You don't know which boat you should build to suit your personal needs? Please post your questions here and our many contributors will surely have some good advice.
I am really excited about building my first canoe. An experienced woodworker, the construction does not frighten me in the least. I LOVE the lines of the Redbird (and the Hiawatha). The Ranger is ok. I'd really like to build the Redbird but I keep reading/hearing it's;
1. shallow
2. low in stability
3. susceptible to high winds
My wife and I will be mainly lake canoeing, maybe some slow streams with the occasional, more rapid water. We're athletic, small (160 and 120 pounds), and have canoed many times, though not extensively.
So is all the rhetoric about stability really a big deal or not? I've a hunch that in the end, most people can't tell the difference between a 92 and 104 on stability.
Stability (or the lack of) is quite a personal thing until you get into racing canoes and kayaks. My first canoe, a Hiawatha, has low initial stability, I am not an experienced paddler and I can't swim. When I first sat in the canoe I thought it was determined to dump me. However, after just 15 minutes of paddling around I got into a kneeling position, laid the canoe down to the gunwale and paddled my way around the lake. I have used that canoe with less experienced paddlers than myself and we have never tipped it. Getting in & out of any canoe without tipping are the toughest things to do if you don't do it correctly.
Some builders have increased the depth of the Redbird by adding one extra strip per side but this will also increase the windage. If you are planning on paddling streams and the ocassional more rapid water, I would suggest the Ranger for the greater manoeuverability. Your expected load weight would also work well with the Ranger.
I've been checking sources for wood strips. The strips offered by Bear Mtn. are, in my humble opinion, extremely expensive. If I had access to white cedar locally, I could mill these myself for a fraction of the price.
Locally I can get western red cedar, commonly sold as fence posting. I can mill this to 13/16 and rip to width, then add the cove and bead. Any problem with using this stock?
No Problem, canoes and kayaks are built every day using deck and fence cedar. Go through the piles of lumber to get the nicest boards with the least knots and the lightest weight and get building.
