My father-in-law was a boat builder and restorer. He's senile now and can't remember much. We're cleaning out his shop. Anybody have any idea what this is? It's newer construction and very heavy. 197 1/2" long, 34" wide at the middle-top. 18" deep. Raised platform on top is 4 1/2" high by 10" wide. Getting rid of a lot of his stuff. This was stored with older canvas-over-wood canoes.
Anybody know what this is?
- Thread starter jdemaris
- Start date
pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
It's a Cedar Strip (or Strip & Fiberglass) canoe in the building stage. The structure across the top, and the ribs inside, would be taken out after the strips are all glued together, staples pulled, sanded, and fiberglassed, then the interior would be sanded & glassed. It's a work in progress.
paddler123
Enthusiastic about Wooden Canoes
It looks to me like some sort of mold - see the stem slot in the fourth picture.
Todd Bradshaw
Sailmaker
Yep, it's not a boat, it's a partially completed mold for a wood/canvas-style canoe. It would most likely eventually be fitted with the metal bands for clinching the tacks that hold the planking to the ribs.
pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
Looking closer, I didn't pick up on some of the details... Not a strip & glass boat.
Thanks for the input. I now know what it is.
Thanks for all the input. I took some measurements and also found some old photos that show me what this thing is. It's a form to build a molded plywood canoe. Here are some photos of it. 3rd up in the photo with multiple boats.
Thanks for all the input. I took some measurements and also found some old photos that show me what this thing is. It's a form to build a molded plywood canoe. Here are some photos of it. 3rd up in the photo with multiple boats.
Attachments
Todd Bradshaw
Sailmaker
That technique is called "cold molding" and is usually done with 1/8" or thinner cedar veneer, glued in layers situated in different directions using epoxy resin and then sealed with resin or resin and light fiberglass. This one is kind of interesting, as most run the veneer all the way from gunwale to gunwale, rather than splitting it along the keel line and coming in from both sides. I wonder what he did along the keel joint to connect them and reinforce the area? It would solve the cosmetic issue of having veneers angled one way on one side of the boat and the opposite way on the other side, which often looks a bit strange. It's also possible to add an additional layer running fore and aft as the final outer layer, but in order to keep the weight of a canoe's hull reasonable, they're usually limited to two or possibly three layers maximum.
The technique has been used to build sailboats up to nearly 100' long (with more layers added, of course) and they tend to be quite stiff and sturdy. It's fallen out of favor somewhat in the last 25 years or so, due to the extra time needed to shape each plank so that they will fit together neatly as they wrap around a curved hull shape, and also since the Dean Company in Oregon stopped selling (or cut down on production of) the veneer. They had always been the best source of the cedar for home builders. Robert Lincoln (RKL Boatworks) was about the only canoe builder that made much of an effort to commercially build and sell cold molded canoes. We used to see his ads in WoodenBoat back in the 1980's and maybe 1990's.
The technique has been used to build sailboats up to nearly 100' long (with more layers added, of course) and they tend to be quite stiff and sturdy. It's fallen out of favor somewhat in the last 25 years or so, due to the extra time needed to shape each plank so that they will fit together neatly as they wrap around a curved hull shape, and also since the Dean Company in Oregon stopped selling (or cut down on production of) the veneer. They had always been the best source of the cedar for home builders. Robert Lincoln (RKL Boatworks) was about the only canoe builder that made much of an effort to commercially build and sell cold molded canoes. We used to see his ads in WoodenBoat back in the 1980's and maybe 1990's.
Thanks for the added info. My father-in-law has a pretty big pile of clean 1/8" cedar in fairly wide strips. Maybe I should stick it in the classifieds here to find a new home for it? We'd like to see it go to good use -especially if it's not so easy to get anymore. He won't be building any more boats; that is for sure.
Greg Nolan
enthusiast
Old Town, and perhaps other builders, also used 1/8" cedar for the planking on their lightweight canoes such as the 50 pound models.
