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Free Canoe Plans and Free Kayak Plans Project Summary
In September 2010, I decided to draw and release a free canoe plan or a free kayak plan each week for the entire winter. I planned the project to end on April 1st, 2011. My goal was to produce between 24 and 26 total plans based on historic designs found in Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. A few of the models came from other sources. In all, I drew and released 25 plans. Things I Learned On a project of this magnitude, about 100+ hours of computer time, I’m bound to learn something, and I did. Basically, I learned to quickly model boats using DELFTship Pro, and…
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Free Canoe Plans: Beothuk Canoe
The Beothuk Canoe appears as Figure 87 in the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. It differs from every other canoe in that book, and no actual physical model existed when Adney surveyed the canoes. He based the drawing on historic and sometime conflicting descriptions, and a birch-bark canoe toy found in the grave of a Beothuk boy. Chapelle notes that when turned upside down the canoe makes a shelter with a 3-foot head clearance. The canoe can also heel over on the water further than other canoes. Chapelle speculates that the canoes were designed for open-water navigation. Although it may seem like an April Fools’ Day joke,…
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Spring, Cabin Fever and Wanderlust
Spring is almost here in the northland and on the shore of Lake Superior. Robins flew back into town the other day. I saw a raven carrying sticks for nests. The gulls are back and loud and dive-bombingly protective of the shoreline and their islands. Tons of eagles soar along the shore. And the deer, both dead and living, line the highways where the melting snow exposes grass. The wolves have followed the deer. These signs signal spring. Lake Superior never really froze over this winter, so I’ve been paddling all winter long, but the weather is heating up and the days reach temperatures above freezing, the days are longer…
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Free Plans – Coast Salish Style Canoe
The Coast Salish Style Canoe appears on page eight of Leslie Lincoln’s Coast Salish Canoes. Lincoln writes that it’s the classic style and is housed at the Vancouver Centennial Museum, Vancouver, B.C. The boat measures over 27 feet making it as long as most voyager canoes. Lincoln also notes that the Coast Salish style canoes evolved for use in inland seas. This canoe features an interesting flare along the sheerline. The design works to keep the craft from shipping waves while maintaining a narrow hull for speed. It’s reflected in the bow; where, as Lincoln notes, the upper edge flares to keep out waves, but the lower, narrower section cuts…
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Homemade Sideburner Alcohol Stove
Recently, a friend turned me onto a sideburner alcohol stove that he bought for camping. It was built from two aluminum beer bottles. The big advantage, he said, was that the stove acts as its own pot stand. One thing that I don’t like is using fiddly pot stands that are common when using homemade pop-can stoves; it seemed like a sideburner solved the problem. I decided to build one and test it out. I choose ZenStove’s Basic SideBurner. Building a Pop Can Stove Most pop-can stoves take a few hours to make, but the process seems easy if you’re into do-it-yourself projects. This stove combines three parts. The stove’s…
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Free Plans – Old Model Ottawa River Algonkin Canoe
The old model Algonkin canoe from the Ottawa River area represents a canoe built before contact with other tribes and the fur trade changed the types of canoes built by the Algonkin. It features high ends, a flat sheerline and resembles canoes used during the fur trade. In the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, Howard I. Chapelle writes that this style may have been the type of canoe that fur trade boats were based on. The canoe shown in these free plans has a surprisingly high carrying capacity. The flat bottom should make it stable. Personally, I love the look of the stems. It’d be fun to…
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Navigation: Doubling Angle on the Bow Fix
The doubling angle on the bow fix is a useful way to find your location when you only have one marker or feature to fix from. It’s less accurate than fixing your position with two points, and your knowledge of your speed, any currents and wind affects the accuracy of the exercise, but when you only have one point to fix from, it can help you get a reasonable measure of your position. It’s something you might use on a long crossing to help fix your position when passing shoals or markers. Take a bearing to a known feature or marker, and note the bearing and angle off your bow.…
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Skin-on-Frame Version of the Unalaska Baidarka
Shortly after I published the plans for the 1894 Unalaska Baidarka, Bill Samson wrote me about his skin-on-frame replica of the boat. He said that he worked from a pre-publication survey from master kayak draftsman Harvey Golden, author of Kayaks of Greenland: The History and Development of the Greenlandic Hunting Kayak, 1600-2000. Golden’s survey differs from Chapelle’s. Samson writes, “The Chapelle survey seems to have been done in a hurry and shows an additional stringer each side that isn’t actually there. Harvey’s also shows a distinct turn-up of the deck ridge at the tail – There’s no evidence that this is due to collapse. The ribs have all collapsed –…
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Free Plans for the 1888 King Island Kayak
The 1888 King Island Kayak appears as figure 181 in The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Howard I. Chapelle writes that the King Islanders were known as skilled kayakers. Their kayaks followed a pattern similar to the Nunivak Island kayaks with a narrower and more V-shaped hull and different stems. The King Island boat’s stem sweeps upward and ends in what Chapelle called “a small birdlike head, with a small hole through it to represent eyes and to serve for a lifting grip…” John Heath considers the cockpit coaming on this version of the King Island kayak atypical, because it doesn’t rest on any cross members. It…
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How to Carry a Spare Kayak Paddle
Most kayakers know that they should carry a spare paddle, because getting a broken paddle on a kayak trip — even on a day trip — is a pain. I know, because I’ve done it, and I didn’t have a spare. I limped back about a mile to the place I launched using my snapped Greenland paddle canoe style. Although, it got me back, it took extra time, and if I wasn’t an avid solo canoeist who knows the “C” stroke, the paddle would have caused misery. Since that day, I’ve always carried a spare paddle, and you should, too. On the Kayak’s Front or Rear Deck It’s best to…
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12 Months of Paddling
I did it! On Saturday, I closed the circle and paddled year round for the third or fourth year in a row. I set a goal for the last few years to paddle at least once a month, even in winter when it’s cold. Most years in my area, Lake Superior remains completely open, but every once in a while it freezes completely over. This year, it didn’t even get close, and the area experienced enough warmer days throughout the winter to make paddling bearable for a couple of hours at a time. So, I did it! 12 Months of Paddling in a row. I usually don’t write about personal…
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Free Plan – 1889 Nunivak Island Kayak
The Nunivak Island kayak isn’t something that you’d see everyday in modern recreational kayaks. For one thing, it has a big hole in the bow. In the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, Howard I. Chapelle notes that the hole is one of the main features that distinguished the Nunivak Island boats from the Kodiak kayaks. Figure 180, which this kayak comes from, shows the kayak with a mythological water monster painted on its side. Palriayuk, the water monster, eventually disappeared from the sides of the kayaks as missionaries influenced the thinking. Just try an Internet search to see if you can find reference to this water monster…
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Winter Kayaking Checklist
Winter offers a constantly changing shorelines to explore when paddling. As the waves roll and the pack ice blows in the shore becomes coated with ice and sometimes the ice piles so high it seems mountainous. Kayaking during the winter presents great risks versus other times of the year. The icy cold water can quickly kill. Before heading out make sure you have everything on this paddling checklist. Winter Paddling Skills Because of the greater danger that cold weather and water present, winter kayaking requires refined and reliable skills. A few that I consider essential are a perfectly reliable self-rescue. Because the paddle float rescue takes time, which exposes you…
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Modern Technology and Courage in the Wilderness
The last time I dipped into a modern technology in the wilderness discussion, I inspired an almost book-length response — both public and private — from one blogger, so I’ve stayed out of the issue since. Lately, cabin fever has moved me into a more philosophical mood, so I’ve decided to stray once again into a subject that causes tempers to flare. This time, I’m thinking about modern technology and how it affects our view of courage. Technology in Wilderness I place technology in a wilderness context into five categories: Here are a few examples to clarify my categories. In the first and second category, consider navigation. For millenniums humans…
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Free Plans: 1910 St Francis Canoe
The St. Francis Canoe of About 1910 appears as Figure 81 in the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Howard I. Chapelle notes that the canoe features a narrow, rockered bottom, and he notes that the model was popular with guides and sportsmen for forest travel. The almost vertical to slightly flared sides resemble a more modern canoe than some of the other free plans that I posted. Chapelle writes that some of the St. Francis canoes had midship tumblehome like the Malecite canoes, but that those were not marketed to sportsmen. As my Winter Free Canoe and Kayak Plan project draws to an end, I feel like…
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