This is my first cedar canvas project

Finally sees the light of day!

I'm done.

It looks much better in the photo's. Last coat of paint went nice but the roller shed so there is lint buried in the paint everywhere, but I have to live with it for now, perhaps repaint after this season of tripping. Broke a screw putting the stem bands on today, which was annoying and it is flush so no way to get it out. Drilled a hole beside it and put in another. Nothing I can do about it at this point, I will just hope there is enough sealer to keep it from leaking.

Learned alot. I might do it again if a needy craft were to appear at a reasonable cost, like free. It is heavier than I expected. Initial weighing came in at 61 pounds for a boat which is less than 15 feet, which is about 6 pounds more than I figured, so maybe I juggled it while on the scale and it recorded more than it is. The 15 1/2' stripper I built last year weighs less.

Regardless, I have completed refurbing a wood canvas canoe and am happy I had the opportunity to do so. I love learning old things.

115 hours for the boatwork, $730 total not including the yoke I built as well which took 6 hours and cost $70.

Weather permitting I'm going to go paddle it next weekend.

Finished.001.jpgFinished.002.jpgFinished.003.jpgFinished.004.jpgFinished Yoke.jpg
 
Way cool! Enjoy it! And once people see that you're paddling one of these, you may be surprised how many more fall onto your trailer...
 
The factory specs. for a 15' [ 14.5' ] Huron were: 34" beam,12" depth, 600 lb.capacity and a dry weight of 65 lbs.
 
The factory specs. for a 15' [ 14.5' ] Huron were: 34" beam,12" depth, 600 lb.capacity and a dry weight of 65 lbs.

So I should be happy to be under the spec. weight, likely due to only one seat.

Just pulled the stripper out of storage for new varnish and it is definitely lighter although it is still 57 pounds. I suppose I will need to work on how to get it up on my shoulders for portaging.
 
Got her wet today

Launched today and she is a sweet little boat. Very responsive, spins on a dime and very quick. Had about a 20 kph wind and it did blow around alot when empty but settled down when ballasted up somewhat so it should be better with a load. It is heavy though and could be a chore for me to portage. Yes, that is me in the photo paddling in the middle of Winnipeg.

So, this wraps up this build thread.

Getting her wet.jpg
 
Out in the wilds

The Huron is an awesome boat to paddle. Just home from it's first wilderness trip in a long while likely and it was superb. Although likely blasphemy to use a yak paddle in it, it was quicker and tracked better with the double blade albeit very wet for me. We bought the least expensive yak paddle we could find, which is also too short just to see if we liked it and it was great.

The boat needs weight in the back and front to track best and I even managed to scrape the paint off down to the filler in 5 spots but no harm to the canvas.

The only downside is the weight. Too heavy for me with my bum shoulder so my regular tripping partner carried it for me across all 10 portages since she is much stronger than I.
 

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