Anyone else built thier own canoe???

[mrfish1991]

A few winters ago my dad, two other people and I built 2 redwood strip canoes. We cut the strips, shaped the canoe (with the help of a strongback), fiberglassed, and did everything to them including making our own seats. We have well over 300 man hours into each canoe. These canoes don't just look pretty, they get worked hard. Our canoe had endured 2 trips to the BWCA and many outings to local lakes. It is 18' long and tips the scale at 74lbs. Even though its a beast, when you have good paddlers, it will outrun almost any canoe out there.

Enjoy the pics and please ask any questions you might have!

[HaveBaitWillFish]

nice work....if you ever need a place to "store" them let me know.

[mrfish1991]

haha sorry havebait but we have that well taken care of...

i suppose i didnt explain the storage at all

the canoes are just shallow enough where we can hang ours from the celing in our garage and have the garage door go up and down without hitting them. it also allows for storage of life jackets and such right in the hull.

thanks for looking

[HaveBaitWillFish]

lol, just trying to look out for ya!!!

[Powerstroke]

Beautiful boats, but you couldn't convince me to go back to such a heavy boat.

[Quetico]

Yeah, I'm with ya powerstroke. Beautiful boats and I'm sure their fun to build. But for trips into the BW Quetico and other places for 7+ days and portages over 1km I want a lighter boat.

[mrfish1991]

ya...i agree they are beasts to carry but its ok i deal with it

[Powerstroke]

I would like to do it some day. I think it would make a fantastic prize to have and use occasionally, but there is something to be said about function over form.

I think its a gorgeous boat, but loading it on your tahoe is making me cringe.

[mrfish1991]

One person in front and one person in back...it isnt that bad

but you are right..we might start another one and make it out of balsa

[HaveBaitWillFish]

mr.fish.....the offers still on the table for the balsa canoe also. lol....can't wait to see pics of that one, I'm sure it will be a very nice canoe!!!

[Glockwinger]

Those are beautiful canoes. Nice work, very rewarding.

[tipup]

Very awesome!!! Is there a place to get plans to build these?

What is the $$$ range for this or the other type you are talking about?

[mrfish1991]

im sure you can find plans for the canoes online. i think the price was around $600 for the materials for both of them. We did all of the work ourselves. But im sure it would be A LOT spendier to buy them from a custom maker.

I believe you can get balsa fairly cheap. They make some of the wind turban blades from the stuff, so it needs to meet up with really high standards. the stuff that is good quality but cant be used for the blades is sold and i have heard that it is reasonably priced.....thats what i have heard....

[traveler]

I grew up fishing out of one of those down in Little Falls. My best friends brother built it in shop class, and the shop teacher lived right next door and had many more. If we needed a 2nd one, he would rent them for like 2 dollars a day! Great canoes, but fairly heavy. Luckily we wern't doing any portages:)

[magicstix]

I've been wanting to build one for years but haven't made the time yet.

On the weight do you suppose its cause you used redwood? Where do you find balsa? I wonder why more aren't built from balsa? Pros and Cons? A lot of them are built from cedar which is a fairly light wood. How many coats of epoxy/ fiberglass did you use? I think a cedar would have been 60lbs. ?

They are awesome canoes and fun to paddle. And much more durable than most people think.

[mrfish1991]

I believe the weight does have something to do with using redwood insted of other woods. But we were going for a show boat as well as function. We used one coat of glass on the inside and outside with a bit more on the tips for protection. I want to say we used 5 coats of epoxy on each side, but i dont remember.

As for balsa, I dont know where we would get it, but it would make a nice light canoe, and since the strength is in the fiberglass we would be good to go.

[mrfish1991]

and this just goes to show that she isnt a trailer queen

[Duffman]

That's a pretty girl ya got there, she looks great out in her natural element.

[mrfish1991]

thanks duffman

[magicstix]

Did your redwood seem to have oil in the wood? I saved a bunch of siding from our house. I was told was redwood and it had oil in the wood and may have a hard time adherring a glue to it. I figured it would be a great one to start or practice on and if it didn't work then I'd call it a good expirence and just buy my wood next time. I did strip some of my wood already and it has some neat grain to it and the wood color is darker. I thgought I may add some cedar strips in there to add some character or accent the dark wood. I've read alot and asked alot of questions but have no expirence yet and thats when you learn the most.

[mrfish1991]

No, the redwood did not seem to have any oil to it that i can remember. It was very nice to work with after you got used to the pattern of laying strips