Design question regarding bark canoes, please?

[Canuck Bob]

I am looking at bark canoe designs to see if a SOF can be built from these designs.

I am wondering if there is a reason that strong upsweep of the sheer at the stems? Is it decorative only or is there a purpose that is not obvious to me. It seems that these boats were elegant and simple so why the extra work to build the high stems? My Prospector is a bear for my shabby paddling skills in the wind and adding the small sails to the stems perplexes me.

 

[divedog]

I built this one in 2011. It is based on a 1910 St. Francis bark canoe. I got the free plans from paddlinglight.com - Mike Wootton

 

[Benson Gray]

There are many bark canoe designs that don't have high ends so you may want to pick one that better suits your requirements. The Penobscot canoe shown at http://www.wcha.org/literature/penobscot/ is reasonably flat for example. My understanding is that the ones with high ends were intended to keep the canoe high enough off the ground when inverted to be a partial shelter at night. Take a look at the Beothuk canoes at http://www.paddlinglight.com/articles/free-canoe-plans-beothuk-canoe/ if you want to see a really unusual profile. Good luck,

Benson

 

[Canuck Bob]

Thanks, I asked this because of searching paddling light's site. I've contacted then for more info. I recently reran Cesar's Bark Canoe and the idea of a sof look-a-like for the girls took hold.

Divedog that is exactly what I'm considering. Could you elaborate on modifying the lines, building details, after build satisfaction, and weight, etc., please. A beautiful build, you must be justifiably proud of that. Any pics of paddling it? I picture my girls and I maybe building a couple of Paddling Light plans Tetes de Boules hunter's canoe to a far cruder standard.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/cesars_bark_canoe/

B. G. - The high ends for a shelter makes a ton of sense. Now I think I read somewhere years ago that is why the big trading canoes also had the high stems.