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Sound on! Here I’m finishing up the seat for the

Sound on! Here I’m finishing up the seat for the pedal powered Canoe. Normally I just purchase canoe seats because it’s far more cost-effective than building, but the pedal canoe requires a longer see a higher back so I have to build it. Plenty of small changes to be made on the next version but overall I’m fairly happy with the results. Tomorrow we put it all together!
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#buildingstuff #buildityourself

Normally, I keep all the doors and windows open fo

Normally, I keep all the doors and windows open for ventilation while applying the 2-part polyurethane, but yesterday that backfired on me because the same wind that was pushing us up the river was blowing sawdust into the workshop, and I came home to a slightly rough skin. Oops. So anyway here I am putting fresh coat on the bottom which didn’t really help but it was worth a try.
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The two-part poly is incredibly tough and fast to apply although it’s not the most forgiving product and there are LOTS of ways to screw it up (apparently I just found a new one). We took advantage of this opportunity to completely refilm the coating instructions for the canoe building course. It’s a lot of editing to get through but I’m hoping to have it posted to the course within about a week.
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#finishing #skinonframe

Yesterday we were finally able to do the first tes

Yesterday we were finally able to do the first test of the kayak catamaran system on the raised front deck version of our F1 kayak design, this time with a pair of 1 square meter Falcon Sails (no relation to us).
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For anyone who is new here I designed this catamaran system for our pack canoes four years ago, and then last year, I figured out how to apply it to a flat front deck version of our kayaks. It works surprisingly well but I really hate the flat front deck kayaks because they steal so much cargo space and also weathercock a little bit.
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So this year we are testing our normal raised front deck kayaks with a version of the system that uses two boards in the front instead of just one. Based on this test, it’s pretty much what I expected, not quite as solid as the flat deck catamaran, but it still sails well in moderate conditions.
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It does well downwind and across the wind, although the racking forces are a bit problematic in a quartering wave pattern and would probably tear the system apart in 3 foot wind quartering wind chop. Part of the issue is that I spread the boats 4 inches wider than previous tests on the flat deck version, which extends the effective lever arm, making the racking a little more violent. This also makes it more difficult to simply reach over and grab the other boat with one hand to stabilize the racking. I’d like to keep this spacing if I can because there’s less drag from the interference wave coming off each bow, and honestly, I’d like to go even wider, but then there’s no chance of one paddler reaching over to stabilize the boat or assist the other paddler if they have some sort of technical problem with the sail.
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So next step is a lot more testing. Designing something like this takes thousands of test runs, including destructive testing in extreme conditions (scroll back in the feed to see this being used in 40 mph winds, and 5 foot waves last summer) but hopefully by the end of the summer, I will be able to release the sailing portion officially. The catamaran instructions are already in our kayak building course.
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#kayaksailing #sailing #skinonframe #seakayaking

Sound on! I put the skin on the pedal drive canoe

Sound on! I put the skin on the pedal drive canoe yesterday, and shot a few updates for our online skin-on-frame canoe building course. This time I ended up using my buddies Grex pneumatic stapler, which was much easier on the hands than the good old Stanley T50.
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Skinning Canoes is always nice because it goes a bit quicker than skinning a kayak. Maybe 4 hrs? It seems like the hardest part for me is just reaching in at some awkward angle so I don’t block the view of the camera!
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I made a big mistake forgetting to attach the Drive box to the base plate before I started so by the time the skin had dried and tightened the base plate was slightly warped which is pretty incredible considering that it’s half inch birch ply, and that the area is basically flat. Fortunately I think it’s still within workable tolerances for my gasket material.
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Also, just a quick FYI, this should be obvious, but do not try to skin a canoe just using the time lapse for reference, there are critical steps missing here!
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#skinonframe #buildityourself #canoebuilding #boatbuilding

Today I completed the canoe frame, drenched it in

Today I completed the canoe frame, drenched it in oil, then left it to dry outside for a couple days. My backyard is the sunniest spot so right now it’s sharing space with the vegetable garden.
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I’ve added some weights, clamps, straps, and struts to try to compensate for some of the shaping irregularities caused by the installation of the pedal drive base plate. If the ribs stock was relatively fresh and it hasn’t been too long since you’ve bent the ribs, tweaking the shape this way works surprisingly well IF you can let the frame sit for about a week. Unfortunately, I can’t let it sit so this is unlikely to accomplish much.
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Most important thing here it’s just making sure that the oil is completely dry before putting the skin on so it doesn’t print into the fabric.
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#woodworking #canoe #builtbyhand #canoebuilding #boatbuilding

Today I took the plunge and install the bass plate

Today I took the plunge and install the bass plate for the pedal drive. After 20 years of managing to avoid the stuff, I’m still feeling pretty indignant about all the epoxy work in this new modification. Unfortunately I just don’t see any way around it. On the positive side, I think there’s a good chance that this crazy contraption is going to work!
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#maker #skinonframe #woodworker #prototyping

On my kayaks, I normally hand wrap my winders but

On my kayaks, I normally hand wrap my winders but with so many stringers on a canoe I usually take a shortcut with the drill. These definitely aren’t as nice to lash with, but they’re a heck of a lot faster to make. The cord itself is a flat waxed artificial sinew that is about 30% stronger than the same product that is commonly available. Flat is important because the twisted stuff leaves bumps underneath the skin, which become wear points. We didn’t like the options that were out there so we had this stuff custom-made for us. (available in our store). Tying on the stringers seems like a bigger task than it is. It normally takes about three hours to finish a canoe.
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#skinonframe #lashing #skinonframecanoe #canoebuilding

Sound on! Just another view of bending in the cano

Sound on! Just another view of bending in the canoe ribs. Here you can see the bending technique really clearly. My secret? Good pending stock and steaming for the right amount of time, efficient workspace setup, and staying relaxed. It’s amazing the symmetry you can achieve by eye just by combining those four elements. Surprisingly., most of my students (at least the ones who send me pictures) do nearly as well.
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#woodworking #steambending #skinonframe #canoebuilding

#makita #milwakee #buildingstuff #tooltuesday #woo

#makita #milwakee #buildingstuff #tooltuesday #woodworkingtools

Sound on! Here we are filming an updated steam ben

Sound on! Here we are filming an updated steam bending video for the canoe building course. Like I said in the last post, every couple years I synthesize the recent feedback from my students, and then update the videos accordingly. This new video should be in the course within a couple weeks.
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#skinonframe #steambending #skinonframecanoe #boatbuilding

Every couple years, I like to update my video cour

Every couple years, I like to update my video courses based on what I’ve learned recently and feedback from students. This year I’m updating the canoe building course so I thought I would share a few clips here and there just to show some examples of our videos.
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The new steambox design is 1/8” taller which reduces the chances of ribs getting trapped inside, and 4 inches wider with removable dowels, so it can also be used to re-steam finished ribs to tweak the shaping. The full video should be in the course along with the updated steambox drawing within a couple weeks.

Bending test ribs is one of the most important par

Bending test ribs is one of the most important parts of our building process.
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This gives you some steam bending practice and also lets you dial in the perfect steaming time for your particular rib stock.
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More importantly it lets you double check the shape of the canoe before committing to cutting all of your expensive rib stock. This isn’t necessary if you’re building a size that we’ve already tested, but if you’re heading into new territory and trying a size that hasn’t been built yet, test ribs let you double check how the formula is going to apply to that particular size in case you need to make adjustments.
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I encourage all my students to text me photos of their test bends so I can double check their work. This photo from Bryce is a perfect example of exactly the view I’m looking for to judge the shape.
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#skinonframe #skinonframecanoe #canoebuilding #buildityourself

Now that I have working prototypes for the pedal d

Now that I have working prototypes for the pedal drive, rudder, and seat, I can turn my attention back to the easy part: building the actual boat.
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This is the white oak that we chainsaw milled last month. The grain orientation was wrong for what I’m doing so I started by resawing it into billets and then flipping it 90°. It’s nice and wet with pretty good grain so it should work well. I use the Freud ripping blade for the resawing but I switch to a thin kerf Makita circular saw blade to cut the ribs to save material. Does anyone else think that the Freud ripping blade looks like some sort of Klingon war weapon?
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Next I rounded off all the stringers and set up the stems to check the stem angle and the rocker.
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After that we cut the ribs to length and round of them over. By the end of tomorrow, this should look like a canoe. Feels good to be making progress again.
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#skinonframe #skinonframecanoe #canoebuilding #woodworking #buildityourself

I have some questions about marine glue ups and fi

I have some questions about marine glue ups and finishing, and a bonus question about 3-D plastic printing for anyone who’s going to take pity on me:
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I’ve been doing a lot of epoxy work for the last few weeks, prepping all the parts for the Canoe pedal drive and I have to be honest it is not my favorite type of work.
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Right now, my process for building the Drive box is a three-step glue up, waiting a day between steps, and then I saturate the whole thing with epoxy, and then I wait a week for it to cure to where I can safely sand it before applying the water based poly which I chose simply because it allows me to do all the varnishing in one day.
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I can literally build the whole canoe faster than I can build these parts, so I’m looking for ways to speed up the process!
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My first thought is to use titebond 3 for the glue up and then reinforce the inside corners of the Drive box with epoxy fillets or possibly just a beveled 45° piece of wood with more Titebond. I feel comfortable with gluing the perimeter blocking and inside channel blocking this way, but I’m not sure if I can trust titebond for the plywood butt joint at the corners? It’s critical that none of these joints ever fail. So, do we trust titebond for this and if so, is the water clean up on that glue sufficient to prevent surface discoloration when I later saturate all of these surfaces with epoxy?
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Thanks for any advice. I don’t do a lot of this type of work, and I wanna get the system as clean as possible before I unleashed it on my students.
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Bonus question: if I 3-D printed the Drive box out of plastic, would it be strong enough to guarantee that it won’t fail?
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#boatbuilding #woodenboatbuilding #glueup #epoxy

Finally bought the plunge base for the Makita cord

Finally bought the plunge base for the Makita cordless trim router to have a more convenient setup for the many smaller mortises I cut. In this case I’m using ash to make canoe seats. The tool can absolutely handle 3/4 inch deep mortises in a single pass but I usually do 2 passes in hardwood just avoid burning the holes. (Impossible to clean up and kills your glue bond).
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Here I’m using the speed tenon method by @chbecksvoort49 (thanks for the tip @deepseadivver ). Probably gonna be my go-to method from now on.
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#joinery #woodworkingtools #mortiseandtenon #buildingstuff

Check out this tandem canoe built by one of our st

Super simple test rudder for my pedal-powered cano

Super simple test rudder for my pedal-powered canoe project. This is just screwed together with a quick coat of oil because there is zero chance that the final version will look anything like this and I just wanted to basic platform to figure out blade area and overall geometry. Once I figure out the blade area, I will probably be switching out the acrylic test blades for aluminum plate.
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A huge focus of my design work is trying to keep things as simple as possible for people. For example, in this case, I started by raising my tablesaw blade all the way up and then cut the kerf that way, and then designed the shape of the rudder to fit that slot, which is a heck of a lot easier than any other way you could do it.
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#canoebuilding #boatproject #skinonframecanoe #smallboat

The good news is that I’m absolutely killing it

The good news is that I’m absolutely killing it here. The bad news is that IT in this case refers to the fine art of woodworking. It only took me two hours to get my crappy tools set up well enough to cut precise tenons (that I could’ve easily cut by hand in 15 minutes if I wasn’t so damn lazy), but hey, at least I forgot to zero my dial caliper so none of them are the right size…. anyone else having one of those days?
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#woodworkingfail #joinery #buildingstuff

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Brian Schulz
brian@capefalconkayaks.com
Call or text: 503 354 4939

4935 NE 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97211
Hours by appointment only

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