• Happy International Mermaid Day! 🧜🏼‍♀️

New Backrest

Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
541
Reaction score
441
Location
East Tennessee
After I finished making new seats that were wider and deeper, I decided to make a backrest for them. My choice of wood materials were maybe not the best, but it was readily available and my canoes dont sit out in the weather. I don't have a prestigious canoe.... yet, but I'm hoping to build a stripper this winter. This Madriver canoe is the tuff heavy material, that I scoot over shoals and rocks in the river, and I don't cry over it if my wife and I rough it up some. Weight isn't to much of an issue because I don't have to carry it. I've never been with anyone that had any canoeing experience, so I ain't got a clue about how bad my paddle strokes are. Maybe one of these days I'll have a nice canoe. Anyhow, the backrest is made of cherry. The cane is not real, it's plastic. I bought 1,000 foot roll last year, so it does for my purpose. The backrest is easily removable and reversible. I sit in the bow seat and face the stern when I go solo. I need to make one for the stern seat, but it will have to be a little different. I will do things different the next set I make.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk1530503177.4871.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1530503177.4871.jpg
    101.6 KB · Views: 2
Looks very nice! The plastic cane is better for actual use anyway, most people would never know the difference unless you told them!

Jason
 
The cane is not real, it's plastic. I bought 1,000 foot roll last year, so it does for my purpose.

I didn't know that plastic cane existed. A 1000' roll sounds like a 'life supply'. I sit on a life supply of Reflectix bubble wrap (for cozies) if you want to trade :). Seriously, the backrests look great.
 
I'm learning a lot on this site. Y'all sure is creative. My seats are 11" x 16" which is maybe larger than I need. I'm guessing it takes 200' of material to weave each one, maybe? The backside looks like crud, so I routered a rabbet so the stitching wouldn't stick out so bad. I was just in my basement measuring and trying to figure out how to move everything around, so I can have room to build a strip canoe. I have 22 feet along the wall where the windows are. How much room do I need on width? I am thinking of building a 16 foot Laker that is in Gil Gilpatrick's book. Figured I'd start small? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
44f24dd253acbe574398e210a72b6f34.jpg
3455dbe3f1b2e453646205c3e6ef9c96.jpg


Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
I built Gil's 16 foot tandem "Wabnaki" design on my 25 x 10 sunporch (wife wasn't thrilled). It was tight but doable. Keep in mind you'll want some kind of bench. file.php?id=25968.jpg - Click image for larger version  Name:	file.php?id=25968.jpg Views:	1 Size:	211.6 KB ID:	82133
 
Last edited:
I built Gil's 16 foot tandem "Wabnaki" design on my 25 x 10 sunporch (wife wasn't thrilled). It was tight but doable. Keep in mind you'll want some kind of bench.
Thank you. Curious what do think of the wabnaki? Women just don't understand.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
I'm very pleased with Gil's Wabnaki design. I think it is a very capable and versatile canoe. I've paddled it tandem, loaded for tripping, and it holds plenty of gear for two people and several days. I've also paddled it solo (and with my dog) on day trips. It's been on flat water and fast moving rivers.

And of course everyone who sees it thinks it is beautiful but I think that's true of most strippers. When you build a stripper, be prepared to field a lot of questions at put-ins and take-outs and even on the water from curious canoeists and kayakers who have only seen/paddled plastic boats.IMG_3639.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Alsg, I have a few questions for you. I am in the process of determining which canoe to build. I am strongly considering the Wabnaki per Gil's book. I have sourced 8 - 1x6x8 rough cut cedar boards (knotty but cedar) planed to 3/4" thickness and have ripped this material into 1/4" strips. Strongback is built, but I was concerned about the capacity of the Wabnaki to support my height and weight (6'2", 240lbs). It seems as though you load up your Wabnaki generously and that may work for me with one 115L pack (or so I hope). I am happy to have found this post to learn from another builders experiences with this model. What was the finished hull weight. When used in fast moving rivers did your maneuver in any rapids and how did the boat handle the bumps and bruises that a river can deliver? I am hoping to build a tripping canoe that makes sense and doesn't limit what I can do with it entirely. The canoe will be used mostly for lengthy solo trips which may include fast moving rivers with rapids up to Class II. I was also considering a 16' prospector build or the Wilderness Express per Memaquays provided link somewhere in this forum: http://www.carryingplacecanoeworks.on.ca/html/cdn_price.html Anyhoo, many decisions to make, but I am anxious to get started on my forms once I make my final decision. I am open to any feedback from others on this board as well. You did a fine job on your Wabnaki canoe. Canoe looks great!
 
Alsg, I have a few questions for you. I am in the process of determining which canoe to build. I am strongly considering the Wabnaki per Gil's book. I have sourced 8 - 1x6x8 rough cut cedar boards (knotty but cedar) planed to 3/4" thickness and have ripped this material into 1/4" strips. Strongback is built, but I was concerned about the capacity of the Wabnaki to support my height and weight (6'2", 240lbs). It seems as though you load up your Wabnaki generously and that may work for me with one 115L pack (or so I hope). I am happy to have found this post to learn from another builders experiences with this model. What was the finished hull weight. When used in fast moving rivers did your maneuver in any rapids and how did the boat handle the bumps and bruises that a river can deliver? I am hoping to build a tripping canoe that makes sense and doesn't limit what I can do with it entirely. The canoe will be used mostly for lengthy solo trips which may include fast moving rivers with rapids up to Class II. I was also considering a 16' prospector build or the Wilderness Express per Memaquays provided link somewhere in this forum: http://www.carryingplacecanoeworks.on.ca/html/cdn_price.html Anyhoo, many decisions to make, but I am anxious to get started on my forms once I make my final decision. I am open to any feedback from others on this board as well. You did a fine job on your Wabnaki canoe. Canoe looks great!

Hi dcloots;

I'm 5'10" and depending on a number of things, I weight between 199 and 220 lbs! The canoe is in 6 oz S-glass inside and out and has a double layer at the football both inside and out, so a heavy build. I also built the seat frames and gunnels a little thick and went with thick decks. So I didn't go for a real light build. Nevertheless, the finished weight is 65 lbs.

I have tripped even more since this post, including along the Potomac again and twice on the West Branch, doing Lobster Stream, Lobster Lake, the West Branch to the bottom of Chesuncook, as well as Little Tupper Lake in the ADKs. Those West Branch trips were with another paddler of similar height/weight and an absolute TON of gear. I had a 115 liter pack, his pack was bigger, I also had a big kitchen box and my "NYETI" home built cooler, which is huge and was fulll of food. McCrea says I was overloaded, and I probably was, but it worked.

These are not heavy white water trips, but 2 years ago when I did the West Branch, the water was super low and some of the natural rapids above Pine Stream that are usually washed out (because of the dam at the bottom of Chesuncook), were exposed. More experienced paddlers than I saw them and said they were Class II approaching Class III. All I know is we came around a corner and got sucked into them, hit a rock hard almost immediately, and dumped. The canoe filled with water and went down the rapids, largely out of control, with me swimming behind. The canoe bumped a lot of rocks along the way.

When we finally got spat out right abut at Pine Stream and righted and drained the canoe, we kept paddling for another 2 days with no apparent problems or obvious damage. When I got home and did a close inspection, I found two small areas where the fiberglass had de-laminated on the inside (no tears or leaks however in the outer glass) and I patched them to no real ill effect (other than to my pride). You'd need to be pretty close to see the repairs.

This year with high water levels, no troubles at all on Lobster to Chesuncook (ok I did run us aground around Big Island but that was my fault; I took a crapty line).

Other builders may disagree, but I think cedar strippers make excellent trippers can be pretty tough, depending on glass layup, and will be comparably strong to any composite boat using similar weight cloths; but as with other composites they aren't going to be indestructible. Wrap it and it's kindling. The better a WW paddler you are (I'm not very good) and can avoid rocks, the less wear and tear and damage you will deal with. You will get scratches and the first ones will give you a heart attack, especially as you hear the awful sounds a cedar stripper makes going over rocks. But I built mine to be used and not hung up as art.


Gil's Wabnaki design is a good all-arounder. Has a lot of capacity for a 16' boat, is maneuverable, stable and good looking, too, in my humble opinion.

I did a complete build blog at the Shopsmith Forum. https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/general-woodworking-f5/a-slow-boat-to-nowhere-t14954.html

Happy to answer any other questions. Feel free to post publicly or PM me. I can send you a phone number via PM if you find it easier to chat.
 
Alsg, since I already have the book and the plans, I will be moving forward with the Wabnaki. I can always build a Prospector and a Bob’s Special down the road......right! I would have started lofting/tracing the forms tonight but I had snow clean up to tend to this evening. Appreciate your full detailed explanation of the characteristics of the Wabnaki. Jumped over to Shop Smith to follow along but after reading 90 pages I realized there was still another 90 to go....lol. There was clearly a ton of support for your build and I hope to find that here as well when I run into snafoos!

Per your Shop Smith thread regarding your router table set up, I will be integrating my router table into my Delta Unisaw Extension table. Ordered a router table insert plate and that should be here by Thursday. Lots of beads and coves to do that will fill my lungs with cedar plumes one more time but for a long time. I will post again when I have my forms set up. Should be Wednesday due to the Holiday, but then again I can’t be for sure.

Thanks for your help and I look forward to future conversations about this build! Hope to have it done by Spring....yeah I am a dreamer.
 
One thing you might want to do is email Gil (his email is in the book). IIRC, when I emailed him with some pre-build questions about the Wabnaki he told me there was an error in the stem drawings included in the most recent edition and he emailed me corrected drawings. The difference was very subtle to my eye but he seemed to think it was important. I wish I still had those old emails but they are gone.

Good luck with the build. When I did mine, I hadn't discovered this forum and was mostly relying on woodworking advice from a bunch of talented woodworkers but who hadn't built canoes. (One former shipwright -- a man who had built huge sailboats professionally his whole life -- gave me a lot of good advice about working with glass and epoxy and dealing with a variety of issues that came up). But the folks here are the canoe-building experts as far as I am concerned.
 
Back
Top