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Free Canoe Plan: Têtes de Boule Two-Fathom Canoe
The Têtes de Boule Two-Fathom Canoe appears as Figure 103 in Edwin Tappan Adney’s and Howard I. Chapelle’s The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. It looks like Adney used this canoe as one of the two canoes he based model number MM 98 on. The model appears on page 62 of John Jennings’ Bark Canoes: The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney. Figure 101 in Bark and Skin is a photograph of several Têtes de Boule canoes. The Têtes de Boule were skilled canoe builders and built canoes for the Hudson’s Bay Company. They considered this 14-foot canoe a family canoe. Like other Têtes de Boule canoes,…
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Down vs. Synthetic Sleeping Bags
Over the years, I’ve heard stories about multiple nights spent in wet sleeping bags. It’s usually the precursor to an online discussion about synthetic vs. down sleeping bags. In the story, the storyteller ended up soaking a down bag, slept terribly for a couple of days, swore off down and speaks out about how down doesn’t work for paddlers. I’ve never personally experienced this. I’ve never soaked a sleeping bag. My thoughts about this story genre: The stories lack context and therefore lack impact. Without knowing the context, I assume the paddler lacked the skills needed to keep a sleeping bag dry. Beginners deserve all the info to make relevant…
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Free Canoe and Kayak Plan Project
If you’re a loyal reader of PaddlingLight, you know that I’ve been modeling old canoes and kayaks from sources like The Bark Canoes and Skin Boat of North America and turning them into free plans. I’m almost three months into the project, which started on October 8th. So far, I’ve modeled 12 free plans during the project and with the holiday crunch I need a week off — that’s why you’re seeing this post instead of a new plan this week. The process for modeling one of these boats is lengthy. I put in a couple of hours on each boat with some taking longer than others — surprisingly, because…
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How to Use a VHF Radio
When paddling, you might need to communicate to other vessels. One tool that a kayaker or canoeist can use to communicate is a handheld VHF radio. A VHF radio broadcasts your message out to other boaters in the area listening to their radios. You can use VHF radios in emergencies or just to relay information. Knowing how to use one allows you to get your message out quickly, so you can concentrate on paddling. VHF Etiquette Think of a VHF radio as a direct connection to every other vessel in your line-of-sight and within your radio’s range. When you talk on it, every other vessel in the area hears what…
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Free Canoe Plan: Têtes de Boule Hunter’s Canoe
The Têtes de Boule Hunter’s canoe appears as Figure 102 in Edwin Tappan Adney and Howard I. Chapelle’s The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. I believe that Adney modeled the canoe in 1930. A picture of the model appears on page 63 in John Jennings’ Bark Canoes: The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney. This is a slightly different canoe than I’ve modeled before. It’s only 9 feet 8 inches. There aren’t many canoe plans, let alone free canoe plans, on the market for a small pack canoe like this. Loaded to the 4-inch waterline, the canoe carries 145 lbs. At the 6-inch waterline, which Cliff Jacobson…
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The Paddles of Walter Caribou
Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, Minn. marks the lower terminus of the 8-mile Grand Portage used by fur-trading voyagers to transport trade goods and furs from the Pigeon River to Lake Superior. The current fort is a reconstruction of the original fort. Inside the stockade, there’s a display of paddles built by Walter Caribou, a Ojibwe, who lived in Grand Portage. Caribou was known as a great storyteller and a good paddle maker. In the above picture, the paddles from the left going clockwise are labeled: Ladies Paddle Middleman Paddle Francis Anne Hopkins painting “Canoe Shooting Rapids” paddle. U.S.A. Paddle “Rendezvous Awards” Paddle Ladies Paddle. Cribbage board “Distressed”…
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Free Kayak Plans: North Greenland Kayak
Mystic Seaport Museum’s North Greenland kayak appears in Mark Starr’s Building a Greenland Kayak. Starr notes that Admiral Byrd, an Arctic explorer collected the kayak. He thinks it might have been during the 1925 MacMillan expedition to northwest Greenland. This kayak is much different than other kayaks that I’ve drawn. It has a flat bottom, which results from the use of three-part ribs instead of a single bent rib. It’s sides almost rise steeply from the chine to the sheer. The cockpit area looks like a bubble that rises high in a short distance. The turn of the rear stem seems subtle and almost non-existent. For a cedar strip kayak…
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Navigation: Variation and Declination
A compass needle seldom points directly to the north pole, because Earth’s magnetic fields pull the compass needle towards what is known as magnetic north. Because the angle between true north, the direction from you towards the north pole, and magnetic north varies from place to place, we must account for that variation when navigating. This difference is known as declination. It’s different from Magnetic Deviation, which is a local magnetic field creating an error. The terms variation and declination refer to the same feature. On a map refer to it as declination. On a chart refer to it as variation. Magnetic declination, also called variation, is the difference between…
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Free Kayak Plan: U.S. Coast Guard Museum Greenland Kayak
The U.S. Coast Guard Museum Greenland Kayak was collected in 1967 and then donated to the museum. When Mark Starr surveyed the kayak, he noted that the skin had shrunk enough to crush the center of the boat. He drew it as he thought it should look with an almost flat keel. He also noted that there was evidence that the boat once had an exterior mounted skeg. The kayak’s sheerline has a subtle curve, and its multi-chine hull shape looks like the Goodnow Kayak. The cockpit coaming is only 12-1/2 inches wide. I doubt someone who weighed very much could fit in the cockpit opening, so I drew it…
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Navigation: Course, Bearings and Headings
The terms, course, bearing and heading, seem to cause confusion among students just learning to navigate. Although, it’s possible to navigate without knowing the meaning of each term, having a common language allows us to discuss navigation more effectively. While I’m sure that you could come up with a rhyme to help you learn these terms, I think it’s best just to take time to memorize and internalize the meanings. Course A course is your planned paddling route. It’s usually marked on a map, although you can also just make a mental note. A course can be a straight line going from your point of departure to your destination, or…
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Free Kayak Plan: Peabody Essex Museum Labrador Kayak 1867
In Building a Greenland Kayak, Mark Starr writes that this kayak, collected in 1867, is the most beautiful kayak that he’s drawn. He believes that it represents a kayak in its purist form; just five sweeping curves define its shape. Although noted as a Labrador kayak, it’s actually a Greenland-style boat. While drawing the kayak for these free plans, I didn’t encounter any real problems. The simple curves essentially faired themselves with only a little help from the computer. It’s a pretty simple kayak. I drew the fore-deck to the original drawings, so even in cedar strip, the boat will look like a replica. Near the cockpit, I attempted to…
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Navigation: Read a Marine Chart Part 2
This is part two in a two-part article about learning the basics of reading a marine chart. Part one, Navigation: Read a Marine Chart Part 1, covered reading the basics discovered at first glance, like the chart’s scale, name and variation. This part is about the specific symbols on a chart, like water depths, lights, buoys, underwater features and more. Although there are more symbols than found in this article on a chart, learning to read these basic symbols will help you while studying others. For most paddlers, these will be plenty. Soundings The numbers that appear all over the water portions of the chart are soundings. They show how…
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Free Kayak Plan: MacMillan Kayak
I finished this kayak on Thanksgiving, a harvest festival celebrated in the United States. Tradition says that the original celebration occurred in the early 1600s and celebrated the European settlers surviving their first year with the help of the natives. It’s a grand story that didn’t turn out that great for the natives. Here I am 400 years later, digitizing kayaks that someone used for hunting and the survival of family. Something that they were probably thankful for. Now, we use these kayaks for recreation. Perhaps this kayak plan exemplifies that use. Rear Admiral MacMillan, an explorer, collected the MacMillan kayak at some point between 1908 and 1954. He was…
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Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken over Potatoes
Wild rice and paddling go together. Some of the first canoes were used to harvest wild rice, and if you paddle in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness chances are you have paddled through a rice field. It not only goes with paddling, but it tastes great. A wild rice soup poured over mashed potatoes fills the stomach and makes a satisfying end to a day of paddling. This recipe is quick, hardy and easy to carry. Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken over Potatoes Recipe (Serves 2) Calories: 425 per personIngredients Boil water. Pour 2/3 cup into a freezer bag with the potato buds, add ghee. Mix. Add rice, bouillon…
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Navigation: Read a Marine Chart Part 1
Learning how to read a marine chart is an important part of learning to navigate. A chart, like a map, represents the real world projected onto paper. It helps you figure out where you’ve been, where you’re going, where you’re at and what to expect at each point along the way. There are lots of symbols on a chart, but, for novice kayakers and canoeists, knowing the main features is most important. After learning the basics, the rest come easily with some study. In this two-part article, part one covers the basics like finding the chart’s name, number, scale, variation and other important items to discover at first glance. Part…
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