My First Canoe - Part One

Back in 1983, I took my ten year old son to the Boundary Waters near Ely, Minnesota. I had no canoe, but a good friend from my church let us use his 16-foot Coleman canoe. It had a padded portage yolk, but I only used it to get to Sailor Lake from Moose Lake, and then to a third lake whose name escapes me. We brought along an old twelve foot by thirteen foot canvas tent, which was too heavy for back-packing on portages. So we needed to return to our base camp on Moose Lake everyday. We stayed at Don Beland’s resort, outfitter, and campground. Good fishing everyday from our canoe.

We went to Church in Ely on Sunday morning, and on the way back to camp my son, Bob, saw a sign “Angleworm Trail,” pointing down a footpath. He said, “let’s follow that path.” So we parked in a small lot off the road. We weren’t wearing our hiking shoes, but we gathered our two spinning rods and a small tackle box. We didn’t know where the path led, but assumed there was water along it somewhere.

So we began our hike. I think we walked three miles, maybe more. It was a beautiful warm day, and we were getting thirsty. We came to a ridge of large rocks which appeared to be green and blue from a distance. As we came closer, we realized the rocks were covered with ripe blueberry bushes. The ridge was so steep that we simply reached out in front of us and picked and ate. The blueberries were big (for wild ones), sweet and very juicy. We quenched our thirst on blueberries for maybe 15 minutes.

Then we climbed to the top of the ridge and looked down on a beautiful lake of a few thousand acres. There were no cottages or boats. No signs that humans existed anywhere, and the water was blue and clear. Bob was tired from the walk, and our first night sleeping in a tent after traveling from Crystal Lake, Illinois. He sat down against a tree to rest. I said, “Bob we just walked a long way to get to this lake, so fish!” All we had with us was some spoons and spinners, so we tied on a couple. Within a few casts Bob caught a couple of pike, and I got a nice three pound walleye. We released the pike and put the walleye on a plastic rope stringer. We only fished for a while, then decided to take the walleye back to camp. I carried the fish about halfway to the car; after which I dragged it in the sand the rest of the way. We grilled the fillets over charcoal; it was good, and we slept well that night. I don’t think that lake got much fishing pressure; I bet it’s still a good fishing lake even today.

At the end of the week we packed up and headed back to Crystal Lake. Now I wanted my own canoe!  However, we had just moved to Crystal Lake and I didn’t have any money for canoes.  I had spent most of my savings while building yachts on Martha’s Vineyard; but that’s a whole nother story. I had some long 2×4s and some strips of white oak, so I started thinking about building a stripper canoe. I asked Bill, owner of the Coleman canoe, if he would mind if I used his canoe as a form on which to build a stripper. I told him it might get scratched up some in the process. He said,”Oh, it’s already full of dents (which it was) you go right ahead, and don’t worry about a few scratches.

Well, I made a steamer with an old teakettle, about five feet of 3-inch pvc pipe, some heater hose, and a Coleman cook stove. I made 3/8-inch ribs from the oak, steamed them, then formed them over the upside-down canoe and tied the projecting ends together from gunwale to gunwale underneath. I weighted them at the keel with concrete blocks. Then I ripped the 2×4s into 3/16-inch strips, 1.5-inches wide and tacked them onto the ribs.

I will post the picture of the canoe I built in the next part of this story.

CANOE BUILDING MATERIALS

•    Aluminum: Many good canoes have been made by Grumman, Coleman and other companies. But amateur canoe builders should probably avoid aluminum. Although these canoes are light-weight, they will dent, and they tend to be a little noisy when amateurs inadvertently bang their paddle shafts against the gunwales as they travel.

•    Fiberglas: Mostly made in factory moulds. Not recommended for amateur builders. They tend to be heavy, which is okay in the water, but not so hot on long portages.

•    Kevlar: Factory-built boats are strong and light-weight. They are  good boats, but expensive.

•    Wood strips, fiberglas cloth and West epoxy. A good choice for the amateur builder. A good strongback and station moulds every foot are all that’s necessary for a building form.  Because the inside and outside surfaces of the hull are coated with fiberglas and epoxy, no ribs are needed. A canoe built in this method is very strong, relatively light-weight, and the wood stays dry and strong. Probably the prettiest canoes made. If you decide to use this method, purchase a copy of Canoecraft  by Ted Moores and Merilyn Mohr; an excellent soft-cover book.

•    Wood and Canvas: An elaborate form has to be built, and then wrapped in steel straps to facilitate clinch nailing. However, once the form is built it can be used to make several canoes, or a hundred. You also need a steam box to bend ribs and gunwales; if the canoe design has a lot of rise at the stems, you may want to steam decks as well. It is not nearly as messy as building “strippers”; no glue or epoxy is used on the wood and canvas canoe. You will need a good source for northern or eastern white cedar; or western red cedar, or some of the spruces can be substituted for ribs, planking, and gunwales. These boats rival the “strippers” for looks, and in every other way. They are a little heavier, but not much. If you decide to build in wood and canvas or to restore an old wood and canvas canoe, purchase a copy of The Wood and Canvas Canoe by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow.