I just want to take a minute here to share a couple photos of a lovely little tandem canoe that a prospective student sent to me asking if we could rebuild it in skin on frame. Generally I make no promises about being able to match shape or performance, but in this case we might just be able to nail it.
This little canvas canoe is such an interesting specimen to me, it’s 14 feet long on deck, 14 foot eight overall, and 32 1/2 inches wide, 34 to the outside of the gunwales.
Although the owner paddles it solo facing backwards from the bow seat I think it’s really interesting that this is set up as a tandem. I didn’t think that you could go this short or this narrow and still be able to sit that high with two people.
Being an older canoe this boat is also quite soft in the bilge which means that we should have no problem matching the shape.
The owner has been paddling this canoe for over 30 years, but getting a bit older is hoping for something a bit less heavy. I’ll be really curious to see how he feels about a skin on frame version compared to the original. I imagine that just the difference in weight will change the performance somewhat.
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This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.
See the original post and discussion here.
