I’ve been working on a cedar strip canoe for a month now. The original plan was to get it to varnish in 2 weeks or as quickly as I was able. I set aside an ongoing project, rolled up my inflatable boat and put my motorcycle in the backyard under a cover. I told my wife it would only be about 2 weeks as I blocked off the recycle bins in the garage...
3 weeks later I’m just about done with the wood end of things. I built the tumblehome section with double headed picture nails and had intended to staple the hull. While lashing the sheer strip into place to scribe a line on the tumblehome section for trimming I had the terrible idea to build staple-less. It was very secure when lashed and taped so I thought why bother with staples? That decision has at least doubled my build time just to avoid some character marks. It takes a long time lashing in strips and taping every few inches. Then you have to untie everything and remove all the tape before starting on the next one. It’s taking me about an hour per strip.
The boat is a John Winters solo canoe design called a Kite. It’s the same hull as the Osprey but has been modified to include full length tumblehome. The design sounded like what I was looking for. A Swede form that’s a little harder tracking and a little more efficient over distance than my Clipper Caribou S. I had debated driving South and trying out a Clipper Solitude but at the last minute I decided to just stay home and build one. Long days in the kayak aren’t really working for me anymore but the canoe has been great for multi-day tripping with the ability to move around. I had all the materials on hand to build a XL version of the Frej kayak. I had purchased custom plans from Bjorn Thommassen and bought all the wood from Rod Tait at Orcaboats. The glass and epoxy I had ordered in as well. In the end I didn’t want to invest 400 hours into a kayak I might rarely use so I thought why not try a making canoe instead.
Since I’m an XL paddler I print scaled the plans up 6% (width & height) and increased the spacing between stations 6% (length). This gave me a 19% volume increase. 1.06 x 1.06 x 1.06 = 1.191016 That gives me the same 32.25” over all width as my Caribou S. Hopefully the stability will be similar and the volume works out for both day paddling and tripping.
I spent 2 whole days getting the plans printed, spray glued to the MDF, cut out and sanded. You can buy CNC forms for the same amount of money I spent on printing and materials not to mention the 2 days labour, lesson learned.
I cleaned up the old strong back an set to work setting up the forms and ensuring they were straight and level. The builders guide that came with the plans for this boat are very good. I deviated from them on the stems as the material I had on hand to laminate with was narrower than the specified 1-5/8” in the plans. This ended up being a headache later on. I glued up the inner stems and pre-bent the outers. I also varied from the plans when it came to what I would call the sheer strip at the bottom of the tumblehome. The plans would have the tumblehome carry overtop of the sheer strip. I instead planed the outer edge of the tumblehome down and used a walnut strip to capture it. I did this since I used yellow cedar for the tumble home section and thought a darker transition would look better than yellow over red cedar. I wasn’t sure about using the yellow cedar because I didn’t want it to look too busy. The further I get into the build I wish I has just used the red cedar there as the wood I got from Rod is so nice I think it would have looked better keeping it simple with just the red cedar and the walnut.
This was my first time using square edge strips and Nick Schade’s Robo-Bevel. There was a learning curve for me with the Robo-Bevel. What worked for me was starting at one end and going all the way to the other end slowly, then back the other direction. After about 4 passes I’d take the micro plane out and touch up any spots that need attention. This thing makes some very tight joints once you get it figured out. I don’t know If I’d go square edge again. I certainly wouldn’t go 3/16 strips again. There’s not a lot of room for error there if you don’t get your strips stacked directly over top of each other. I came dangerously close to sanding through the hull while building my wife’s boat. For people with experience I’m sure it’s fine but at my skill level I prefer more margin for error.
I ended up spending a lot of time getting the ends sorted since I deviated from the plans. I wound up cutting a channel down to the inner stem then laminating some walnut in there onto the inner stem. Once it dried I sanded down the outside of the walnut making a nice spot to glue the outer laminations to. I dry fit the bow laminations overnight and then epoxied them on in the morning. I took the time to make sure my stems matched the plan shape as closely as possible. When I exaggerated the stems on the SOF boat I built it really affected the handling. That boat was a very stiff tracker. With these ones I’d like to try to keep them as close to design as possible. I’m really looking forward to getting the stern stems laminated on and shaping them both. I ended up going with a herringbone pattern stripping the bottom of the hull. I’ve only got a few strips on so far but have managed to keep them relatively tight fitting. Hopefully I’ll get the hull closed up in the next few days.
While building in the nice weather I was leaving the garage door open. I have had quite a few neighbours pop in to have a look as well as some people I don’t know stop in to chat. While it’s fun to explain how they go together it certainly slows down production.
I’ll update with more pictures as it comes together.
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. When I saw them in your build it was an instant "what a great idea" right click/save.
