Osprey Build

[memaquay]

By some weird coincidence, Stripperguy and I are both building at the same time. I've been following his progress keenly, because the canoe he is building, The Kite, isthe latest incarnation of one of my favorite solo's, the Osprey. I decided to build the Osprey this year after I had trouble with my back last year. I had built John Winter's Raven in 2009, but made it bombproof, which translated into fairly heavy. So I'm looking at trying to bring the new Osprey in at around 40 pounds, which will be pretty light for me.
Anyway, started the process by cutting up cedar for the stems. I lIke both internal and external stems, and the cedar doesn't really add a lot of weight. This is my high tech soaking machine that gets them ready for steaming.


After a day or two, I throw them into my equally high tech steamer for about a half an hour.


The cedar bends like a wet noodle after being steamed. It will stay on the form for two or three days the I will glue them and shape them.


Here's a shot of the Osprey. Those forms have built two or three.


And shown below is the main difference between the Osprey and the Kite. It looks like the Kite has the knuckle running the whole length of the canoe, while the Osprey kind of slides back to normal.


More pics in a few days.

 

[stripperguy]

memequay,
I'm at work and our firewall prevents me from seeing your photos...I can't wait to get home and see what you've posted.
If you're looking to build this Osprey around 40 lbs, what was the weight of the Raven? I'm guessing it was more than 40.
I'm shooting for 25 lb with the Kite.
What is your planned build up, any Kevlar or carbon? Or maybe nylon or Vectra? Unless you're planning to survive a nuclear attack, I would think you can be far below that 40 lb target.

And I'm guessing that you like the performance of the Osprey, I paddled that hull in a Swift production boat. Between that test ride and seeing your photos, I ended up with this Kite design.
As I continually shrink with age, I need lighter and lighter equipment to keep active in the style that I enjoy most.

 

[memaquay]

My canoes take a pretty good beating, fair amount of river running, and I'm none to gentle. I'll probably stick with my standard build of a small football of 4 ounce glass and a layer of six for the bottom of the hull, and one layer of six for the inside. I've found anything lighter will usually bust up under adverse use. Going to be using spruce for gunwales, no decks.

The Raven was built as a work canoe. I used white pine for strips and a fair amount of layering, thicker gunwales out of oak, substantial decks and grab handles. I would put it at about 65 to 70 pounds. The weight didn't used to matter, but it does now. I use a wenonah spirit 11 sometimes for a tandem, and it comes in at 44 pounds, and feels light as a feather, so I'll be happy if the osprey is around that as well.

 

[Guest]

My brother is a carpenter/contractor. As a tradesman myself, sometimes I'm on one of his construction/reno jobs. When I can, I stand aside, unseen in a corner, and just watch him work his wood magic. I'm enjoying watching all you guys & gals work your own wood canoe magic. Don't mind me. I'll stay out of the way. Keep the photos and instructions coming, I'm loving this.

 

[Rippy]

Alright, another project canoe to watch brought forth to life. Are you using cedar for the strips also? Do you have them cut. Will you buy a seat or build one? I guess if I could be patient I would find out as you built it. Hurry up dammit.

 

[memaquay]

I have some local white cedar right now, it's kind of naughty, oops, I mean knotty, but I'm really wanting to get busy, so I might just rip it up tomorrow. I always build my own seats and all the other fix in's too. If you look carefully in one of the pics, you will see a chestnut pal stripper one of my students is building.

 

[stripperguy]

memequay,
I had an equally high tech steamer made from some 3" PVC pipe and a wall paper steamer!
I see two strippers in the background, one finished on an upper shelf, and the student's in process hull, still on the forms.
It looks like you have a great work space there.
Do you teach boat building? I do too, but it's more of a virtual mentoring kind of thing, through the internet.

 

[memaquay]

I'm usually helping at least one or two people a year in town. I'm sure at some point, our little town will have the highest percentage of strippers in the North. Ooops, that didn't sound right. Well, you know what I mean!

 

[Seeker]

I'm usually helping at least one or two people a year in town. I'm sure at some point, our little town will have the highest percentage of strippers in the North. Ooops, that didn't sound right. Well, you know what I mean!

Still, might be good for the tourist trade, if you want it.

 

[Patchfly]

April thru July, 2013 - thats when I built my very first cedar strip canoe. It was one heck of an adventure, but... I don't quite have it in me, to do another one yet. Sooooo much work. Maybe some day. Until then, I'll enjoy the one I have. I'm looking forward to watching the progress and seeing the finished product!!!

 

[memaquay]

So we are on the turn around day between semesters, and i had a couple of free hours today. Managed to glue the stems and cut up all the wood. Got three so-so pieces of 2x6x16 red cedar at the local lumber yard, and cut up some local cedar too.


Got one really nice dark 16 footer with hardly any knots. Don't now if i'll be able to wait for the shop teacher to set up the shaper, might come in this weekend and bead and cove them on the router so i can get started.

 

[stripperguy]

I'd say you're pretty lucky to have all that working space! Do you cut your strips in various lengths? I always cut my strips from the same length stock, and snap off the lengths that I need. The short excess pieces are saved for decks and bulkheads.
Are you putting any decks or bulkheads in/on?

 

[memaquay]

I was hoping to keep the 16 footer intact, but they recently re-organized the shop and there wasn't enough room behind the table saw, so I just halved them. No decks or bulkheads for this one. I've never installed bulkheads before, as my experience in white water has shown me that they will float once tipped without them.

 

[Rippy]

Hey sassy boy. Need a picture of you sitting in the middle of the wood strip pile holding a paddle. Sort of a before and after. Don't get in too big a hurry, you'll need all your fingers and thumbs for paddling this year. XXOO Rippy

 

[Rippy]

Did you use a table saw or band saw to rip the the strips. I need to know these things being I'm Rippy.

 

[memaquay]

Ha ha Rippy, just for you , I used a "rip" saw. Actually table saw with a very thin blade. Table saw is hooked up to the vacuum system, so that noxious cedar dust gets sucked away. Not going to thickness plane these ones, they cut pretty fair.

 

[Rippy]

I always build my own seats and all the other fix in's too.

Say Mem, will you be building a custom seat for "Rocky" the fluffy white killer cat? Might be handy to have on trips. Just say'n.

 

[Rippy]

Looks like some crazy guy hacked my account a said crazy things. I'll have to be more careful after this. Anyway in SG's build thread you said you might not paint your Osprey when finished now. If you do paint it what type of paint works best for a canoe project. If I ever build one I plan on doing a WC style boat and painting the outside green. Thought about a chum like Robins only setting it up solo like Mihun.

Have you had time to work on the Osprey? Looking forward to see your progress.

 

[memaquay]

Going to get some more done on it today, busy schedule right now, so an hour here and there, might post a picture later. I usually just use a marine paint I get at the hardware store, dirt cheap. The Great White Bear Killer took on a car one day and lost, so I'll just have to stick with my trusty gun!

 

[Rippy]

Sorry to hear about "Killer" . I guess it went out in a blaze of glory taking on a car and all. I'll check back in a few days for some pics. Good luck on selling the Raven over in classifieds.