Wooden Canoe made with Mark V

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:51 pm

Great looking canoe and BOW.

markap · Post by **markap** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:22 am

Beautiful boat and great photos. I looked on the Northwest Canoe site and don't see anything called the 38 Special. Did they rename it?

Thanks,
Mark

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:26 am

Hi & welcome. That is one Super job!

tom_k/mo · Post by **tom_k/mo** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:27 am

What a beautiful work of art and GREAT documentation. Thanks for the link to the additional photos. The best part of the whole project had to be the father and son bonding. Thanks again.

woodbender · Post by **woodbender** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:58 am

markap wrote:Beautiful boat and great photos. I looked on the Northwest Canoe site and don't see anything called the 38 Special. Did they rename it?

Thanks,
Mark

Mark - good catch. Yes they did rename that canoe. It USED to be the "big sister" of the Merlin just blown up 3.8% (hence the "old" name 38 Special).

It is now called the NorthWest Merlin 160.

Chris decided to call it The Kestrel because it is sleek and fast and wind does not affect it much. The canoe was designed as a solo tripper for extended camping trips. It is an open lake canoe meaning that it is fairly sure footed on open water with wind and chop. Chris wanted something that could get his bacon off the lake in a hurry if a squall line was roaring in.

Thanks!

dlbristol · Post by **dlbristol** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:20 am

Do you think it would be acceptable to take the moaning chair, A boat house tool, and adapt it to a "mission style" shop? The purpose outlined seems to be roughly parallel to a need I experience often. How thick is the padding? Thanks for sharing, Nice work, and it is nice to see a father and son at work together. I love the statement that it is to be used. I just finished rebuilding an old rocker that my wife had. At least 75 years old and in need of lots of help. It was may have been made by one of her great grand fathers, her grand mother used it for years, her Dad started the rebuild, and I finished it. I'm not one to get " all misty" about old stuff, but there was in the project, a real sense of connection to the others who worked on the chair.

dlbristol · Post by **dlbristol** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:27 am

Do you think it would be acceptable to take the moaning chair, A boat house tool, and adapt it to a "mission style" shop? The purpose outlined seems to be roughly parallel to a need I experience often. How thick is the padding? Thanks for sharing, Nice work, and it is nice to see a father and son at work together. I love the statement that it is to be used. I just finished rebuilding an old rocker that my wife had. At least 75 years old and in need of lots of help. It was may have been made by one of her great grand fathers, her grand mother used it for years, her Dad started the rebuild, and I finished it. I'm not one to get " all misty" about old stuff, but there was in the project, a real sense of connection to the others who worked on the chair.

edflorence · Post by **edflorence** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:47 pm

Tim...

wonderful job on the canoe...thanks for the photos and the details of your experience. I have a question, though...I have also built a strip canoe ("Micmac") and a strip dinghy (William Atkin's "Vintage".) The woodworking part of these projects was a blast...very satisfying to deal with a complex shape and very rewarding to have a useful end product. The fiberglassing and epoxying, however, was sufficiently unpleasant that I don't want to do another boat with this method. I would be interested to hear if you had the same experience.

I really like the shape control that strip-buliding gives the builder, just wish a light canoe could be built that way minus the glassing.

anyway, your boat came out great and it looks like it will serve your son well for years. Its a real testimony to your skill and to the capabilities of the ShopSmith.

woodbender · Post by **woodbender** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:13 pm

edflorence wrote:Tim... The fiberglassing and epoxying, however, was sufficiently unpleasant that I don't want to do another boat with this method. I would be interested to hear if you had the same experience.

Hi Ed, thanks for the comments.

We did a LOT of homework on fiberglassing before leaping into it. We bought a DVD from Newfound Woodworks which is also the same company that sold us our fiberglass and epoxy. Very good presentation on the DVD on how to do this fiberglassing procedure. Well worth the money.

The epoxy we used was System Three Silvertip Laminating and for a couple greenhorns like us it was as forgiving as it gets. Outstanding stuff. The outside glassing went so well that we were thinking "what's all the fuss about?". The inside however got downright frantic there for a minute.

Would I do it again?

I'm already starting our second canoe. This time it's for me and my better half so it's a two seater not a single.

You don't really save any money doing this yourself. (just the opposite) But even if you start with the same design as someone else there is NObody else in the world who has a canoe like yours.

Not one sliver is "Made in China". And you don't get "Bob from Bangladesh" if you call tech support. "You is it".

john · Post by **john** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:24 pm

Tim:

Fantastic job! As others have said, your son will cherish it for many years.

John

Shopsmith Forums

Wooden Canoe made with Mark V

Maoning chair

Maoning chair