Frame solo canoe, Day 1. Build time: 4hrs. Turning my focus away from kayaks for a while, I started work today on a new full-size solo canoe. I’m using the building system that I invented a couple years ago to create pack canoes, which relies on math and measurements rather than building...

Richard’s canoe, ribbed with kild-dried oak

February 2020September 2022Leave a comment

One of the downsides of my canoe building system is that it requires really good bending wood, or does it? One of my students just sent me this picture of a pack canoe that he just finished ribbing with kiln dried white oak. He wrote the following: “Hey Brian, Just wanted to let you...

Prototype canoes for sale (Update: SOLD)

September 2019September 2022Leave a comment

This is just a quick heads up that I’m selling this year’s prototype canoes to make room for the next versions. UPDATE: These canoes are sold. Like all my prototypes these are priced just a couple hundred dollars more than the cost of materials. The solo is 14’ x 30” x 12” and weighs...

Seeing the first student-built canoes hit the water

June 2019July 2023Leave a comment

After spending all of 2018 designing a new type of skin-on-frame canoe building system, it’s very cool to see the first on the water photos showing up. My usual process for designing a class of boats is to work on it in my shop for about five years then release plans. It seems like...

It’s kind of painful how little time I get to spend with a boat before I start hacking into it with modifications

April 2019September 2022Leave a comment

It’s kind of painful how little time I get to spend with a boat before I start hacking into it with modifications. Trying to find the right seat heights and position in the tandem right now. Also switching to 3/16 bolts and cup washers (always the plan). Moved the bow and stern seat back...

Efficiency, lightness, beauty, and simplicity

April 2019September 2022Leave a comment

Efficiency, lightness, beauty, and simplicity are the life themes I aspire to. I hope someday to be able to sculpt my mind and my heart to the same perfection as a canoe, or a single speed bicycle. ___ This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed. See the original post and discussion here....