The thing I love most about skin on frame construction is that it’s an incredible prototyping medium. Once you have the basic concepts, it’s dangerously easy to turn your imagination into reality. A few years ago Uwe in Germany built a few of my Canoes and also my F1 kayak design. After that, a...
"The thing I love most about skin on frame"Continue readingCategory: Student Builds
Paul’s pack canoe
The cool thing about our canoe building system is that it gives you the freedom to modify the shaping for individual preferences. This pack canoe built by Paul in Dubuque Iowa is a little different than anything that I’ve done so far but it seems do you have turned out really nicely so I’ll...
"Paul’s pack canoe"Continue reading
Tanner’s solo canoe
Here’s another great Cape Falcon solo canoe example build by Tanner. Being a powerline technician Tanner had access to old power poles which he milled with a chainsaw for the longitudinal pieces! Living on the Canadian Prairie local wood for the ribs wasn’t really an option so he imported the White Oak, which is...
"Tanner’s solo canoe"Continue reading
Angus’s pair of F2 tandem kayaks
Generally speaking I hate most tandem kayaks, which is why I designed the F2. At 20 feet long 24 1/2 inches wide and 45 pounds, it’s fast, light and maneuvers surprisingly well without a rudder. Over the last year Angus built a pair of these for his family in North Ireland so everyone could...
"Angus’s pair of F2 tandem kayaks"Continue reading
Zach and Aaron’s F1s
Lots of great pictures coming in from students right now. This pair of F1 kayaks were built by Zach and his brother Aaron in Arizona, then they drove them to the Pacific Northwest to paddle in the San Juan islands and also off the Oregon coast! Really nice work on the shaping on these. Getting...
"Zach and Aaron’s F1s"Continue reading
Beautiful solo built by Ruedi in Switzerland
Here’s another beautiful solo built by Ruedi in Switzerland. To my eye it looks just a little bit round on the bottom which could be due to less than optimal bending stock or choosing a different value for the rib length formula then the plans suggest. On the other hand it could also just...
"Beautiful solo built by Ruedi in Switzerland"Continue reading
John’s solo canoe
I want to share this lovely example of our canoe building system, built by John in Virginia. The canoe is 14‘10“ long, and 30” wide, 12.5” deep, with 2” of rocker, and 2” of tumblehome. John is 180 pounds which is about as heavy as I would go before making the canoe 5 inches...
"John’s solo canoe"Continue reading
Stefan’s double-paddle canoe
I want to share a couple pictures of this especially nice Cape Falcon double paddle canoe built by Stefan in Switzerland. The shaping on this one is perfect and I can tell from the pictures on his account that he started with some really nice bending wood. I always encourage anyone considering building a larger...
"Stefan’s double-paddle canoe"Continue reading
Congratuations Lisa on paddling the MR340 in your LPB!
Huge congratulations to my friend and Cape Falcon Kayak builder Lisa who just finished the MR340 in her LPB in 75 hrs with a 7.5mph average speed. She finished 14th in the solo female division! If you’re not familiar with the MR340 it’s a 340 mile long race along in Missouri River across the...
"Congratuations Lisa on paddling the MR340 in your LPB!"Continue reading
Lovely triple nesting canoe build from Joel in Ireland
I want to share this lovely triple nesting Cape Falcon canoe build from Joel in Ireland. Initially Joel contacted me just wanting to build a couple of tandems but I always encourage people to build a smaller solo first to get familiar with the system. He took my advice and later said it really...
"Lovely triple nesting canoe build from Joel in Ireland"Continue reading
Giles’s Nesting Pack Canoes
While my attention is focused elsewhere I thought I would share a couple student builds over the next couple days. You might remember these near-perfect nesting pack canoes built by Giles in New York. I finally got some on the water photos!...
We reached our fundraising goals for the schoolchildren of Tiniteqilaaq!
With all of my heart I want to thank everyone who contributed to our fundraiser to send the kids in the ultra-remote East Greenlandic village of Tiniteqilaaq to the Greenland national kayaking championships this year. We hit our $15,000 fundraising goal last night and transferred the first $10,000 to their kayak club to purchase...
"We reached our fundraising goals for the schoolchildren of Tiniteqilaaq!"Continue reading
We are down to the final week of fundraising for our friends in East Greenland!
We are down to the final week of fundraising for our friends in East Greenland! For those of you who haven’t seen this before, I’ve been working with the school master in the tiny east Greenlandic village of Tiniteqilaaq to help them revive the local kayak building tradition. A settlement of just 96 people,...
"We are down to the final week of fundraising for our friends in East Greenland!"Continue reading
Rory’s tandem canoe
Getting trip reports from people who have built my boats is one of my absolute favorite things. These pictures come from Rory in British Columbia who spent a couple days camping with his wife and daughter this last weekend. Rory’s canoe is 16 1/2 feet long, 36 inches wide, and 13 5/8 inches deep...
"Rory’s tandem canoe"Continue reading
Steam bending Greg’s canoes
I spent yesterday helping a student steam bend the ribs into a couple canoes. Normally I don’t teach in person anymore because of health issues but I do make exceptions for people who also struggle with limitations! Greg here is kind of a bad ass because he can barely see due to macular degeneration...
"Steam bending Greg’s canoes"Continue reading