Who is building?

[reinbilt]

Just applied the final coat of varnish to the outside of a Rob Roy and Bob's Special . I started building these last October and really hate to see it come to an end. Had a really great experience building them both.

[Bryan Hansel]

I'm in the process of designing and then building, documenting, and producing a plan for a viking canoe. I belong to a Viking building yahoo group and you can read more details there, but it will be somewhat like Andrew Linn's last attempt of building one of these things. http://www.andrewlinn.com/boatbuilding/index.htm

In a nutshell what I've done is take the Godstad Faeriing, reduce it to 15' 44", and then tweek it to keep the look, but make it work as a smaller craft. The plans are finished and now I'm waiting for my sister, an architect to fine refining them and putting them in a pdf form. Then the build is on. Luan plywood, epoxy, stitch and glue.

You can see the wrl file here:

http://www.nessmuking.com/viking/VIKING.WRL

You will need a vrml viewer for your browser, which you can get for free at

http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona/

I'm still taking suggestions for improvements, but I think this design is pretty workable. We'll see.

[GeirB]

Building a 16 Prospector. The second one.
The first is lightly sanded and ready for revarnishing when I come home from work in the north sea.
The new one is built stapleless. I will do some decorative stipping in the bottom, using aspen, alder and sprouce.
One new pic on the mainpage of my site; http://www.kanokajakksiden.com/
and a few will come soon on the buildingpages; http://www.kanokajakksiden.com/Bygging%20listing.htm

[Inta]

Hi, I'm building a Prospector Ranger and so far I have cut out the strongback pieces, station molds, finished the yoke and almost the seats. I havent quite figured out yet what to use to cover the seats with, but it is not that importatnt yet.
I'm also waiting for the lumber. I'm planning to use aspen for the hull. Don't know about gunwales, but seats, yoke and deck are oak.

Can't wait to get started,

Indrek

[jradisch]

I am supposed to be sanding the inside of my Bob's Special right now. It is going on a 2 year project. I need to get it out of the basement and back into the garage to finish.
Jim

[artistwood]

working on a wee lassie by mac mc carthy. installing carvings on bow, stern, decks.......been at it for awhile now but the results will be worth it. wrc, cherry and brazilian cherry. no metal will be used in the boat. even the hatch cover hinges will be wood. call it a lobor of love or insanity but i hope to launch soon. so far it weighs about 18 pounds but should be around 28 or 30 when done. 9 coats of epoxy total on hull outside but most was sanded off leaving a glass smooth straight hull.......where did i read in the forum that we love sanding?????? starting forms for a redbird to be followed by a true north. way too much fun!!!!!

[fisherguytoo]

:big grin
In the last stage of completion. Decks installed, thwart installed, seats made and
ready for rawhide.

Then to the final detail and finish work.
Looks like, perhaps, two weeks if I can remain on course.
Then, Into the water for the shakedown crouse.

[Doug]

artistwood;
What kind of (solo) tripping boat would the Wee Lassie make?

http://www.michneboat.com/Building%20th ... e%20II.htm


Doug


.

[canoeblderinmt]

Hello all! I'm 20 strips in with my modified twenty foot White Guide. Thanks to all of you who've written in with all of the technques over the last year. I am shamefully borrowing many of them on this, my second effort.

I had to drive 3 hours one way into Canada to pick up 23' 4/4 WRC from the great guys at Prarie One Cedar. They are happy to order in and ship this longer stock, but it takes a little while and is a bit spendy. I dropped almost $700 US for 9 boards that varied in width from about 8" at the bottom to 4" at the top. After gang ripping (thanks for the tip) and planing, I should have enough for this behemoth and a smaller boat next winter. I went the extra distance and fluted and coved all the strips, using climb cuts and feather boards (thanks, Glen, I think) and that worked out really great.

Now I'm assembling, after some color matching (reddish pink above the waterline and brown below) using the fishing line and strapping tape methods (thanks again!) of stapless construction. Though I have a nice sized blood blister in the crook of my index finger from cranking down the fishing line, it is working just fine. One tip I'll add if you try this: get some thin CA and Accelerator, make a few wraps on the screw and glue instead of trying to knot the twine. It works great!

Yes, I'm building a twenty foot boat by myself. I found a few tricks that help me handle these unruly, long strips. I'll post some pictures of progress and some ad hoc strip alignment jigs soon.

Good luck to everyone else who is building!

Greg

[Bud]

I've finally found a little time to work on the Lassie again. I wet out the fiberglass this evening and everything went great. More pictures when she's done.
Bud

[Tom in MN]

Doug,

I have an 11.5 ft Wee Lassie and love to paddle it. You inquired about "tripping". Depends on how much you weigh. I weigh 200 lbs and it handles me just fine. I have a buddy that weighs 245 lbs (or more, he may be lying) and he paddled my canoe and that is about all the weight it will take. I have also put my 40 lbs son in between my legs for some short paddles and it actually seems to be more stable with him sitting in the bottom. I figure my camping gear probably would come it at 50 lbs or so, so that would be pushing the upper limit. So I never really looked at it as a tripping canoe. I also have a 14' puddle duck and that serves better for solo with gear.

You cannot beat the speed of the Wee Lassie for tripping. One thing I did find though is that standard kayak paddles are too short, even the longest one I could find, 96" or so. So, I built a double paddle that is about 102 " and it works great. The short paddle would bang the gunnels when you paddle because you sit very low. If you and your gear would come in at less than 220 lbs, I think it would work great, even if you hit some rough water. I was out on a windy day, with boat traffic, on a lake and it was quite rough when my son was with me. It handled the rough water fine, and with the double paddle you can always keep the bow into the waves and wind which is the way to stay inside. I have never seen any actual weight limits for this boat, so I am sure what upper limit is recommended by the designer. Something to check into. There is also a Wee Lassie II that is 13.5 ft, I have the plans but have not been able to build one yet.

[dblasseter]

I'm working on a 16' Prospector, and have about half the strips on. I can now tell my friends who are aware of my ambition that I have a canoe shaped object in my shop which has many features commonly found in canoes, though purests will attest that it lacks a critical feature, that being the ability to float. If the weather stays warm and the wind holds, I'll probably loose forward momentum and take out the sailboat. So far I find it very satisfying. I would like to try again when this one is done, though I would omit some of the errors I have committed.

[Scottcam]

I finished a 16ft Prospector in late march-- 6 months of fairly steady evenings. I love the way it looks and paddles. Thanks to all the posts on this forum it really helped.

A friend and I are beginning to build 2 16.5 ft Prospectors -- stretched 1 inch between the middle 6 molds.

After working in a not too satisfying job for a long time; I now have something to look forward to. Oh no, I ended a sentence with a preposition.

Happy building to all.

[cherkas@shaw.ca]

Hello EVERYBODY

I finished buillding my airplane in 2003. Flies great. Gotta have another project. Just got my plans for a "Prospector". Have to do a little work on a house first (couple of weeks)and then I will be a builder. Our flying group had a terrific chat line and this one seems to be just as good. Looking foreward to being an active participant in the group. Hailing from Calgary Alberta. Well it's not really hailing but it is raining .

Cheers
Murray

[Rod]

Hi I've been building my Freedom 17 and hope (60%) that I make it to Petersborough for the gathering.

I've built it in two half's and now have to see how they fit together and how the seating is etc. Possibly if all is as I hope it'll just bolt together with just a gasket of some material like innertube (though I don't know where to fine that anymore) of if not some sort of wedged device to correct. I feel putting on the gunsels will line things up best.

I'm more into putting it together and just sitting on the floor. I don't know how it will double paddle which I have always done ever since I started canning when I built a Filbert plywood thirty years ago. Anyone remember Filbert plywood kits?

When I built my wee Lassie ten years ago I thought I would keep on building them like some on here. There are some problems in this one is my commitment to a love life and whether that love life sees the benefit (g) Also I have several boats here in Reston where things can get sticky as far as anything the least bit unusual looking. And with two pickup trucks, a Sam Devlin Cracker under a tarp, a Bolger cartoper, a Martin Rowing shell, the Wee Lassie mentioned I may have pushed the limits??? I myself can't believe I have all of them. Still I hope to reduce some of that this Spring and summer but it all may be like the Gypsy said 'money don't stick' Well the money don't stick but the old boats and trucks seem to. Will the wife?

Still I've thought, am thinking, about my next one. I remember fondly my Glen L sneak box. It was small like a canoe. I could row it and there was an occasional attempt top sail it with lee boards. But mostly I motored it with various outboards. ( a 4, a 2 and a 8 HP). Being able to row it gave me a great feeling of security. Once I rigged a Martin rowing machine onto it and, well it really moved on out.

The sneak box was a great heavy weather boat. I took it out in all sorts of weather. I remember this one time in Kenneybunkport where I was attending a famous boatbuilding school at the time there was a hurricane off the coast way off and the hugh short waves were hitting the beach. I went out in the sneak box cautiously and it took them riding them, well like a duck!

The thing that did it in was a white pine chinelogue. Once that rotted I kind of lost heart in it. I wonder if I could make station molds out of the frame stations and make it out of strips rounding the bottom sides? It would not rot the way my old plywood one did. I'd make it light enough to car top and get rid of my trailers. Give up trailing forever!

Well, forgive me for going on and on about my old sneak box....... Another thought is I would make a mid section for my two half's. It could then be a motor canoe or an extension, for the two half's, depending on my mood and available crew. Then it could be a freedom 23 or 24? I wish I had traced my end or joining pieces (section 9) for the mid section, but I still have my full sized patterns. Stilll I think it will be one of the more intestering vessels at Petersborough if I make it up. I could take it apart and stack them both up and pose for pictures of my Freedom whatever. Or we could make a movie and the canoe could split and each half go off in a different directions (or third) depending on how I decide). Well, will I make it to Pettersborough? Will I sell of some of my floating stock? Will I finish? Stay tuned we'll see- Rod, Reston VA Rodkzmin@cs.com