Woodstrip canoe

[Jim Knauss]

Hello all,
Been a stranger to the forum lately but am trying to get back into woodworking and forum lurking:) This was my last project and took all last fall and most of this spring. Its a strip built canoe using all home milled lumber, Tulip polar, Cherry and Ash. I didn't make the seats as it wasn't cost effective and I was getting impatient. I figure it took about 250 hours or so to build and about $800.00 worth of materials not counting wood. Thanks for looking!
Jim Knauss

[julie Graf]

wow! that is amazing!

it needs water now...

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Fantastic job! Looks hard as heck to make too. If I was able to make this, it would never see water. Instead, I'd hand it on the wall in my living room!

-Jeff :)

[Bruce Page]

Jim, that is beautiful.

[Kyle Stiefel]

Jim,

That is fantastic. That is on my list of have to attempt builds at some point in my life, I love it!

[Jim Becker]

That's a real beauty, Jim!

[Howie French]

Jim, that is beautiful, I would almost be to afraid to use it :D


Howie

[John Schreiber]

That's a beauty. Fair seas and following winds to you.

[Dave Sharpe]

Nice job! Lots of detailed work and obviously a labor of love. I noticed you put in round watertight hatches in the bulkheads at each stem - I did that on my first canoe (didn't come out near as nice as yours) but I used black hatches and had to keep telling people "No, they're not SPEAKERS!" ;) After building that first boat, my wife decided to try her hand at it and we built another one - the only problem was that she wanted a smaller, lighter boat, so we took the center two forms out and just made a shorter, narrower boat. Looked beautiful (she was much more careful than I was, and we learned from the mistakes of my first boat) but as soon as we put it in the water we found our bigest mistake - all the stability of the canoe was in the center, wider part of the boat. We'd just produced a lovely boat to look at, but it had the handling capabilities of a telephone pole! Kept wanted to roll over!!!:eek: Removing the seat and replacing it with a low kayak type seat and paddling with a double blade kayak paddle made it manageable, but barely.
Anyway, nice work on yours - hope you enjoy paddling it and don't succomb to the temptation of just looking at it. There's nothing sadder than a canoe without scratches from use......

Dave Sharpe

[Micah Moyer]

Jim, very nice! I too, have made a strip-built canoe, but it's definately not as nice as yours. You did a much better job on the stem and deck than me. Could you elaborate on what is below the deck? Is that flotation there? I currently have no flotation and although my canoe hasn't seen water yet, I worry about it sinking if (when) it capsizes.

On a side note I have been reading a little about skin on frame boats (canoes / kayaks), they seem to be a fun and much cheaper approach that I'd like to try in the future.

[Cary Swoveland]

What a beautiful piece of art, Jim. If it floats, that's a bonus.

Cary

[Martin Shupe]

Very nicely done.

[Jim Knauss]

Thanks for all the kind comments! I am very happy with the way the canoe turned out for a first time canoe. There are plenty of mistakes along the way but not drastic. They are easier than they look, just time consuming. We bought a cottage on the St Lawrence so the canoe was for using there. It was made to use.It is 18 foot and very stable, made for fishing 3 people. Now I want one smaller for just me, maybe an open kayak. Micah, the compartments in the bow and stern are for storage and flotation as Dave has said. Just air in there, no foam.
Jim Knauss

[Richard Wolf]

Very nice.

Richard

[John Bailey]

I love these boats, and yours is a good'un.

John

[Andy Livingston]

Nice job! I'm building a canoe also. I am shaping the stems now, so should be able to lay the first strips today or tomorrow. It is time consuming, especially all the set up before the first strip is laid! It's a lot of fun though. Hopefully mine will turn out as nice as yours! Great work!

[Harry Niemann]

Some 25 years ago I built a similar one, using redwood strips, (it was still
available then). I cut strips from a 1 by 12 board, and fiberglassed inside and out. We still use it every summer at the cottage. It has held up extremely well. A very satisfying project.

[Randy Denby]

Some 25 years ago I built a similar one, using redwood strips, (it was still
available then). I cut strips from a 1 by 12 board, and fiberglassed inside and out. We still use it every summer at the cottage. It has held up extremely well. A very satisfying project.

I guess I'm showing my ignorance......but I didnt realize redwood was no longer available? How long has this been going on? I'm from texas and have never really bought much redwood as it has always been high here, at least since the mid 80's, but I'm surprised to hear its no longer available.

[Greg Funk]

Very nice Jim. I like the accent strips. Perhaps you could post a few larger pics or a few showing some of the details.

thanks!

Greg