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Lauching over the 4th


JMetzner

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Hi all,

I finally finished the winter project and the wood strip canoe will be launched over the 4th of July holiday! Woohoo. Launching over the 4th is getting to be a habit. I launched As You Wish 2 years ago over the 4th as well. :)

Here's a few pics of the finished product. I have to say, it was a very easy project. Anyone thinking of building one, should not hesitate. It's a 15ft. "Bob's Special" from either the CanoeCraft book or Bear Mountain Boats. Built from plans, milled/machined all the strips/parts. No kits, thank you. 6oz. fiberglass, Raka epoxy (3 coats inside, 4 heavy coats outside), Spar Urethane top coat (4 coats inside, 6 outside). Western Red Cedar strips. Ash gunnels, seats & yoke. Mahogany decks and scupper spacers.

--John M.

Alaskan-in-Exile

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Guest Oyster

Absolutely lovely. This small group here that gathers on this nicely run forum, seems to practice what is preached in each and every posting, something that is extremely rare these days. This group has a bunker crop of boats, now, for its own 1st edition of "Messing about in Wooden Small Craft" in addition to its calendar edition. :wink: We will be looking forward to your launiching shots, kids of course to be included with their paddling skills, no matter what the age of the kids may be either.

[ps, spoken while sitting in the mist of a lot of sanding dust and cut offs chunks of mahogany and teak]

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Lovely John, just lovely. Where are you going to do the launching?

Dave,

Not sure yet. I've been investigating some lakes in the area. I just heard from a friend about a trip on the upper St. Croix which is supposed to be a fun, half day float. May do that instead.

--John

Alaskan-in-Exile

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I think we might need your definition of easy though"

:lol:

Hi Mark,

Believe me, it was MUCH easier than building a Weekender. REALLY!

It's funny, I teamed up with a guy from work on this project. When I got down here last summer, he came over to see As You Wish and we started talking boats. I found out he'd been wanting to build a wood stripper for 20 yrs., even had an old set of plans. I told him that As You Wish started out as a wood stripper & morphed into a sailboat. We decided to each build a canoe as a winter project. As expected, he was a bit intimidated by the size of the project. When we spent a weekend ripping 2900 linear ft. of strips and milling the bead and cove on the edges, I told him, "OK, the tough part is done!" He laughed. I told him that I thought making the material to make the canoes was going to be the toughest part and the rest will just be a bunch of little steps. Don't get in a hurry and just take it a step at a time. The day we finished the strips, he followed me back to my place and we put the first few strips on my forms, since I was ready. He couldn't believe how easy it was. 8) I told him again (and a number of times later) this isn't difficult, it's just a bunch of little steps, don't get in a hurry.

When he finished and launched his canoe, he sent out an email to a group of friends with pics and this:

This was an interesting project. Nothing difficult, as John states
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WOW!!! nice stuff :shock: :lol: I love the color of varnished wood.

Steve

(when other people have to do the sanding and coating :D )

PS: I did one when I was a kid ( 18 )...didn't turn out as nice as that but it floated and worked like a canoe should.

PPS: I would like to see it a Pepin next year...hint...hint!

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