Canoe - Finished (finally!)

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
It has taken me seven months, but I am happy to say that the canoe is finished. At the last minute I changed my mind on how to secure the yolk. I have it temporarily installed with stainless steel carriage bolts, bronze are on order, but other than that I am done! I hope to have it out on the lake sometime next week. For anyone contemplating building a canoe, just note that it does take a lot of time. I did enjoy the process, especially in the latter phases when it began to actually look like a canoe, but there are several highly repetitive processes such as stripping the hull and SANDING (sanding the hull, sanding the epoxy, sanding between coats of varnish). That said, the best advice I received was to be patient, fix what you can, and learn to live with what you can't fix.

I do want to mention the caned seats. Prior to this project I have never had any experience with caning; for those that have you will note that the caning is not perfect, but I am pleased - so I can live with them. The seats in the pics are natural cane, I have since learned that lot of canoe builders will use natural cane for "show", but swap them out for plastic caned seats for actual use. I have ordered some plastic caning materials and will cane a second set (I have six grandchildren).

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creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
Beautiful work, Donn! That will become a family heirloom. Just curious. How much does it weigh?
 

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Beautiful work, Donn! That will become a family heirloom. Just curious. How much does it weigh?
Jim, thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it. While I plan to get an actual weight, according to the plans it should weigh between 55 to 60 pounds.
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
Wow, that looks amazing. And it sounds like "caning" is as painful no matter what kind of caning it is!
 

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