Maiden voyage

[Sven]

After just over 6 months I finally got the cruiser out on the water!
The Mrs. and myself went out last Saturday, thanks to the kindness of my parents for watching our 4 boys for a few hours. I was very pleased with how it handles compared to my old town plastic behemoth. Can you say oil can?
Anyhow, the cruiser tracks nicely and glides very well. It seems to me that the much narrower profile on the stem makes for quiet movement compared to what I'm accustomed to.

It sure was a good feeling to finally be able to use it! I now have a better understanding of the "addiction" all of the other builders suffer from...

 

[Sven]

No Title

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

Congratulations on your cruiser build. Looks great. Did you name your new ride?

 

[Mrindy]

That looks awesome, congrats!

 

[Guest]

Beautiful canoe.

Deserves a couple beautiful paddles. I seriously doubt my abilities (or patience) to build a canoe, but I have built a couple of paddles.

Helpful book on paddle construction:

https://www.amazon.com/Canoe-Paddles-Complete-Guide-Making/dp/1552095258

 

[Sven]

No Title

Thanks for the kind words!
SFM, I have not picked a name yet.

Mike, I did make paddles, they however did not make the maiden voyage since the varnish was still very fresh.
I used Gil gilpatrick's method to make them, with a slight variation when applying the rope to the edge. His method says to apply the rope to a flat blade edge. I decided to put a concave edge on it to increase adhesion and also avoid gaps that would need filler before glassing.

 

[Sven]

Mike,
On another note if you built paddles, I bet you have the abilities to build a canoe.
Do what I did to get started and build one at half or quarter scale. Then put it on display in your shop or wherever. I built my scale model from 3 layers of 6 oz glass using a fabric form method. It was pretty simple to make the mold.

 

[Guest]

Nice looking paddles too, and a neat job with the edging.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Great Job !
6 months isn't bad ! My first took 9 months. And yours looks a whole lot better !
Enjoy !
Thanks ! It was fun following along, and Thank your family for allowing you the time to build !
The Addiction ! It's like riding a bike ! Once you learn how, you don't stop riding !
Congrats !

Jim

 

[Sven]

Thanks Mike,
The paddles were a lot easier to make than I expected. I did a quick count of the individual pieces of wood, and came up with 21. Kinda blew my mind when I thought about it.

Jim.
Thanks again for your encouragement and guidance along the way. I'm hoping I will be able to shave some time off the build on my "next one".

This time next week I will be hitting the water at entry point 16 of the BWCA and heading up to Iron lake/curtain falls area in the cruiser for 8 days. I have a feeling she will be a little scraped and scratched by the time the trip is over. Oh well...can't wait!

 

[wingnut]

Have a great time on your trip and don't worry too much about the scrapes. They look a lot better after a quick sanding and another coat of Polyurethane. I like the easy to fix ability of a stripper as opposed to a gel coated boat. I found a Magic in great condition but ended up selling it because I didn't want to be the one to scratch up such a nice boat.

 

[Sven]

Thanks wingnut, I need a little break from my daily grind (daddy daycare). The trip should be good for the soul. I love my kids, but can't wait for school to start for the older 2 boys.

 

[snapper]

Nice looking canoe. Your "crew" looks pleased as well. Congratulations on your new craft. I hope you'll enjoy it for years to come.

Until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[BWCA66]

Beautiful canoe, have fun on your trip. A scratched canoe is a happy canoe!