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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Today is World Mental Health Day
Today is World Mental Health Day, and we’re proud to be supporting The Weight We Carry in their mission to carry canoes to unusual places to raise awareness and funds for mental health treatment centers. We’re sending two canoes to Nepal to support their quest to carry canoes all the way to Everest Base...
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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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Custom built F1 kayak, headed home with its new owner
Custom built F1 kayak, headed home with its new owner....
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!!...
Video: continuous lashings
People often ask me if the continuous lashings I use are vulnerable to breaking. The answer is that in 17 years of doing this I’ve never had one break, but it wouldn’t matter if it did because the coating essentially glues the skin to the frame effectively trapping and isolating each lashing. Nothing wrong...
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Turning yesterday’s houses into tomorrow’s canoes
Turning yesterday’s houses into tomorrow’s canoes... Old growth fir from old Portland homes salvaged by the Rebuilding Center becomes the keel, lower stringers, and rub strips of two lightweight canoes headed to Everest with The Weight We Carry....
Video: Bending in ribs for two full-size solo canoes
Bending in ribs for two full-size solo canoes for The Weight We Carry. Unlike the double-paddle pack canoes I’ve been working on up to this point, these are both longer and wider – meaning taller gunwales, thicker ribs, and more stringers. It’s a good opportunity to check the scalability of the build system I’m...
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Latest batch of the super simple canoe sails
The latest batch of the super simple canoe sails I’m developing. I make these out of a single folded sheet of 4 ounce Dacron. They can be raised or lowered in seconds, tuck neatly out of the way when not in use, and perform surprisingly well....
New canoe catamaran system
The catamaran system for the new canoes is simple, effective, and stores out of the way as floorboards when not in use....
Apparently I’m in league with the devil…
I got my first completely insane Internet religious conspiracy comment! Apparently the thumb touching for finger motion that I make to illustrate grasping a kayak paddle is also secret code for being in league with the devil. (Cue Danzig while imagining Beavis and Butthead headbanging with devil horns handsigns)...