Steve Ambrose
Nut in a Canoe
I grew up in the midwest and spent summers in northern Maine at the family camp paddling wood/canvas canoes. For many years now I've been living in AL - far from the north woods and access to the appropriate lumber for building canoes. A few years ago I stopped by Northwoods Canoe on my way back from an extended visit north and purchased plans and materials to build Rollin's 15' Cheemaun design. I finally completed the form and the boat last year. The local curiosity generated by that boat led me into restoring an 18' Old Town Guide. When I started asking all my usual sources about lumber to mill the 18' rails I ran into a real problem: 16' is the longest I've been able to find. Spruce is out of the question down here - I was going to substitute Cypress for the inner rails and use Mahogany for the outers. Does anyone know of a source for 18'+ stock anywhere in the Southeast? My only other solution is to order pre-milled, pre-bent replacements from Old Town at over $100 each plus whatever the semi-local Old Town repair dealer adds for tagging onto one of his shipments.