Final scraps of footage from the recent canoe launch. This one is dedicated to Liz, (the real talent around here) who managed to keep me framed and in focus despite being handicapped by an experimental sailing canoe with no rocker. By request, I’m building her a boat that actually turns this week....
Blog
Video: More first impressions on the latest solo
Yesterday I talked a bit about my first impressions paddling the new skin on frame canoe: swift and stable enough, with a good balance between tracking and turning, but of course that’s just THIS canoe. Ever since I released the canoe building course I find it challenging to answer the common questions because unlike...
"Video: More first impressions on the latest solo"Continue reading
Video: The maiden voyage of the new solo canoe
Here is some footage from the maiden voyage of the new solo canoe. For full details see previous posts. I want to tread lightly discussing canoe performance because even though I designed a canoe building system that doesn’t make me an expert canoe designer. At this point I feel safe saying that our pack...
"Video: The maiden voyage of the new solo canoe"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 9
Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 9. Build time: 1hr. Total build time 43 hours. Materials cost roughly $400. 14’9” long, 30” wide, 12” deep in the center. Weight 32lbs. Frame: western red cedar longitudinals, white oak ribs, ash gunwales, laminated walnut seat from Northstar Canoes. Skin: 9oz nylon with 4 coats of 2...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 9"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 8
Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 8. Build time: 6hrs. Coated the canoe today with two-part polyurethane. It seems like every time I do this I decide at the last minute that the rules don’t apply to me and start off with a double batch, and then spend the next 20 minutes mutttering and...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 8"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 7
Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 7. Build time: 5hrs. Skinned the canoe today and then colored with fabric dye in the afternoon. This time I experimented with mounting the rub rail 1/8 of an inch down on the outside. I figured this would give me a nice little notch to drop my hot...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 7"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 6
Skin on frame solo canoe, day 6. Build time: 2.5 hrs. Did the final cleanup and shaping of various bits of the boat, marked and cut the seat to fit, and oiled the frame. The seat I’m using here is the curved laminated walnut seat from Northstar Canoes. I could build something like this...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 6"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 5
Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 5. Build time: 7hrs Brian, 1.5hrs Liz. Tied the stringers on today with help from Liz. Stringering a boat with lots of ribs and stringers is always a little anxiety provoking because it seems like it’s going to take forever but it’s really just not that bad. It...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 5"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 4, part 2
Skin on frame solo canoe Day 4, continued. The biggest challenge when building open boats with skin on frame techniques is that without a rigid shell the framing members are always trying to spring back into natural curves that may not be desirable for the shape of the boat. One approach is to build...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 4, part 2"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 4, part 1
Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 4. Build time: 7hrs. I’m gonna have to break this one into a couple posts. I started the morning realizing that I had totally screwed up in recording the measurements that form the foundation for my rib length formula. In some ways it’s kind of comical that I...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 4, part 1"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 3
Skin on frame solo canoe, Day 3. Build time: 4hrs. Today I finished and temporarily attached the stems and made what are technically the gunwales, but in skin on frame we use that term for what would technically be the sheer strake, so I usually just end up calling them rub rails. I’m always...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 3"Continue reading
Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 2
Skin on frame solo canoe, day 2. Build time: 6hrs. Started the morning by cleaning up the gunwale lamination and running it through the table saw. It’s always interesting splitting a 15 foot long board with an 8 inch curve in it, but with feather boards and a partner that knows what to do...
"Skin on frame solo canoe build, Day 2"Continue reading
Skin on Frame solo canoe build, Day 1
Skin on Frame solo canoe, Day 1. Build time: 4hrs. Turning my focus away from kayaks for a while, I started work today on a new full-size solo canoe. I’m using the building system that I invented a couple years ago to create pack canoes, which relies on math and measurements rather than building...
"Skin on Frame solo canoe build, Day 1"Continue reading
Video: Test paddle in the new river kayak prototype
I finally had the opportunity a few evenings ago to try the new river kayak design. I decided to load it with a heavy load of camping gear and water for the tests this time because that is the intended use for this particular kayak. (Total load in video is 225lbs) Overall I feel...
"Video: Test paddle in the new river kayak prototype"Continue reading
FYI for my students: Oak supplies are going to be limited
This post is just a quick FYI for my students who follow me here: I went down to the mill today and picked up what I’m told is going to be the last of the bending Oak for an indefinite time period. I managed to get enough wood for about 14 kayaks but I’m...
"FYI for my students: Oak supplies are going to be limited"Continue reading