The Cedar Strip canoe
This site contains a number of photos of a project I undertook in the spring of 2000. Over a three month period working in the evenings and weekends, I built a cedar strip canoe. This involved gluing a number of long flexible cedar strips together over plywood forms constructed on a rigid strongback.
Once the hull was complete it was covered with fiberglass and epoxy resin. The resin had the secondary effect of bringing the colors of the wood to the fore. Once protected by the fiberglass, the hull could be removed from the forms and the inside smoothed and faired prior it too being covered with fiberglass and epoxy. Gunwales, decks and finally seats were added, sanded and smoothed and the whole canoe coated in four coats of varnish. Sounds easy doesn't it? Actually it was not bad and proved to be a welcome diversion from the normal routine. I reckon I spent between 120 and 150 hours on the construction. All finished, she weighs 60lbs, a little heavier than I had hoped but not outrageous.
Cedar bead and cove strips ready to be assembled.
The laminated ash and white cedar stems were wet bent over the forms and clamped to dry. These were later glued and shaped as tapered stems, probably the longest single operation in the construction.
Detail of the nailless construction technique (Classic Boat Kits) showing the dowel rods inserted into the cove portion of the strip and covered with tape to hold strip in place while the glue dried. The first strips were nailed to the forms but these would eventually be covered by the gunwales so the holes would be hidden. More and more strips were built up over the next couple of weeks.
The hull nears completion. Closing the "football" was probably one of the most satisfying aspects of the project as each strip must be fitted and shaped individually. Trying to get the white pine oval (see below) to match up at both ends took several small "cheater strips" to advance one end of process. After epoxy glueing the outer stems into place, fairing and sanding, fiberglass cloth was placed over the hull.
Three coats of System Three epoxy resin were painted onto the cloth to wet out and fill the fabric. This was fun, but quite messy! Once dried, the canoe shell was lifted from the forms and turned upright. The inside of the canoe was quite daunting as the gaps and holes must be filled and sanded smooth before being fiberglassed!
Glassing the inside is a pain! Actually, most of the work on the inside of the hull was fairly unpleasant. However, once over, it was a treat to get back to some woodworking as the gunwales and decks are fitted. Inwales and deck before finishing.
Deck after finishing. The outer gunwales were fitted around the tapered stems using small carved inserts which were epoxy glued into place. Oak plugs were used to cover the screw holes in the outwales as you can see below.
Then there was the fun of bringing the canoe into the sunlight for the first time, with a little help from my daughter!
This is a 16.6 foot Kipawa canoe designed by John Winters, and built from plans by Martin Step at Green Valley, from a kit by Classic Boat Kits.
The books Canoecraft : A Harrowsmith Illustrated Guide to Woodstrip Construction by Ted Moores, Merilyn Mohr, and
Building a Strip Canoe by Gil Gilpatrick were used extensively during construction. Neither book covers everything so if you ever build one of these, be prepared to improvise!
She was launched in the Susquehanna River in Central Pennsylvania on July 2nd, 2000.