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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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Cooke Custom Sewing Pioneer Pack Review
The Cooke Custom Sewing Pioneer Pack, part of Cooke’s hybrid portage pack series, combines the shape of a traditional portage pack with the features of a more modern backpacking pack. It has a padded foam back, contoured and padded shoulder straps, a sternum strap, a padded hip belt, four grab loops, load lifter straps and hip stabilizer straps. It is made from a heavy-duty nylon and comes in blue, red, yellow, pink and green. Dan Cooke makes every pack by hand in Minnesota (All the best portage packs are made in Minnesota). The Pioneer Pack is our primary portage pack and sees more use than my Duluth Pack, SealLine Boundary…
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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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Duluth Pack Northwoods Review
Duluth Pack’s Northwood pack is a burly portage pack made in the Canadian style that canoe-hero Bill Mason used and loved. It’s made from 18-ounce canvas with a double bottom. It has leather shoulder straps that are riveted into the pack. Two 36-inch long leather crossover straps secure the pack and allow the internal flaps to expand when carrying large loads. It has two side pockets big enough for water bottles. The shape is designed to fit into the contour of a canoe and it rides low. The pack comes with a 6 ml poly liner and a tumpline. A waist belt is an upgrade. I’ve owned a Northwood pack…
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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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Mocke Racer PFD Review
The Mocke Racer is a lightweight personal flotation aid popular in the surfski racing crowd. The Mockes, a husband and wife, are well-known in the surfski racing side of paddlesports; they both boast impressive wins in many races. They designed the Racer to be comfortable, to stay out of the way while paddling and to give a racer enough flotation to help him swim if he ends up in the water. They claim the mesh allows air to flow, which keeps the paddler cool. In the water, the mesh allows for more efficient swimming, and they claim it allows the paddler to dive easily when needed. The vest consists of…
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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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WaayCool Kayak Fishing Handlines Review
I like catching fish, and I like paddling, but I don’t like to catch fish while paddling if it involves carrying rods, tackle boxes and all sorts of fishing equipment — call me a lazy angler. In trying to combine a low equipment method of fishing with paddling, I decided to try handlines, which are line wrapped around a handle. You clip the rope’s end to your deck lines, connect a lure to the other end, drop it into the water and paddle. It’s simple. The homemade handlines that I’ve seen are usually just thick 20 lb. mono filament line wrapped around a plywood handle. Finding a commercially available handline…
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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…
