Day 14, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer. Build time: 5 hrs. Started the day with the boat on the sidewalk and stuffed rolled up beach towels under the sides to get it firmly level. Dropped in the mast step and clamped on the partners and raised the mast. I always leave the two feet above the partners...
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Day 13, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer
Day 13, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer. Build time: 4 hrs Hauled the boat outside for some backyard row testing. I’m trying to set the mast partners so they will do dual duty as a backrest. It’s tricky because you don’t want to be whacking into them in normal row mode but you do want it to...
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Day 12. Skin-on-frame rower-sailer
Day 12, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer. Build time: 7hrs. Made the decision to move the seats, and made relatively quick work of modifying the seating and relocating the risers. Center seat shifted 5 inches aft, stern seat 10 inches aft, very close to my original plan. Feet now land on the subsequent thwart, as it should...
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Day 11, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer
Day 11, Skin-on-frame rower-sailer. Build time: 7hrs. Spent the better part of the morning massacring otherwise innocent lumber in my indecisiveness about how I wanted to make the spars. I ultimately decided that Doug Fir was going to be too heavy, (after cutting it) so I took a deep breath and turned an absolutely...
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Day 1: Skin-on-frame rower-sailer
This week I’m taking a wild stab at putting together a little rowing/sailing canoe using the fast easy system that I developed last year for building pack canoes. My hope is to eventually develop a nice little rower that is a lot easier to build than my beloved skin-on-frame Adirondack Guide boats. This boat...
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On YouTube: a visual walkthrough of the entire process of building a skin on frame canoe
New video up on the YouTube channel: a visual walkthrough of the entire process of building a skin on frame canoe, from selecting the wood to paddling the boat. ...
Video: Ghosting along at 2 mph on a mostly windless day
Ghosting along at 2 mph on a mostly windless day.......
Various sailing bits and bobbles
Various sailing bits and bobbles for my adventures with more canvas than is advisable in such a tiny 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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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....
Video: St. Johns sail test with the latest pair of canoes
St. John’s sail test with the latest pair of canoes. Just finished filming a tutorial on building interchangeable canoe/kayak sails - look for that and a new canoe design video update soon....
Sailing through Portland
Sailing through Portland. The super-minimalist sail rig is working great on the canoes, and I plan to make it easily interchangeable with my kayaks. Working on releasing a sail making video and simple plans later this month....
Two-canoe catamaran with sail rig
Two-canoe catamaran with sail rig. I’ve made some adjustments that make for a much stronger and more versatile catamaran system to tie two canoes together quickly. Dropping a new video update on the canoe design progress this week, covering this and other modifications. As always, lots in the works, but it’s good to be...
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So much in the production queue right now
So much in the production queue right now: just posted two more updates on the canoes to YouTube this week, including the sail test, with three more videos in the works including a walkthrough of this Greenland boat and a guide to kayak camping. And prepping for canoe build round 2....
Wrapping up sail testing on the canoes
Wrapping up sail testing on the canoes - trying four different size sails that can easily be changed out on the water. Sail report and some on the water footage will be on the YouTube channel this week!...