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It's probably just me, but those Swift canoes are about the ugliest things I've seen. I know they can still make regular solid colors, but what's up with the burlap bag, woven plastic chair look and primer gray? To each his own.

This is a great idea. The narrower hull will make it a much better solo canoe. Increasing your station spacing to roughly 12-1/2" brings it to about 14.5'. It should end up being a stable solo canoe with plenty of displacement for a tripping load. Once you build the hull you may even be able to...

Good luck with that Gamma, I've luckily never had that happen. I have had good luck using a heat gun to twist strips into shape near the ends before I glue and staple them down. It takes some of the pressure off the staples. I just use a couple of those irwin grip clamps to get leverage. It...

The NWC Merlin is a hard tracking boat. I gave away the one I made, but have paddled it on a number of occasions in flat and moving water. Upstream travel and crossing eddy lines is done with caution, or not at all. The rocker measurements are deceiving since the keel line is flat along 2/3 of...

Gamma, one other tip on using these plans. You'll notice that the keel line on the stem forms does not meet up with the keel line on last form on either end the way they usually do on canoe plans. At first I thought the designer left a space to accommodate an internal stem, but no, these plans...

Good choice. I built a slightly shortened version of that Merlin. It is a fast boat and tracks really well. Watch out when crossing eddy lines, this canoe wasn't designed for that. You may find that the last 2 stations in the stern need additional fairing. I'm pretty sure I didn't make a mistake...

As Rubbaboo said above, there are many possible routes that start in the Missinipe area. There are lake loops north of Missinipe starting from McClennan and Brabant Lakes as well as loops and out and backs using the Churchill River and its tributaries. Since it's your first trip, it might be...

This might be helpful to some of you who do paddle trips or camp on crown land in Ontario. A few years ago they changed how you buy these permits online. If you have used Ontario One-key website to get a permit, it is no longer valid. The old system was quite cryptic, and the new system is as...

Of course there are a number of portages on this route around rapids and falls. In addition, there are swifts and minor class 1's leading up to portages from both direction. This being Wabakimi, there are downed trees and other obstacles to paddling in the upstream direction. All I can say is...

Last May I paddled from the put in at Smye Lake and travelled downstream on the Flindt River, but I had no clue about the 2023 fire prior to my trip. I made it a ways, reached the burn and was determined to cut my way through the portages and make it to Wabakimi Lake and beyond. I broke my saw...

As you probably know, the apparent issue is with heating/cooling causing differential expansion of the gunwales vs the royalex. I don't know if the temperature itself is the issue. In a garage, the temperature increases and decreases slowly, so you are less likely to have cracks appear. As you...

Nancy, the Canoecraft book has plans for the Bobs Special. If you don't have that book, there is probably a snapshot of the page online that would give you the offsets. You can send the "reasonable fee" to Glen as a contribution to Canoetripping if you wish. Mark

They sell a 6 quart kit, which is what I would suggest. There's nothing wrong with having a little too much epoxy, compared with too little. Agreed on the thinner epoxy, and I would go with the non-blush slow hardener. Mark

It doesn't look bad at all. My boats look the same at that stage. Most of the shiny vs dull will be gone after a couple coats of varnish, especially if you use a semi gloss or satin. One more coat of epoxy will even things out better but is just extra weight. Once you use it and get in there...

I think others here do it like this. I do both stems first; a bias cut strip and a small panel in the tight stem area to get the hard part out of the way. I let the epoxy set or even leave it overnight. I then lay out the overlapping pieces, with the overlaps going in one direction. Once they...

It looks like alder to me, but a clear board 22"x14' would be unusual from my experience. I used some for thwarts on a really light canoe build. It is much lighter weight than other hardwoods but heavier than cedar or spruce. Weigh a board and see where the density falls. Mark

You could eliminate the center station to narrow it down a little. Mark

I have owned 2 canoes, a bell and a mad river, with the words “blem” or “2nd” clearly branded into the royalex. Both were minor cosmetic issues and hardly visible. I’m certain the original owners didn’t pay msrp. Your canoe seems to fit that description. If you paid with a credit card I would...

Lots of people are using kayak paddles these days in canoes, so it seems on topic enough, but I have never seen a leash used in a canoe. I get the entanglement concern in a river, but not so much in flat water. Do you care to elaborate on the flat water danger? In my sea kayak days I used a...

I just looked and saw this in the Osprey builders notes. Winters explanation is much better than mine with regard to station spacing. Thanks Mark