What are your current solo canoes and how do you like them?

[ABT]

I don't own one, but I don't know a better place to mention it....
Last week, I happened to meet a fellow who was kind enough to let me try out his brand new Swift Prospector 14. I was in it for only about 30 minutes, but put it through enough moves to be able to say I like it a lot. An extremely well mannered and responsive canoe. Definitely one of those I could happily live with as an only canoe.

Good choice of colors too.
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I had the opportunity to try one out about a month ago and while I was not expecting to like it, I was very impressed. Swift says it’s their most popular solo and I can see why. I ultimately chose a Phoenix because it turned easier and felt faster, but the gap was not as big between the two as I expected. The P14 was more stable, and really resisted leaning compared to the Phoenix, which can be a negative for some and a positive for others. Fit and finish was flawless, and it has beautiful lines for my preferences. If it had a bit more rocker I very well may have chosen differently, but even still I’m certain it would have been great for my uses (just not quite as great as a Phoenix for me). I do not regret buying the Phoenix at all, but I do regret I could not get both…

 

[MyKneesHurt]

My favorite - and the best - was my most recent skin-on-frame, it was a really great boat. 40 pounds; you could stand up in it, pole it, portage it, heel it and spin it, and push it faster than I thought a 15-foot hunk of oak and nylon could go. I put maybe 500 miles on it over a few summers.
I left it in an unheated Vermont barn this past winter and the skin shrunk enough to warp the frame. I cut the skin off this week and gave it to friends of mine to make an art installation.

 

[Penns Woods]

My favorite - and the best - was my most recent skin-on-frame, it was a really great boat. 40 pounds; you could stand up in it, pole it, portage it, heel it and spin it, and push it faster than I thought a 15-foot hunk of oak and nylon could go. I put maybe 500 miles on it over a few summers.
I left it in an unheated Vermont barn this past winter and the skin shrunk enough to warp the frame. I cut the skin off this week and gave it to friends of mine to make an art installation.

I remember the canvas over wood canoe I made in college as being one of my best all around canoes. It would track like an arrow, I could stand and fish, it carried a load well. I loaned it to a friend (Big Mistake) he ran over it with his truck.

 

[dutchlennart]

I remember the canvas over wood canoe I made in college as being one of my best all around canoes. It would track like an arrow, I could stand and fish, it carried a load well. I loaned it to a friend (Big Mistake) he ran over it with his truck.

Sad sad sad story.

 

[Tsuga8]

My favorite - and the best - was my most recent skin-on-frame, it was a really great boat. 40 pounds; you could stand up in it, pole it, portage it, heel it and spin it, and push it faster than I thought a 15-foot hunk of oak and nylon could go. I put maybe 500 miles on it over a few summers.
I left it in an unheated Vermont barn this past winter and the skin shrunk enough to warp the frame. I cut the skin off this week and gave it to friends of mine to make an art installation.

Sounds like the proverbial unicorn dream boat that can do it all. Did you work from plans, and if so do you remember the model?

 

[MyKneesHurt]

Sounds like the proverbial unicorn dream boat that can do it all. Did you work from plans, and if so do you remember the model?

Not to oversell it, but it was a pretty great canoe. Nope, I worked by eye over sawhorses. I thought about taking measurements before I gave it away, but then how could I blame fate if all went sideways next time?
Skin-on-frame is a bit weird; the first few I made, I tried to copy existing boats and they never really performed well. It's something about the flex and the skin tension. A good SOF will look a bit off, a bit different than what you think of when you think "good boat".

 

[Tsuga8]

Rats, so I'd have to make a handful before I get a good one.....

 

[Gamma1214]

Rats, so I'd have to make a handful before I get a good one

In my experience, that's how it works (although, so far, the Raven seems promising as a great all-around solo and it's only my second build).

The good news is that they get easier (and look better) as your building skills improve. My long-range plans are to build at least two more solos (for a total of 5) and then build the one I like best from Sumac.

 

[Tsuga8]

Sumac wood? Or is that a brand/model? If the former, I haven't heard of using sumac wood before - presumably it has some desirable properties?

 

[MyKneesHurt]

Rats, so I'd have to make a handful before I get a good one.....

Skin-on-frame is the gospel I preach. If you want to try one I'll give you all the help I can. Anyone can make one, everyone should make one. They are truly the anarchist's canoe.

 

[Tsuga8]

Skin-on-frame is the gospel I preach. If you want to try one I'll give you all the help I can. Anyone can make one, everyone should make one. They are truly the anarchist's canoe.

Thanks, MyKneeHurt! I would love to try one...not sure it's going to happen before I retire.

 

[Alan Gage]

I haven't heard of using sumac wood before - presumably it has some desirable properties?

I can be a bit of a contrarian at times so the fact that no one has used it before would in itself be a desirable property.

Alan

 

[MyKneesHurt]

I just drove an hour or so and picked up my fourth canoe of the summer, a Mohawk Solo 13. It oilcans some, because I'm eight inches taller and probably 30 pounds over the ideal paddler weight for it, but kneeling and paddling from the bow it's a nice little boat. I immediately know it's not my favorite solo, but at 36 pounds it'll be a convenient boat to have around.
It has an interesting feature which I have already tried to incorporate into a boat, but never knew was an actually produced: a 'portage strap'. It's rolled up 2-inch webbing with a male plastic buckle on one side on the boat, and a female end on the other, and when you want to portage you unroll the strap and connect it. It is made much less effective than it could be, because the seat fixtures are several inches below the gunwale. That's enough distance to allow some serious flex in the gunwales (and thus the strap) when the weight of the canoe is on the portage strap. Still, it's a neat feature.

 

[Gamma1214]

Sumac wood? Or is that a brand/model? If the former, I haven't heard of using sumac wood before - presumably it has some desirable properties?

Not to unduly continue the thread drift but Sumac is a small, junk tree that grows throughout most of North America. It rarely exceeds 20 feet tall (trunks are usually 6 feet or less) or 6 inches in diameter so it's a serious PIA to get wood from. (it's much easier to make pink lemonade from the berries)

The most desirable qualities IMO are that 1) nobody else has ever used it (or, likely, ever will), 2) it seems to weigh next to nothing (not sure where wood database got their numbers) and 3) the wood itself is green, chocolate brown and a creamy yellow that reacts to UV light in a way that it seems to glow (it's gorgeous).

Undesirables are 1) it's impossible to find so it's strictly DIY, 2) it does not play well with water & rots quickly (not an issue under epoxy), 3) it twists badly when cut so it's hard to keep straight while drying, 4) breathing the dust can cause pretty serious respiratory issues and I've known people who've had problems just cutting them down with chainsaws.

Did I mention that it's gorgeous? Indeed, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

[jdeerfoot]

And sumac berry clusters make an interesting and healthful tea.

 

[memaquay]

Skin-on-frame is the gospel I preach. If you want to try one I'll give you all the help I can. Anyone can make one, everyone should make one. They are truly the anarchist's canoe.

I'm thinking I might like to try one of these, although I have no idea how to start. Could you use an existing set of stripper forms to create the frame?

 

[Penns Woods]

And sumac berry clusters make an interesting and healthful tea.

There are over 250 kinds of sumac. I believe the kind of sumac jdeerfoot is referring to is a local grown Buckhorn Sumac. I have made and consumed this many times. The way I had it looks like a pink lemonade, and is OK to drink. However, native to North America (also on the rise) is a poison sumac. You better know which is which.

 

[MyKneesHurt]

I'm thinking I might like to try one of these, although I have no idea how to start. Could you use an existing set of stripper forms to create the frame?

Robert Morris' "Building Skin-on-Frame Boats" is the classic read and a good place to start. Although he is more kayak-oriented, most of the principles translate to canoes. I tried to build several boats out of Adney's "Skin Boats and Bark Canoes" with varied success.
I'm sure there's a way to use stripper forms you already have. I'll think on it, and maybe Morris has something to say about it.
There is a whole school of form-built skin-on-frames, exemplified by the Platt Monfort designs. He was a very interesting guy, worth reading about, and his boat designs are essentially modified airplane wings.
I much prefer to build by hand and eye, because then it is my boat. Not someone else's design, not a copy, but an original addition to ten thousand years of skin-on-frame boatmaking. You need very little in the way of gear or tools, provided you have a way to get your ribs and gunwales cut, but you will need a metric ton of spring clamps.

 

[Benson Gray]

you will need a metric ton of spring clamps

No small boat builder ever seems to have enough clamps. I attended an estate auction of a long time canoe builder several years ago and noticed that Rollin Thurlow was also there. Rollin has been building canoes for fifty years now but he bought a large assortment of clamps at this auction.

Benson