Out in the Columbia Gorge to test the new canoe design in all sorts of wind and wave conditions. Unfortunately today’s conditions are good for little more than glamour shots!...
Category: 66 Canoe
Video: Light winds, sailing the newest canoe
I rescued this little red sprit sail from the dump ten years ago and finally got around to making a quick and dirty set of spars for it yesterday. A fun toy for very light winds and exciting in a gust! ___ This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed. See the original...
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Developing the canoe plans
We post occasionally about shooting video, but the other half of our online instruction is the plan sets. Liz has been translating sketches and notes into diagrams and documentation as we head into the final stretch before we release the canoe designs. Rather than a traditional set of boat plans, the plan set accompanying...
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My latest cockpit arrangement for the new canoes
Pictured above is my latest cockpit arrangement for the new canoes. 4 inch diameter pool noodles lashed to either side makes this canoe self dumping when turned on its side in a rescue scenario. The Thermarest RidgeRest pad becomes a $20 seat that can be folded or moved in lots of different configurations but...
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Canoe fitting
Canoe fitting. Tom is going to be carrying this canoe for 33 days, climbing over 125 miles to an altitude over 17,000 ft, so trying the canoe on for size seemed like a good idea. When I heard about what Tom and Kyle of The Weight We Carry are doing – carrying canoes to...
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14’ full size solo canoe with an 11′ double-paddle canoe
14’ full size solo canoe with an 11' double-paddle pack canoe. 29lbs and 17lbs respectively. We're packing up the 14 footer and its nesting sister canoe this week to send to Nepal with The Weight We Carry, where they'll be portaged to Everest base camp....
Five canoes, one van.
Five canoes, one van. Earlier in the day it was seven. So happy with how nesting these has worked out for transport and storage....
All ten canoe prototypes on the beach
As an early celebration of the upcoming canoe plan and video release, we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and took all ten prototypes down to the river for a group paddle. Now it's head down for a few weeks of video and plan edits to get these launched....
Anybody can make something that’s pretty and curvy looking, but how does it perform?
Anybody can make something that’s pretty and curvy looking but my passion is focused on how it performs in the water. When it comes to understanding something there is simply no substitute for experience. This is the 12th canoe I’ve built since May. It’s built with white oak ribs, red cedar gunwales and upper...
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Video: Trimming the fabric
Trimming the fabric. The sound on this one is kinda neat!...
Skinning day
Skinning day is such a beautiful part of the skin on frame process. So many gorgeous visuals....
Allowing for height and angle adjustability in canoe seats
One of the cool things about these new skin on frame canoe designs that I’ve been working on is that the solid laminated gunwales provide a beefy enough surface to hang seats the same way you would in any canoe. This allows for the same kind of height and angle adjustability that you normally...
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Latest full-size single blade canoes
The canoe evolution continues with the latest full-size single blade canoes. Pictured is a 14’ long 29lb full size canoe next to an 11’ long 17lb pack canoe. Check out the YouTube channel for the latest video on the design evolution of these boats. Closing in on having plans and instructional videos ready for...
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Coating the skin
Coating the skin. I use a 9oz ballistic nylon skin on most of my boats, coated with a 2-part polyurethane - aka "goop". It takes a few hours to apply a few coats of goop, cures for 24 - 48 hours, and done....
There’s no substitute for repetition…
If you’re trying to design something truly good there’s no substitute for repetition, but with 11 canoes built in the last 4 months, one more starting tomorrow, and two more scheduled for the end of October..... I’m running out of room at the house!!...