Building my canoe

[uintahiker]

I was mostly being a smartarse but now you have piqued my curiosity. Any idea why there are wales at all? What is the origin of these terms? Maybe the gun is clamped to the wale and the outer and inner are obvious. But, why wale?

Words are important.

There are wales because something needs to eat the fish. I think they're called wales because that's what inexperienced paddlers do when they try to paddle- they just wale on the canoe.

Wale.
Nautical.

1. any of certain strakes of thick outside planking on the sides of a wooden ship.
2. gunwale.

Gunwale
noun, Nautical.
1. the upper edge of the side or bulwark of a vessel.
2. the sheer strake of a wooden vessel; the uppermost strake beneath the plank-sheer.
Origin of gunwale
1325-1375
1325-75; Middle English. See gun1, wale1; a plank so called because guns were set upon it

Wow! Very cool.

What tools are required for such a project?

Love the polished wood look.

Fine job sir!

It's not done yet- I still need to varnish and really bring out the wood grain! Tools however are fairly simple.

• table saw to rip the strips, (borrowed)
• router to shape the edges, (borrowed)
• hand saw
• lots and lots of clamps
• paint brushes
• hand plane (borrowed)
• sandpaper & random orbital sander
• cordless drill/screwdriver
• chisel

That's about it. Of course you could always use more tools to make the job slightly easier, but those are the basics. What I used.

 

[uintahiker]

Picked the canoe up on Monday from my friend's shop where I varnished it. It's looking great! Now I just need to put the seats and thwart in and it's ready to paddle!

 

[Kyle P]

Looking good! I bet you will be anxious for the spring to really get it out there!

 

[TannerT]

That looks fantastic!! I can't wait to see it on the water now. Well done

sent from an undisclosed location

 

[uintahiker]

It's ready. I finished it New Years Eve. Now I need to take it on its maiden voyage!

 

[slc_dan]

beautiful!!

 

[Artemus]

Ver7, very nice! If you put it on a local waterway I may even come watch the christening. Breaking a champagne bottle over the bow may be a bit too violent perhaps.

 

[TannerT]

It's ready. I finished it New Years Eve. Now I need to take it on its maiden voyage!View attachment 39923

WOW! Congrats on finishing. It looks great, I can't wait to see how the maiden voyage goes.

sent from an undisclosed location

 

[Nick]

That is awesome @uintahiker. Well done. Can't wait to see some pics on the water and hear how she performs. Does she have a name?

 

[Nanda]

Awesome. What's the weight of that beauty?

 

[uintahiker]

That is awesome @uintahiker. Well done. Can't wait to see some pics on the water and hear how she performs. Does she have a name?

Still without a name. I am up for suggestions though.

Awesome. What's the weight of that beauty?

It's surprisingly light. I'd guess under 60 lbs, but I need to borrow a scale from somebody so I can weigh it.

I'll be sure to post more than one trip report up here with it!

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Wow, looking great @uintahiker. Amazing work.

 

[Nick]

Still without a name. I am up for suggestions though.

A boat like that deserves a great name.

Ever since reading The Emerald Mile and learning about Martin Litton, I've been sold on naming my human-powered boats the same way he named his wooden dories. He named them after natural wonders that were marred by mankind; The Emerald Mile, Marble Canyon, Hidden Passage, Music Temple and so on. I took that and applied it to some places that I have a connection to and named my fleet of kayaks Labyrinth, Llewellyn and Great Bend. There's something kind of soothing about seeing that name on the side of the boat and thinking of those places. It might not be for everyone, but I really like it.

I used a die cut vinyl sticker as a stencil and spray painted the names on my boats. I have a vinyl cutter and would be happy to print one up for you free of charge if you come up with something you want to put on it. It can be almost any font/design.

 

[uintahiker]

A boat like that deserves a great name.

I used a die cut vinyl sticker as a stencil and spray painted the names on my boats. I have a vinyl cutter and would be happy to print one up for you free of charge if you come up with something you want to put on it. It can be almost any font/design.

I'm going to get a brass plate and mount it probably on the thwart. Still need to come up with a name. I'll need to take it out a few times and the name will come. I'm kinda like that with naming kids. Some people know their baby's name before its born. I need it to get here and take some time with it to find one that fits.