Nessmuk Canoe

[RJP]

More canoe questions, but I don't think this has been mentioned.
Has anybody tried a Nessmuk style canoe?
I quite like the idea.
Secondly, any UK sources for a Nessmuk style canoe?
I have found a few from the US which are quite pricey plus there is the issue of shipping it over.
Any comments welcome,
Rob.

 

[Hoodoo]

I had a Bell Bucktail for a couple years. Dang thing was pretty tippy. If you don't mind getting wet once in awhile, it's ok. I put pontoons on mine so I could use it for fishing. The short length did not make for easy tracking, even with a double ended paddle. With the pontoons, it made a great one-man fishing boat. Very light, easy in and easy out of the water. But eventully I replaced it with a Bell Merlin II which is a far superior canoe imo and still awfully light to portage. In Kevlar, it's as light as the bucktail. BTW, ol' Nessmuk tipped his canoe a time or two as well.

 

[bothyman]

>> Try this>> http://www.selway-fisher.com/Opcan15.htm


I like the Little Kate version

I have seriously thought of building one myself but never got round too it. :wave:

 

[jocc]

http:// Rob

I think that "Nessmuk" is not a style of canoe but a manufacture

I assume that you want to do canoe camping

you should look at the "prospector" type like the one "Hoodoo's" has



I have a Wen-on-ah they are imported into the UK as are Old Town

http://www.wenonah.com/
http://www.otccanoe.com/

John

 

[tomtom]

John, nessmuk was an american outdoors man living some years ago (someone will fill you in on when hoodoo??) who wrote a number of books on woodcraft outdoors and canoeing!

the "nessmuk" style canoe is simply one of the same kind of design favord by him. to the best of my knolage there is no company called nessmuk making canoes.

 

[jocc]

Hi Tomtom

Thanks for that every day I learn somthing

John

 

[tomtom]

John, i would offer to lend you Nessmuks Camping and Woodcraft but i don't have my copy at the moment, if you come across a copy i would say its certainly worth a read!

 

[bambodoggy]

I always saw Nussmuk canoes as homemade and ridiculously small.... apart from that it's just a canoe! ):

Nussmuk has written some great books but what's interesting is to read how he writes them....you know straight away that he's spent years and years learning his craft and also that he was from the very old school of woodcraft. Some of the things he says and the way he says them aren't very PC by modern standards but most are still very true if adapted for modern readers.....

Hey Tomtom....didn't you like (read: not like) what he said about the english somewhere in one of his books? :rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao:

 

[bambodoggy]

John...are you coming to the Ashdown meet up? If you are I'll bring my copy and you should be able to finnish it in a weekend....

Otherwise get it here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...577/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-8091843-3428434

 

[RJP]

Thanks for that guys, :wave:
The Nessmuk is a style rather than a make, a small Canadian paddled with a kayak paddle. The idea (I think?) and reason I am interested is that it is lighter and more easy pack than a kayak.
Bothyman, thanks for the Selway Fisher link, the kits pictured are available from a link on that site and look quite good (http://www.jordanboats.co.uk/?Action=CNC2) and cost a lot less than a custom job and weigh about the same. As I am only interested in flat water paddling should be fine.

Just will have to try and find time to build one!

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Bob Hurley]

George Washington Sears was born in South Oxford (now Webster) Massachusetts in 1821. He was small, frail, and of poor health most of his life. He only served briefly in the Union Army in the American Civil War before being discharged for health reasons. He wrote under the pen name "Nessmuk", mostly articles for "Forest and Stream" magazine.

If you read his "Woodcraft and Camping" you will think he was a master woodsman and the originator of "go-light" camping. Reading his other works you will discover that he was a camp mooch, and was able to travel so lightly because he availed himself of the hospitality of every tourist lodge and hunting camp he passed.

He must have indeed *known* some superior woodsmen, but I doubt he was one himself. I very much enjoy his writing, but I realize that he was not quite as he presented himself.

I have a boat of similar size, mine is a light Cajun pirogue of thin fiberglass. It is tippy, squirrelly, and has very little freeboard even when lightly loaded - it's a specialized craft made as basic transportation in very still, very shallow water. It frightens most who ride in it except very good canoeists. In spite of the slight difference in purpose, I doubt the Nessmuk canoes are much different, and they were sized at the minimum for his 100# weight. It will serve, but you are at the mercy of the wind and waves.

 

[bambodoggy]

Nussmuk has written some great books but what's interesting is to read how he writes them....you know straight away that he's spent years and years learning his craft and also that he was from the very old school of woodcraft.

Lol...I stand very much corrected Bob! Thanks! :wave:

 

[tomtom]

bob the nessmuk discussion is an interesting one and im sure theres a lot of interesting points of view, but this threads about a certain style of canoes.. do you have and links/pics of your boat!

 

[bothyman]

Try these Links >> http://www.rtpnet.org/robroy/books/gws/N1A.HTM

>> http://www.rtpnet.org/robroy/books/gws/C.HTM

:wave:

 

[Bob Hurley]

bob the nessmuk discussion is an interesting one and im sure theres a lot of interesting points of view, but this threads about a certain style of canoes.. do you have and links/pics of your boat!

Hi Tomtom,


The thread is about a "Nessmuk" canoe, I'd be remiss not to point out the shortcomings of the boat, and I can't make that argument credibly without showing Nessmuk's bias.

Mine canoe isn't a Nessmuk, it's a southern U.S. version of similar purpose called a pirogue - small, light, shallow draft, still waters only. I have the Chapman Copperhead seen here: http://www.pirogue.com/copper.htm

 

[tomtom]

looks like a nice boat to me!!

what type of water is it best suited to.. do you paddle it with a double or single blade?

 

[Bob Hurley]

looks like a nice boat to me!!

what type of water is it best suited to.. do you paddle it with a double or single blade?

It's for calm, shallow water - swamps, backwaters, beaver runs. It will handle open water if the weather isn't rough, it's a treacherous little thing in fast water but it will serve in the right hands (not mine). A friend who's been a river guide for years took it through some rapids without incident, but I'm not up to that task.

Usually a single blade narrow square tip paddle that can be used to push against the bottom in "thin" water without ruining the paddle, and I keep a standard wideblade single paddle for crossing open water. I bought the cyprus paddles, there should be pictures of them on that site.

 

[Hoodoo]

He must have indeed *known* some superior woodsmen, but I doubt he was one himself. I very much enjoy his writing, but I realize that he was not quite as he presented himself.

Interesting. Where is your evidence for this? Can you give me specific examples where Nessmuk has made claims about himself that are unsupported by the facts?

 

[bothyman]

If you fancy a Pirogue you should try

>> http://www.unclejohns.com/boat/default.htm

Lots of Pic's :yikes:

 

[jocc]

John...are you coming to the Ashdown meet up? If you are I'll bring my copy and you should be able to finnish it in a weekend....

Hi Bambodoggy

Thanks for the offer but I am canoeing the upper wye that weekend