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Hello, any advice before I go...?

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Hello fellow dawn treaders...

I find myself in the unique position of being free as a bird, with no responsibilities, and a major case of wanderlust. About 9 days from now I push off for a life long voyage into the unknown.

The first leg will be a gear testing, and canoe designing, 8 month wander down the Rideau Canal to Ottawa, then up the Ottawa all the way to Temiskaming Shores, back down and across the Mattawa and French rivers to Georgian Bay then al the way around to Kingston, Ontario, where my youngest sails a 49'er and goes to University.

Based on the experience gained, build the right boat over the winter, and push off spring of 2016 to circumnavigate North and South America. Not necessarily all ocean, definitely going to use the intercoastal, and maybe the Colorado,etc. No schedule planned, and assuming lots of audibles and plan changes along the way. Plan on hitch hiking and hitch sailing some parts. (I am a very competent sailor). Have already testing hitch hiking with a canoe and packs and it worked fine.

Some background.

- I am a mathematician developing a Unified Field Theory, and looking forward to lots of time and solitude to do the work.

- I camped for 7 months straight lady year, so I know a bit about what is involved. I also canoed every day, including going across half paddling, half hauling my beater canoe across the half frozen ice during freeze up. Slept in my canoe many nights, very comfortably.

- In the stupidest move of my life, went through a Muskrat hole in what was otherwise three feet of ice this spring, somehow got out, didn't realize I had hypothermia, and didn't bother to go to the hospital till 24 hours later. If you ever read that hypothermia affects your ability to think rationally, it is true. Can't remember anything but a few snatches for the fist 18 hours after going through. Don't try this at home, Professional stupidity required.

- Spent a month this winter living outside, so that doesn't scare me.

- Owned a factory that made custom upholstered ergonomic chairs and furniture for 20 years, and I was the kind of owner that worked on the floor every week, so building a boat and paddles is right in my wheelhouse. Designed all my own machines from scratch.

- went to Art School part time for two years to learn how to draw and draft to do the math. Can draw Really well.

So, questions.

1. Can anyone point me towards online canoe design resources, or existing canoes that I should be on the lookout for, to base my lines off of? I plan on drawing the plans all the way through the next 8 months, and am hoping to bump into lots of other trippers to talk canoe and paddle design, try their gear, etc.

2. My current thought is to build a skin boat, using Cuben Fiber or Canvas, over a wood frame. Eventually, I would like to go all out and go with Birch Bark, but baby steps first. Any comments or advice on that would be appreciated.

That's about it. Hope you all have a great season if we don't get to 'meet' before I go. Will drop in from time to time with updates when I can barter for some computer time.

Feanor
 
Stick to polyester or nylon for a skin on frame boat. Carbon fiber is for laminating in resin. Birch bark canoes aren't necessarily designed. They are just built with a simple jig that is set up by eye.

Northwest canoe, bear mountain boats, paddling light, and guillemot kayaks are good websites for plans. Some of them even have free plans.

If you want to design a canoe, get John Winters' book The Shape of the Canoe from greenval boats. Also Preliminary Design of Boats and Ships by Cyrus Hamlin. In fact read as many books as you can get your hands on. Read as much as you can at boatdesign.net even if it isn't specifically about canoes. Ask the guys here about materials. They know what kind of abuse expedition canoes take.

You'd probably be better off building a boat from existing plans, but what's the fun in that! Good luck. It will keep you up at night, and you'll never be satisfied with your design because you will always learn something new.

ETA: If you're planning on open water take a good look at a Kruger sea wind or dreamcatcher to buy or use as a base for a design. I doubt you'll make it around Cape Horn in a canoe though.

Edit to add again: I don't know what would be harder, Cape Horn in a canoe or coming up with a unified field theory.
 
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My immediate thought is that a Pak canoe would be very good for your purposes. If you are not familiar with them, here is the link. http://pakboats.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86&Itemid=147

These fold up into backpacks of about 50 pounds. I know of several people who have used them for very rugged Arctic trips, primarily because it saved them a ton of money during the flights. I have never heard a bad review of the Pak canoe, and in general it seems that people are really quite surprised by their durability and paddling qualities.

If I were to "hitch-canoe", I think it might be my choice.
 
I second the Verlen Kruger designs. I paddle the ocean a lot and do not like kayak seating. The sea canoe seating is perfect for me. Because they are decked and can have an additional spray cover they provide the seaworthiness of a kayak. They have just a bit more windage but are quick. The Pakcanoes cited by mem float higher and are raft like in handling. I havent found ours much fun on the Gulf of Maine ( ocean). It catches a lot of wind and twists and turns within the flexible hull

I am not sure at all about the rounding of Cape Horn...that is scary in any craft to me.
 
I would urge a lot of caution paddling the ocean solo, especially the Southern Ocean and the far North. Paddling the Colorado R has been done in canoes but it has some of the biggest rapids in the world.
 
Have fun.
Don't sweat the small stuff.
It's not a race so the daily miles you make are not important.
Have fun.
Did I mention have fun?

I'm green with envy.
 
I would say that birch bark canoes were/are totally design!! I think for what you want to do, a Kruger canoe sounds like a great choice!!
 
I am in love.

The Krueger Seawing is the boat for me. As someone who put his heart and soul into perfecting a product and achieving world's best status, I could never just copy it. I am going to modify my plan and paddle over to an area where a lot of rich folks live by the water in their million dollar homes, live in my boat, and work the 200 hours or so it will take to buy a brand new one.

A very big thank you to Muskrat, Robin Lauer, and everyone else for the spot on and fast assistance. If we ever meet up at a headwaters, I owe you a green tea on me. :--)

Mamaquay, thanks for the suggestion, but, the Krueger just feels like me more than the folding boat.

CubEn Fiber. This is a new type of ultra light, ultra strong non-woven fabric. It is four times stronger than Kevlar for the same weight.

I would never try the Cape in a Canoe, but might venture the Straights of Magellan... But there is a map here:

http://scottsboatpages.blogspot.ca/2013/06/kruger-sea-wind-canoe.html

That lay out a great route. Take the intercoastal from The St. Lawrence to the Keys, then back up the Mississippi, Minesota, and Red Rivers to Manitoba, down the red route to Baja, up the coast and green route to the arctic, then down the red route to The a Straights of Magellan. Although a long way, there isn't anything crazy dangerous in that. Normal dangerous, yes, but not crazy. :--)

Anyway, that's the plan. We'll see how far I get before I've had enough.

Oh, and I already have the unified field theory solved. If anyone is really interested, if you go here:

http://www.thebyteshow.com/Audio/Jo...atHermeticaAndTheJanusAge2_18June2014_TBS.mp3

You will find an audio interview with Dr. Joseph Farrell, an Oxford trained historian. If you advance to the 40 minute mark, and listen for 8 and a half minutes he quotes Descartes, Newton, and Leibnitz describing an ancient form of math, geometry more specifically, and topology even more specifically, that could solve all problems. This topology cannot be described with either words or numbers, but only with a series of drawings, kind of like a storyboard to a movie. This is what I have discovered, and it takes a long time to do the drawings. Hence my purpose of going out into the wild for extended time alone to work. I happened across the movie Waterwalker about Bill Mason and realized that would work very well for me.

Thanks again everyone.

Feanor
 
I would say that birch bark canoes were/are totally design!! I think for what you want to do, a Kruger canoe sounds like a great choice!!

I agree traditional birch bark canoes are certainly well designed, just not in the modern sense of the word with pencil and paper or a computer. Each builder was a designer in their own right, more of a sculpter really, designing in three dimensions and letting the selected materials mold the shape as much as they did.

I thought the cuben was a typo, looks like an interesting engineering material, although ugly for a canoe skin.
 
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