100% All-Natural, Zero-Chemical Canoe

[GladMax]

100% natural canoe. All wood parts hand carved. Original, one of a kind design combines Kalaallit Kayaks, Mi'kmaq Canoes, and Vietnamese Thung-Chai.
Frame is Ash and Walnut, finished with Tung Oil, and lashed with Hemp dyed with Walnut and rot proofed with Pine Tar.
Skin is is woven Cane and organic Canvas dyed with Walnut and rot proofed with Pine Tar, and sealed with Tung Oil.
12ft x 28in, 41.0lb.
Includes matching paddle of same woods plus Western Red Cedar blade and shaft core.
Built in 2023, stored inside, never wet.
Complete build story available at WoodPostBand dot Com, within 'Crafts' dropdown menu, 'Tamboura' section.
$14,700

 

[Dana]

That's beautiful!

But I can't imagine not floating it at least once...

 

[GladMax]

Thank you Dana. Tomorrow.
I made her, for me, what I wanted, but always in mind that she'd be for sale. A trophy for the den of a TypeA's lake retreat. To be admired, shown off, instead of paddled. And figured they'd prefer a 'virgin.'
But most of those types aren't versed in old school techniques, aren't aware oiled canvas is proven technology. And maybe they'd prefer knowing she floats is a proven fact.
Plus, ain't nobody buyin her, and I made her for me, because I want all-natural canoes. So tomorrow we head to the lake. And maybe next week to the river.

 

[Gamma1214]

Wow. Interesting methodology and looks like some really nice woodwork.

By all means, paddle it. I suppose there's something to be said for the trailer queens & display boats hanging from rafters but things that are meant to be used should be used & enjoyed (IMO).

 

[Dana]

Is that a portage yoke or just a decorative thwart? Because if it's a yoke it's nowhere near the balance point.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Complete build story available at WoodPostBand dot Com, within 'Crafts' dropdown menu, 'Tamboura' section.
$14,700

Here is page 1 of the Tamboura pages:

WoodPostBand - Tamboura, pg1

Tamboura, pg1. WoodPostBand

woodpostband.com

New rule: Site gets 1% of all sales over $14,000 USD.

 

[GladMax]

I suppose there's something to be said for the trailer queens & display boats hanging from rafters but things that are meant to be used should be used & enjoyed (IMO).

Trailer queens and rafter displays are only worth the dream they inspire, and if they do not/can not function then the dream is a false promise. It may not be the wisest choice tor ride that '32 Panhead to Sturgis, but I hope it's ridden on local backroads. Tamboura is designed and assembled for surf crashing and at least Class III, but I hope she experiences more than ponds and small lakes.
Thing is, she is not my boat. She is meant for another, so I can continue to create them.

Is that a portage yoke or just a decorative thwart?

I get that a lot. It is a decorative carved thwart intended to invoke a seagull, or a skate, while riffing on idea of portage thwart. The rear thwart is likewise too far aft to be a true backrest, it is a decorative carving intended to invoke arms leaning back onto the gunnels, the rear wing of a race car, and stag horns. They are carvings, they had to be something, this is what these became. I have a stash of cherry root, some canoe in the future is planned to have thwarts that look like currents twisting through Class IV rapids.

Here is page 1 of the Tamboura pages:

Thanks. Wasn't sure of legalities of internal post links, had copied/pasted ad from Craigslist listing.

Site gets 1% of all sales over $14,000 USD.

Site can have 100% of earnings over $14,000USD for Tamboura, no matter which of her many listings the sale comes from. A life goal of mine is to make a canoe that at least one person agrees is worth $90,000USD, be happy to part with 1% of over $14k on that one too.

 

[Benson Gray]

A life goal of mine is to make a canoe that at least one person agrees is worth $90,000USD

Every canoe that I know about which has sold for more than $90K was made by someone who died a long time ago as shown in the picture below. Living builders usually get much less for similar canoes as indicated in the following link. A high auction price usually requires at least two people who think a canoe is worth that much. Good luck,

Benson

Scale Model Wooden Canoes, Miniature Specs & Base Prices | Island Falls Canoe

Review the structural specifications and base prices for our artisan scale model wooden canoes. Browse past miniature replicas built as collector displays and architectural showcase pieces.

www.islandfallscanoe.com

 

[GladMax]

Those are great pictures, Benson, thank you.

Yes, creating a canoe considered equally worthy as a high end bass boat is a lofty goal. Shoot for the stars. If you don't make your target, at least you were the best you could have been.

When wood-canvas canoes came out, they were considered ugly, mass-produced junk. People bought them in such numbers that they took over the market... because they were cheap. The exact same thing happened when aluminum replaced wood-canvas, and when plastic replaced aluminum. Canoes used to be short yachts but the niche has been largely abandoned, left open. There are most certainly individuals who can afford $90k canoes out looking for exactly that type of object, if they knew the specific object would exist.

All those canoes you showed me, even if collector's items made by legends, were of machine made parts assembled on mass production forms. Tamboura is completely hand carved, could only be hand carved, and she is of an original one of a kind design. She is my second canoe. If I continue to push my envelope in making the most intricately and artistically carved, creatively conceived canoes that I can, if I am provided enough of my natural expected life time as would be expected in normal times, I see no difficulty imagining two people competing for my lifetime masterpiece could bring it's new-sale price to at or above $90k.

And the one who would win will have seen Tamboura or a subsequent boat of mine, and know I don't stop until every half square centimeter is shaped, by hand to a shape only possible to be shaped by hand, till it all harmonizes just right.

 

[GladMax]

Took on 1/4 cup of water in first 10min, no more thereafter for next hour. About to be expected, better (less leak plus quicker take-up) than decent built plank-on-frame canoe I think.
More stable than I feared: about same as my 10ft Northstar ADK-LT.
Not as fast as I'd hoped: about same as my 13ft Mohawk Royalex.
Not as straight as I'd hoped, maybe bit turnier than the Mohawk.
Fully as amazing as my mood allowed it to be, far more profoundly thrilling a nature connection than any chemical canoe of my experience.
Next week: my usual river.