A reproduction of a Kildonan "Timber Cruiser" that I built 6 years ago is in for a little TLC. This canoe gets used regularly and on last years trips is hit some rocks pretty hard. I am happy to report that all that happened is some broken planking! Still, the owners wanted it dealt with, so the still in excellent condition canvas had to come off and a re-canvas is part of the repair work. 

 By the way, this is the canoe that is in the banner of the web forum "My Canadian Canoe Routes".   An interesting story about this, I was looking at the forum one day and the canoe in the banner caught my eye.  "Nice canoe" I say to myself.  Then something about it jogged my memory, there was something familiar about it.  "Looks a lot like how I'd build a canoe." I say to myself.  Then I look closer.  "Hey!" I say to myself, "That IS a canoe that I built myself!"  I followed up with the MYCCR forum staff.  It seems that they were unaware that the web designers had simply lifted the canoe photo from this website and had used it without permission nor credit.  I was simultaneously peeved to be ignored yet glad to be recognized, albeit anonymously.

http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some info to add due to my website being down, my offerings of new canoe models:

Esprit:  13' length, 28" beam, 2.5" rocker.  This is a dedicated Freestyle canoe for smaller paddlers.

Red Fox: 14' length, 30 beam, 1.5" rocker.  A direct copy of an old Chestnut Fox (before they got fat!). This is a great all-round solo canoe and is one of my most popular canoes.

Swift Fox:  Same as the Red Fox but the stems are pulled out 6" at each end to make a finer entry/exit line and a 15' LOA

Pleasure: 16' length, 34" beam, 1.5" rocker, 12" center depth.  A great canoe for casual use, especially at the cottage.

Cruiser: Same as the Pleasure, but built 2" deeper.  The depth is the only limiter of the Pleasure for more ambitious excursions, and this is addressed with the Cruiser.  This particular example has a center seat added for solo paddling comfort.

Boreal:  16' length, 36" beam, 3" rocker, 15" center depth.  This canoe is my other most popular canoe.  If I had to have only one canoe, ever, this would be it as it matches perfectly my paddling interests.  This canoe is very capable in all kinds of water and can carry as much gear as you need.  During the summer of 2010 a Boreal was taken on a 60 day trip from northern Saskatchewan to Baker Lake, Nunavut, and was described as the best canoe on the trip.  Good for trips, or day paddled empty if you don't mind paying attention to your course corrections, and makes a great "Style" solo paddling canoe.

Kildonan "Timber Cruiser": 17'6" length, 39" beam (flared sides), 17" center depth.  The dimensions of this canoe would imply a real pig of a boat, but in reality it is a fine lined, easy paddling canoe.  The width comes from the combination of the flared sides and the depth.  This canoe can take a LOT of gear and still paddle well.

Legacy: 17'6" length, 36" beam, 1.5" rocker.  A variation of the Maine guide Canoe patterened after the 18'6" E.M. White guide canoe, just shorter, deeper, and with some rocker.


NRC "Northern Racing Canoe":  18'6", 36" beam, 20" center depth, "Y" stern, and built off of the Legacy mold.  These canoes are custom built for a series of races that are popular in northern Manitoba, especially in the communities of Cross Lake and Norway House.  The bow crew rows and the stern paddles, and the crew switch places during the race.  Many races are 30km per day for 3 days.  I have learned through my research that other races are set up this way, too.  The Adirondack boats are often raced this way, and there is a version in Finland called the "Shift Boat", raced the same way.

Its been an international week here at the canoe shop in Lorette.

First, Anders just returned from Sweden to pick up his canoe. His Boreal has been ready for over a year, but he's had to tend to family matters back in Sweden. He arrived with three of his friends, also from Sweden, and the will be joined by 6 more Swedes for a 10 week canoe trip from northern Saskatchewan to Baker Lake, Northwest Territories.

I sell canoe plans, and the most popular plans are for the Red Fox and the Elan solo canoes. The Red Fox is an old Chestnut canoe design called the Fox and the Elan is one of my own Free Style canoe designs.

Every now and then I get some reports back from home builders. Here is one of them from Australia. He didn't write much but he did send a photo.

And a video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaIx16cI4cM

The seats on the new Boreal canoe will be hand caned. This requires that a series of holes be drilled around the seat frame. 1/4" holes on a 3/4" centers. Each hole, on each face, requires a small camfer to relieve the corner to not stress the cane strand.

I've seen a lot of old seats with failed glue joints, so I always use epoxy along with the two dowels. You'll notice that one of the pieces is wider than the others. The front of each seat is 2" wide so that I can put a bevel on it, making it more comfortable to the paddler.

And, of course, the gunnels. To the casual eye they are just a couple of long sticks, but there is a lot of work in them. Cutting the wood, milling it to dimension, rabbeting the back to sit over the planking, rounding over the corners, pre-varnishing the back sides, sanding the bottom. And that's all before they get put on the canoe!

Now that the stems are closed in and the decks installed, I have install some cant ribs. Cant ribs are required to support the planking in the very ends of the canoe where it is not possible to actually bend them. They are not bent over the stem but are half ribs, and are fitted into the space. Boiling hot water coaxes them into shape.

Once the planking is fastened to these cant ribs, then the tops need a little extra fitting. The outer gunnel needs meet the inner gunnel at the very end. If all the ribs are full width, then the outer gunnel has a very hard time being brought close enough to the inner. What to do? Well, the inside face of the last three ribs needs to be shaped so that each rib is tapered. It's one of those things that is harder to explain than to do...once you know how to do it.


Here you can see the line for the taper on the very last cant rib.

Here is the canoe at the end of Monday afternoon. I'm hoping to have it all closed in and first coat of varnish on Tomorrow. I only have tomorrow left to work on it this week. It's Spring Break for the kids in school, I have to take some time off to spend with them this week.


For anyone wondering, "Gee, how is he coming along with those charming little Torres SE117s?" Well, I am just about finished doing the binding. I have the back on just one left to do. The binding has to be one of the most time consuming and challenging bits of woodworking in building a guitar because of all the prominent joinery. After this, the progress will all be much more obvious. I can only get so much work done on these guitar in one day. After all, this is supposed to be a canoe shop, and I've got this canoe to build!

A friend and neighbour has dropped by today to learn some things about planking a canoe. He is preparing to build a Red Fox for himself. From time to time I rent out a canoe mold, in this case, I traded the canoe rental for a Besler 4 x 5 photo enlarger. I am pleased with the deal!

Prior to installation, the planking needs to be pre-sanded on the inside face. This make a nicer varnish job. running the dust collector on the sander takes the dust away so well that a dust mask in not needed. The sander being used is just "ok", not even good enough for capital letters! I could really use a more substantial unit.


Here is the result of an afternoon's worth of planking effort.

After the ribs dry out, it's time to fair them all. The process of bending them around what is essentially a cone shape, results in a number of small irregularities of the outer faces. These all need to be evened out for the planking to run smooth. Customers don't seem to like bumpy boats.

I used to use commercial long sanding blocks, but was never satisfied with their performance. Now I use a 6" wide belt sander, coarse grit, belt with a piece of Styrofoam shaped to fit tightly inside. Rub this over the ribs and they get nice and smooth.

Prior to planking, I'll need to apply some boiled linseed oil to the rib faces.

Every canoe gets a serial number stamped into the stem. My particular numbering system is: model, sequence, year. My Boreal model is the third 16' canoe that I have come to offer, so it is 163. This is the 5th canoe built from this mold, and it is being built in 2009. Therefore, the number is 163 5 2009.


The stems are milled to finish width, a bevel is cut along the leading edge, a tenon is cut at the tip where the gunnels come in, and notches are prepared where the ribs get bent.

Here, after soaking for about half an hour, the ribs are placed into the rack for the steambox. It is important that they are all placed in correct sequence because there is no time to be thinking and wondering about what you are doing as you pull hot ribs out of the clouds of steam that emerge from the steambox.

It becomes evident why the stem has the notches cut.

All done bending ribs! This is the most exciting stage of canoe building. It feels like alchemy using heat, water, steam. Bending wood can feel like magic. Once the ribs have dried out, Its time to fair all the outer surfaces and treat the cedar with linseed oil prior to planking.

Building new canoes are an exciting time in the shop. A new Boreal is about to take shape. First step is to make all the parts. Here are the blank ribs, milled to 5/16" thick by 2 1/4" wide.

Each rib is tapered in width at each end using a jig that rides in the channel. I used to cut a bunch of ribs all at once, but it's easier to control doing just one at a time.

Shortly, I will be using this steambox for bending the wood. This is the best steam generator and steam box that I have had so far. There is a water reservoir that feeds directly to the generator, which is a steel cylinder with two electric hot water tank elements inside. As the water evaporates into steam, it is replaced with water from the reservoir.

Air dried Ash is bent for the stems.

Here is the mold, ready to be set up for building. Today, I got as far as preparing the gunnels, ribs, stems, and bringing the mold down and into the shop. I'm planning on bending the ribs on Thursday. I could probably do it tomorrow, but I have arranged for extra hands that can only come Thursday.

Here is a shot of what the gunnels can look like before sanding. Actually, I just started cleaning off the old paint. This gunnel goes on the 100 year old Chestnut.


You can see the before and after for the '70's Chestnut. Before is in the back ground. Some paint is left on the bottom of the gunnel. The bottoms get painted when the canoe is painted, helping to seal the seam from excess moisture.

What a lovely sight! The inside face of the keel. Nothing short of a grinder with a 24 grit disc will clean this up.