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[OM] Re: 3 pics/cedar canoe OT

Subject: [OM] Re: 3 pics/cedar canoe OT
From: Earl Dunbar <edunbar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 20:36:05 -0400
Yeah, mine is a very nice solo boat, but it is set up for both tandem 
and solo.  It is HIGHLY maneuverable, and has a fair bit of rocker.  It 
is FAST.  My father-in-law, who was an Adirondack guide for many years, 
reckons it's one of the fastest he's ever paddled, but I'm sure one 
could build one built just for speed.  Mine is based on a Peterborough 
design.

I always say that there are no "tippy" canoes, just tippy paddlers.  
That said, my boat is not for the novice.    Due to its design, if one 
paddler weighs a lot more than another when paddling tandem, and the 
heavier one sits on the seat rather than kneels, it can throw balance 
off drastically.  With a novice paddler who gets scared of small yaw (or 
is that pitch?) movements, they can overcorrect.  It's never capsized 
with me in it (I'm pretty good at balance,) but a friend of mine got in 
before me once, and she swamped it real fast, and I happily laughed my 
butt off.  Wet tee shirt, you know...

I have never loaded it up for a trip, so I don't really know how it 
would fare, but I am sure it wouldn't perform like an E. M. White, Old 
Town or Chestnut Prospector tripper.  I =thought= I wanted a Prospector 
type, partly because of the romance of Bill Mason and his legendary 
trips.   But when I paddled one solo, unloaded, I decided it wasn't for 
me.  Same with a Bob's Special design... really nice and stable, good 
for straightline paddling and for fishing, but not for the type of 
paddling I like to do.  And with more freeboard on the bigger boats, 
high winds are a problem when you're not loaded.

If I ever get another canoe, I'd probably go for more of a tripper.  But 
my next craft will probably be a kayak.  There's nothing quite like 
messing about in boats.

Earl

Wayne Culberson wrote:

>  
>
>>Canoes made on a form with cedar ribs and cedar strips are "normally"
>>covered with canvas, though they can also be epoxied.  My 15' boat was
>>made by Will Ruch, (http://ruch.wcha.org/) who has recently moved from
>>Muskoka to Bancroft.  Mine was about 52 lbs, so is pretty light for its
>>size.
>>    
>>
>
>Dad has a cedar rib canvas canoe made by Miller canoes,
>http://millercanoes.ca/ . His is a 22 foot canoe, with a square back for use
>with a motor. He used to fish salmon in the rivers here in NB, and had a 6
>hp outboard to push it along. But it was a pretty heavy canoe, probably over
>40 inches wide in the middle, and definitely not made for paddling. He is 81
>now, definitely not well, and his canoe probably hasn't seen water for
>several years.
>
>  
>
>>Best all around?  Oooh, I won't go there.  Paddlers can get as intense
>>on that subject as photographers get over digital vs. film!  I'll just
>>say that I paddled lots of canoes before making my final decision, so I
>>guess mine is best all around for me.  ;-)
>>
>>Earl
>>    
>>
>
>Ha! Yes that was a pretty ridiculous and bold statement on my part. What was
>I thinking? I should have known there would be experienced canoeists on this
>list :-) When I was thinking best all round, I was thinking in terms of
>durability for those who might want to let their kids play with the thing on
>the rocks, or who leave it outside in the sun and weather year round, etc.
>Best all round for what purpose, Right?
>
>I built mine for paddling, not motors, and copied the design of a "White"
>canoe, which was quite a famous design years ago for those who ran rivers in
>Maine. It is an 18 foot canoe, with no rocker, so it handles pretty nice for
>running a river that doesn't have too much white water. That's what I wanted
>it for. I used to take my older sons (now grown) on 2 or 3 day camping trips
>with it where we would run a river here in NB, so we needed something that
>would hold a bunch of gear and 2 people, and yet would paddle easy. We
>certainly weren't experts, but for a short speed race we could always beat
>the other guys we travelled with, who mostly had the factory canoes. Ours
>just plain paddled easier, especially when they were loaded heavy, it had
>nothing to do with our ability to race the thing.
>
>A 15 foot one like yours would be way nicer for canoeing alone. Mine is
>pretty useless for that.
>
>Here is a shot I took yesterday of a couple and their 2 children who were
>visiting with us, and took mine out for a little paddle in the river. This
>is just as they were in the marsh behind our house, that connects to the
>Magaguadavic River.
>http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3614550
>Wayne
>
>
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>  
>



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