shrinking canoes

[Gil Cramer]

Hey, I'm on a roll. Since March, all 18 ,yes that's right 18, decorator canoes have been varnished/ shellacked, canvassed, filled, painted, etc.and ready to go away. None have been bookcase units, but all are to be hangers in a major midwestern outfitter's stores. Decorators want small canoes, and one Old Town yankee was in such bad condition that I agreed to cut it down from 16'-12'.It had been fiberglassed, needed inwales, outwales, many ribs in the center of the canoe, decks,planking, and I don't remember what else. The center was cut out and the ensuing 12' canoe really faired in quite nicely. It would really make a great solo canoe.I know that some purists won't like the thought of "destroying" a canoe,but it is possible to make a nice solo canoe from that unmanageable 18'er. It's easy to say that "I'd never do anything like that", but when the house needs painted and a new roof, the transmission on the van goes out in Pittsburgh, and your daughter is going to grad school in Boston, reality sets in.

[Ron Carter]

The restoration of the 16' OTCA is progressing well. Down to last coats of varnish and paint. Un fortunately I have a recurring sacro lumbar sprain the makes throwing a 70# canoe around a real adventure. Sanding and varnishing the inside has been a real pain in the back too. That is unavoidable but cutting it down to 13', which is whated I want anyway, would have been real possible when it was almost totally disassembled. Anything over 40# is not practical for this 65 year old carcass to use on a regular basis. Unfortunately that limits me to plastic and skin on frame boats. They arent bad but not W/C either. Was thinking about building a boat with Alex Comb as he has a 40# solo but travel and lodging for a week add big bucks to the equation. Still thinking.
Ron

[Tom Heys]

Ron, I recently came into possession of a Loonworks 'Mistral' (one of Tom MacKenie's W/C canoes). This one, a 15' solo version, weighs in at around 40 pounds and is a pleasure to paddle, and beautiful, too! I'm fairly sure that Tom has some other models with similar light-weightedness. Tom