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KO, is this a canoe you have bought, or are thinking of buying? Grumman made three different kinds of keel, as shown in the brochure in Benson's link. The most common ("standard") has a T-shaped cross section, essentially it's a long skinny fin extending about 1-1/2" below the bottom of the...

Awesome, MKH! Is that Lake Moomaw?

Yakima also sells a "side load assist bar" that allows you to load and unload your canoe from the side of the vehicle, one end at a time. $129 bucks? You gotta be kidding! I found a scrap length of galvanized 1/2" water pipe that fits perfectly inside my Yakima round bars. Does the same...

It took quite a bit of trial and error to get the outer stem to fit the boat "as built," rather than "as imagined." Yesterday I finally installed it, with expensive #14 x 4" bronze screws and generous quantities of gap filling epoxy. The dowels are plugs for screw holes and will be cut off...

Thanks for following the build, jdeerfoot.

Here's the port sheer strake without all those clamps. Designer Karl Stambaugh knows how to draw a really nice curve.

Nice work, MKH! And thanks for your report on strength, cost, and durability of skin-on-frame. Dave Gentry designs lots of wonderful boats. Be sure to start a thread in the boat construction forum.

Excellent article, Odyssey. Note the "crooked canoe" in the foreground of the Lake Itasca water color, ...similar to the one in Adney and Chapelle's Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. It must have been tough to paddle on a windy lake. The posture of the bow paddler in the...

It could be that this axe head has two different types of metal. The working edge would be a higher carbon steel that could be hardened and tempered. The body of the head could be a lower carbon steel, or even wrought iron. The two types of metal would be forge welded together...

Always looking to save a buck, I just stumbled upon an extensive series of free maps put out by the WV DNR. These are georeferenced PDF files and can be used with the Avenza mapping app on your smart device. They are good resources for paddling, hiking, hunting, fishing, and camping. There...

Guys, you are right about the unfortunate situation with private land ownership. $76 does not match my definition of "primitive camping." Would we were as enlightened as Scotland, where there is a "right to roam" law. On the South Fork of the Shenandoah, much of the land on river left between...

Greetings, MKH. Mine hurt, too, from paddling on Saturday. That's why I'm up at 4.30 AM applying Ben Gay. Where are you in VA? There's plenty of good canoeing here. I paddled the Maury River near Lexington on Saturday, Class I-II. You just missed the spring gathering of the Coastal...

Glenn, don't be dissin' my good ol' Norse paddle shovel!

Kokatat Women's Hydrus 3.0 Stoke Dry Top, size M. Brand new, never worn. Wife does not like neck gasket (never trimmed). (Photo from Internet) $250. Located Shenandoah Valley, VA. "The Women's Kokatat Hydrus 3.0 Stoke Dry Top has an action-cut design for maximum mobility and the...

I had the Prospecteur Sport out on Sunday, paddling tandem on a Class II river. I concur that it is an excellent hull design. It is maneuverable yet behaves well in wind. It is dry in standing waves and does not pound. It should do a good job serving its intended purpose as a weekend camp...

I named a previous canoe "Pinato," so one of my current ones should become "Pinato II." Why? In 1689 my great x 7 grandfather was a witness in a land dispute case in the Accomack County, VA court. He testified that, along with several other English colonists and "an Indian named Pinato," he...

I work in spurts. With the sheer strakes in place, it's time to fit the outer stem. To match the inner and outer stems as closely as possible, I used a technique from Sam Rabl's Boatbuilding in Your Own Back Yard. I attached the outer stem loosely, and then ran a Japanese saw between the two...

I'm glad that stump didn't turn out to be a gator.

Brad Dimock, Sunk Without a Sound: The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde. In 1928, recently married Glen and Bessie Hyde set out on a trip down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Their boat was a crudely constructed wooden scow, with sweep oars bow and stern. Glen had...

Kokatat Bahia Tour. This model may have been discontinued, but there are several other Bahia PFDs. 17 lb floatation in Large size. Partial mesh back to accommodate kayak seats (not important to open canoeists). Big mesh pockets to carry lots of stuff, including a dedicated pocket for a radio...