Congratulations to Jake and Monty who likely just set a record time on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail in a tandem they built from our plans. The trail itself is 740 miles with 23 rivers and streams, 59 lakes and ponds, 45 communities, and 65 portages (totaling 70+ miles). It took them 17 1/2 days, which is even more impressive considering the very low water conditions and the huge amount of dragging they had to do. @dont_call_me_ishmael is posting a daily account of their journey, which is definitely worth checking out.
By the end, they had pretty well shredded the bottom of the boat, as is evidenced by all of the duct tape. This is the result of using roughly half the coating thickness that we recommend for heavy use, and also 700 miles of dragging and crashing into things with a full load in extreme low-water conditions. Just like with fiberglass, it’s important to pair the right layup to the conditions. Fortunately it’s not hard to reskin, So the layup can be adjusted on the next skin.
Aside from the scrapes Jake had good things to say about the overall performance of the boat, which makes me feel really good. Anyways, congratulations again guys, thanks for the feedback and thanks for the great photos. I’m enjoying following the adventures on your account.
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This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.
See the original post and discussion here.
