Strip Built Canoe

wow! What talent. The canoe looks great.

-- A duck that brags on his own pond, soon swims alone.

Nice looking canoe, great idea to but your strong back on wheels.

-- Joey~~Sabina, Ohio http://sleepydogwoodworking.blogspot.com/

My favorite “one of these days” project! Beautiful job. Interesting bench too.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

very cool

-- Paul, Texas

Gorgeous! The side inlay is a beautiful touch. I built one in the 70’s and it’s still going strong. Almost too pretty to put in the water, but I suppose it’s a little big to hang over the fireplace.

-- Hailey, ID

Nice work. The design in the side looks great. I finished mine last year. You’re going to have years of enjoyment out of this project. Is it your 1st canoe?

Kerry

-- Alberta, Canada

WOW that is amazing.

Great work.

Thanks for the post.

-- Hope Never fails

Great looking canoe, & fine craftsmanship.

One like this has been on my list for years.

I also like the portable jig rack you built for making it.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

That strongback looks like it’s a work of art in itself! Did you use the West system epoxy, or System 3? Great looking vessel!

-- There's no tool like an old tool...

Same here Dennis…”one of these days”

Great craftsmanship Mike.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

superb works very impresses congratulation

-- jeanmarc manosque france

This is really a beautiful canoe! And what could make building it better than having your own personal sanding slave. :-)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

That’s beautiful! How was the experience building it? My wife and I would like kayaks and I’ve thought about building strip builts. Would you do it again? Any tips you learned along the way you’d like to pass along?

-- Owen Johnson - aka IowaWoodcrafter

Thanks for all the feedback!

Kerry: Yes, it was my first. I wasn’t sure about getting into it at first, but I loved every minute of it. There is a wealth of information and very helpful people on several differnet internet sites that exist just for boat builders. I couldn’t have done it without their help and input…especially when I did something wrong and needed to make a correction! :-)

TexasGaloot: I didn’t use either, I went with MAS Expoxies. The workability and cost were very good. I plan on using MAS again.

IowaWoodcrafter: It was a great experience. It took about two years to do, but I didn’t have much time to dedicate to it and could only do little pieces at a time. Would I do it again? Definitely, as a matter of fact I just bought plans for kayak (shhh…don’t tell my wife!) I would recommend this project to anyone that likes woodworking and being on the water. There’s quite a bit I learned with that project and from the research I started doing for the kayak. Any questions you have, don’t hesitate to send them my way. I can give you my opinion on techniques and design pros/cons, and point you in the directions of several websites I use to get information.

Thanks again.
Mike

I too am going to build a Kayak, where did you get your plans? I’ve looked, and there are so many, I’m not sure where to start. Any input would be great. Thanks.

-- Dooley, North Palm Beach, Florida www.myspace.com/smokey4bandit20

Looking good!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

That is a great project.

And a Chestnut too. As a lad my Dad had a 14 foot Chestnut that we would trip about in. It proved to be too small and was sold to upgrade to a 16’ Darren fiberglass…......

I sure wish I had that old Chestnut…....

Maybe I should build one… and that’s another dream that won’t go away.

Nice job on yours.

-- Brian's Table Top Toys http://home.mountaincable.net/~bgraham/

Beautiful. I really want to build one of those.

-- Bruce from Central New York

Mike, What a great canoe. It’s something I’ve always wanted to build. Seeing yours just might inspire me to get started on my own. Since you’re not too far away from my place, I might hit you up for some pointers when I get that far. Great job!

-- Chuck Bender, furniture maker, www.acanthus.com

SWEET !!! very sweet. (That’s boat slang for having fair curves for anyone not familiar)
How was sanding out the MAS? I’ve used System 3 ( Seattle product) and Cold Cure (Vancouver, B.C. product) and found they were a bit gummy to sand out: Products formulated for the North West cool damp conditions during curing.
If that’s you in the photo ~ I’ll bet your Dad is very proud….. just kidding. It’s great to see a young guy involved in a family project. As a retired shop teacher, I saw less and less of it and more and more kids in trouble. geee ... wonder if there’s a connection.
Hope you take that young guy fishin for all of his hard sanding. Now whay won’t my wife sand? I promised to take her fishin! ;>)

David

You do beautiful work. I can on dream.

-- Dave Herron, Boise, ID -- How hard can it be? It's only wood!

Awesome!

-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)

You are a man of few words for such a skilled project. (And from your photo you are apparently very young… 12 years old maybe?)

Absolutely gorgeous!

-- Dust collectors suck.

What a beautiful canoe. You did a wonderful job on it.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

The hired help looks happy. What’s your secret? Promise of a trip to Disney World maybe? C’mon no one is that happy to run a sander without a bribe.

Great work though. Did you venture to make any paddles as well?

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

The one thing I just don’t like about wood working is that you can’t drink beer while you do it. Its just to dangerous. But YOU Mike have found a beautiful way around that! Make a boat and then go drink beer in the boat. BRILLIANT!

I guessing that a finish on a boat could be a good all around outdoor finish?

Great looking work.

-- Total Freakin Newbie

Spaids,

It’s even better than that…I take it out on the Schulykill River canal. It’s about a three mile long canal perfect for canoeing. I park on one end and canoe to the other. My wife thinks its for exercise, but at the other end of the canal is a little tavern with a deck over looking the canal. Perfect place to pull up, have a few beers/wings, and catch a little b-ball before I have to paddle back to the car.

Life is good!

Mike

Dooley: I bought the plans from One Ocean Kayaks – Vaclav Stejskal is the designer. From all the research I did, he seems to be one of he better designers out there. There are some good books out there too – “KayakCraft” from Ted Moores is very good. I read the sister book, “CanoeCraft” when I built the canoe and it was very helpful. Another is a book written by Nick Shade called “The Strip-Built Sea Kayak”. Nick is the designer of another very popular design of kayak called the Guillemot. There are also quite a few website forums out there specifically for wooden boat builders.

Chuck Bender: Thanks for the complement. I’d be happy to give you some pointers, but I’ve seen some of your work on your site and I don’t think I should be giving you advice on anything. Your work is beautiful! I can only wish to do what you do. Where in East Coventry are you? I’m in Royersford. I’d love to stop by and see your shop. Let me know if you get serious about building a canoe. There are so many differnet designs out there it can be hard to chose. You can take mine out for a paddle to see how it feels and compare it to other designs.

Jcees: I did, but I didn’t put them in in the picture. I used the same wood as the canoe, so they match pretty well.

Mike

Mike,

Wouldn’t it be easier to build a tavern at home and send her paddling down the canal? Dude, where are your priorities?

-- Ron, Bakersfield, CA. Measure twice, cut twice anyway.

Should you be leaving that beautiful canoe outside in that area? Looks like a rough neighborhood. Wow!

-- Ron, Bakersfield, CA. Measure twice, cut twice anyway.