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 canoes are pretty darn good, I’m still unsure about using our system for full size tandem canoes, and this latest solo convinces me that our system can make a good solo single blade canoe, provided you can find good bending wood for the ribs and can live without tumble home.
The last one of these I made was 13’9” which is tempting because you can build it with 14 foot lumber but the stability and the tracking were both a bit less than I wanted. This canoe at 14‘9“ long but otherwise nearly identical, bumps the tracking and the stability into a perfect sweet spot for me.
With the seat mounted at a height that allows foot clearance beneath to use it as a kneeling thwart, the canoe is still stable enough when I’m sitting up on the seat.
The stability profile is what I like to see in any boat: a bit tender initially for a swift narrow waterline but hardening up enough to catch your balance as it heels over. It’s not a dramatic buoyant edge but it definitely gives enough of feedback so I don’t accidentally cross the point of no return. Of course more stability is possible but you end up paying a performance penalty.
The rocker on this canoe ended up a half inch more than I planned but that’s 100% fine with me because it’s pretty easy to tighten up a loose tracking canoe, and impossible to loosen up a stiff one. More important is that I finally know exactly how much to compensate for gunwale springback and rocker losses in my rib length formula.
The fact that I was able to keep it tracking straight for 2 miles despite the rocker and this being literally only the third time I have ever tried to do a J stroke, means that things will only get better as my skills improve. Stem bands will tighten things up a bit as well. … and I am out of space to write on this post, more tomorrow.
___
This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.
See the original post and discussion here.
