Fast building was part of the aim of this plan! Also to keep the expense down. Rick surprised me – I was thinking it would take a couple of weekends. The Quick canoe is very simple to build and comes out of three plywood sheets. A very simple plywood canoe It has been designed to be as easy to build as possible while keeping some of the qualities of a good paddling canoe – in particular the ability to track.
I was sitting in Chuck’s car as we were driving to the Lake Conroe Messabout. I knew that he had some plans for the Texas 200 event – to extend the concept and starting a new small boat festival on the Texas coast in a couple of years.
This is a podcast of that interview.
This is the second of my talks in the USA. It focuses a bit more on construction and some of the methods that can be used to keep a boat light and simple, but very strong and stiff.
It also discusses how there is a “creep” in boatbuilding and design that increases the weight of boats way over what is really needed for a strong structure.
This talk is the first hour of my exposition on boat building and design. There are two more parts to come. This covers some of the background and design issues. The second is more on the building side and the last is a bit more about why the Australian (and New Zealand) wooden boat tradition is different from the Northern Hemisphere.
You can stream the talks over your internet connection or download them as a podcast.
Thorne (aka David Luckhardt) is well known in both wooden boating and historical recreation circles (particularly those involving gunpowder).
He normally lurks around San Francisco, but on this occasion had driven up to Timothy Lake underneath the summit of Mount Hood.
I had the chance to interview him while sailing on Lake Timothy in Oregon.
Invitation to a Talk by Boat Designer Michael Storer
At Clint Chase Boatbuilder, 25 Deblois Street, Portland, Maine
Sunday Nov 1st @ 11am-1pm, Bring Boats and Questions
After some food and chat, Michael will talk to us about making our boats better…
More paddling on Lake Powell, Utah, part of the Colorado River.
Remember that I am not a real Canoeist. I have paddled quite a range of different boats at some time or another, I do know basic strokes, I have used canoes to do several day tours (Noosa River, Hawkesbury River) but this trip was to much more remote areas. Closest towns 50 or so kilometres away, we were likely to be pretty well the only people on that area of water after the weekend, we had to carry everything including food as there are no shops.
People as far away as Texas, California and Australia (me). Not a huge number, this cruise works well with up to around 12 to 15 boats. A huge thanks to Jim Thayer who thought up the event.
Before we look at the boats and meet the people the scale of the area has to be seen to be believed.
I am sleeping on rock (using an air bed) but the rock is incredibly beautiful – it is part of the ancient ocean floor even though the elevation here is around 3500ft. Pushed up by volcanic action. There are other patterns in many different places. Boating up the Colorado River in Canoes and other small boats tomorrow
Yesterday spent the day traipsing around Central Oregon With Andrew Linn. We had a canoe on the roof and a boat behind.
The boat behind was a delivery – Andrew had sold a Laser look alike – a now defunct class.
And was pretty nice to get foot mobile and do some short bushwalks.
Astoria Maritime Museum – Now the really cool thing happened. Long had organised for us to see the storage sheds across the road.
It is the highest I have ever sailed by far – about 2500 to 3000ft above sea level.
A very nice bunch of folks. And got to meet BobWes (from my forum), John Kohnen (the author of the “mother of all nautical links”), Jon Kowitz and Andrew Linn (puddle duckers that sailed in the Texas 200 so triumphantly) David Luckhardt (who I missed in S.F.) and a whole bunch of other boat people and a swag of interesting boats.
Lon knows lots of interesting people. Also dropping in on this day were Irene Martin and her husband. They work fishing for salmon in this river (the Columbia River). Irene is also a writer (Lon got his copy signed)
Rick LAndreville wins the Canadian PDRacer Championships in an OzRacer carefully modified to match the PDRacer rules.
I am really glad I travelled by train rather than flying – even though I am pretty tired again. Gave me a strong feeling for how small and how far flung some of the towns are.
There were plenty of farms with a paddock full of defunct cars from the Model T right through to Studebakers from the 70s. What do you do with an old car in a country town?
