Gary Peterson
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Recently I posted a request for plans for a 16' Modified Prospector from Franklin Cedar Canoes. I had bought the plan 20+ ago and built several canoes from it. I assumed the small company was out of business and the owner deceased as I had seen no mention of the company since then.
Lo and behold–Charlie Grosjeans, Franklin Cedar Canoes, CEO–emailed me that he was indeed alive and kicking, and that the news of his death was greatly exaggerated. We had a nice chat about how the Modified Prosector plan came about, and about a long EW White Guide canoe he was getting ready to start. Then he graciously offered to send me a plan set.
I complimented him on the exactitude of the full-size drawings that were dead-nuts accurate to less than 1/32" of a fair curve, and asked him what powerful software program he had used to get such perfectly fair results. He said the program was designed by his father, an engineer, and a computer was unneccessary. The only requisites were a quarter-sheet of plywood on a kitchen table, a large drafting paper with a 1/4" grid taped to the plywood, a dozen of so push pins with plastic heads, a thin wooden batten, and a #2 pencil. His father drew in the kitchen and Charlie built in the shop, and the resultant Modified Prospector emerged. So when the plan became available, I bought a set and cut out the plywood stations and stems.
It became my favorite model and several people came into my shop and used the forms to build their own white cedar canoe. The hull lines flowed smoothly with no concavities so it was easy for a novice to strip.
My son-in-law used the forms to build his Modified Prospector using northrn white cedar strips 9 and 10 feet long. The design was so inherently rigid that only a middle thwart was necessary. You will notice in the close up picture of the deck that his outer gunwales–jiust like cedar/canvas outer gunwales–were rabbeted out to leave a 1/4" extension on top of the gunwale to cover the raw edge of the hull.
Lo and behold–Charlie Grosjeans, Franklin Cedar Canoes, CEO–emailed me that he was indeed alive and kicking, and that the news of his death was greatly exaggerated. We had a nice chat about how the Modified Prosector plan came about, and about a long EW White Guide canoe he was getting ready to start. Then he graciously offered to send me a plan set.
I complimented him on the exactitude of the full-size drawings that were dead-nuts accurate to less than 1/32" of a fair curve, and asked him what powerful software program he had used to get such perfectly fair results. He said the program was designed by his father, an engineer, and a computer was unneccessary. The only requisites were a quarter-sheet of plywood on a kitchen table, a large drafting paper with a 1/4" grid taped to the plywood, a dozen of so push pins with plastic heads, a thin wooden batten, and a #2 pencil. His father drew in the kitchen and Charlie built in the shop, and the resultant Modified Prospector emerged. So when the plan became available, I bought a set and cut out the plywood stations and stems.
It became my favorite model and several people came into my shop and used the forms to build their own white cedar canoe. The hull lines flowed smoothly with no concavities so it was easy for a novice to strip.
My son-in-law used the forms to build his Modified Prospector using northrn white cedar strips 9 and 10 feet long. The design was so inherently rigid that only a middle thwart was necessary. You will notice in the close up picture of the deck that his outer gunwales–jiust like cedar/canvas outer gunwales–were rabbeted out to leave a 1/4" extension on top of the gunwale to cover the raw edge of the hull.