Prospector canoe

[gunnix]

My better half and me just finished a prospector earlier this week. She has also made a paddle. I have learned shipbuilding last year and this year we have learned building canoes among other things from Bo Weslien on sjovik in Sweden.

For some reason I can't get the picture to be shown directly here:

Bigger size of the pictures if you click on them on this blog:
http://sarahmonicaterino.blogspot.com/2008/05/handwork-canoe-building.html

Thanks for looking
Gunnar

 

[Steve27752]

Now that is SUPERB! Well done to the pair of you; how does it sit in the water?

 

[John Fenna]

Oh!
That is sweet!
You must get a real buzz from paddling that beauty.
An excellent job!

 

[SimonM]

Looks great - you must be really proud of your work!

Simon

 

[Tor helge]

Very nice. Looks like a superb job.
What does it weigh?

Tor

 

[brancho]

Very nice looking boat

 

[gunnix]

Thanks for your too kind words

The canoe sits really well in the water, it was great to paddle it with two, I really like the prospector model.

Tor, it should weigh around 34 kg. These kind of boats weigh so little because of the light spruce ribs and planks, which are 6mm and 4mm thick on this one. Coming from the usual wooden boatbuilding I think it's extremely thin, but still these kind of canoes have proven their strength and durability to me during the three canoe trips I have done this year and to my teachers during all the many years of using these canoes in the course. Though there is ofcourse always maintenance work on the canoes after every trip (week long or several weeks long), it is mostly just the usual sanding, varnishing and patching the canvas if there's damage to that. It is quickly done and worth it, as it's a lot nicer to paddle these canoes than the plastic ones.

I had a funny experience during the last 16 day canoetrip, we paddled down the bjornaan in northern dalarna. We had stopped for the day and put camp in front of a rapid, when we were discussing how we would take the canoes down, either by carrying or lining, there passed two beaverhunters in plastic canoes and went just straight trough the rapid, hitting and scraping the bottom on stones. No problem for them at all, but for us a challenge

 

[jon r]

That canoe is just fantastic! Really well made!

Where did you learn to make canoes like that? Where do you get your plans from?

This is truly inspirational to me, thank you for showing!

 

[andy_e]

That is a beautiful piece of work, I'll bet it gives you huge satisfaction to paddle.

 

[gunnix]

That canoe is just fantastic! Really well made!

Where did you learn to make canoes like that? Where do you get your plans from?

This is truly inspirational to me, thank you for showing!

Thanks jon r, I must say I'm very flattered by your compliment as I think your canoes look really good as well.

I did a wooden ship restoration education of one year (archonaut, belgium) and after that this year I have learned building canoes in the FHL course on sjovik folhogskola in sweden (www.sjovik.eu). Canoes are a big part of the course with three canoetrips (in august 9days, september 5 days and may 17 days) and canoebuilding (in january two canoes were built by around 12 students in 3 weeks, still need finishing work though), besides that my girlfriend and I chose to build two canoes during the projectmonth in april (with some work left in may on the first one, the second still needs the railing and seats screwed on in august).The teacher is a really good canoebuilder with many years of experience, so it was very good to learn from him. The only canoes used in the course are wood and canvas canoes. Beginning in august I will do the second year of the course and hopefully build many more canoes. If anyone is interested in the way canoes are built here on sjovik, but doesn't have the time to do the one year FHL course, I could perhaps organize a course for building a canoe during next year for BCUK members. The school is also located very nicely at a big lake, perfect for a canoetrip, paddling down dalalven. Just some thoughts coming up

 

[OliveDrabnotDPM]

I would love to get involved in anything that you might organise in canoe building. Please let me know of anything that happens.
BTW, the boat looks AWESOME!!!
VERY, VERY jealous of your skills.
Duncan

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

:wow1:

 

[JonnyP]

That is a beautiuful boat...Well done ..