Day 6, Skin-on-frame tandem canoe. Build time: 6hrs.
There is seldom a day in my life where I don’t pay some form of the ‘idiot tax’ fixing boneheaded mistakes that should have been obvious beforehand.
After moving the center thwart reinforcement a very important 1.5 inches sideways, I added a carrying handle to ends by drilling straight across and pounding a 3/4 inch dowel through.
Like so much of what I do this idea came from a student. For me this is the neatest part of being a teacher. It seems like every student has some idea I can add to the system and over the years the boats become the collective product of hundreds of designers and testers.
Finished the frame, made ash rub rails and VHMW wear strips. Not 100% sure I’ll add the wear strips but the process is exactly the same for both so I figured it made sense to just do it. I varnished the ash rub rails because oiled ash can look pretty bad over time if the oil isn’t kept up, and the Le Tonkinois is so easy to work with.
Spent a good chunk of the day filming replacement and update videos for a major course revision next week that focuses on full-size single blade canoes.
Oiled the frame, gonna let it dry for a couple days, then we can skin this baby.
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