|
Intro:
Hello, My name is Alex and nowadays I
live with my family in the middle of Sweden. In 2003 however we still
lived in the Netherlands near Amsterdam.
At the end of 2003 I found a very interesting internet site called
Bearmountaniboats. On their site (www.bearmountainboats.com)
they explained how to build a Canadian canoe from Red Cedar strips.
Because we just bought a vacation house near the biggest river in Sweden I
thought I should at least have a canoe at the house. Through the internet site
from Bear Mountain I came on to the site of Woodsong canoes (www.woodsongcanoes.com)
after that site I was completely convinced that my new canoe should be a Red
Cedar strip canoe. So I decided to build my own Canadian canoe.
The
canoe had to be big enough to carry two adults and two young children. It should
be reasonably stable and it could not be longer than 17.5 feet. My shed was only
19 feet so 17.5 ft was the longest to put in there, leaving me a little room to
move around it.
After
a long search on the internet I found a Dutch site called the Boat builder or in
Dutch: de Botenbouwer (www.bootbouwer.nl).
On this site I could order drawings from the Canadian Bear Mountain. After a lot
of reading and thinking I chose the 17' Nomad as my future project.
The
Nomad is the strip/epoxy version of the popular design of which Ted Moores got
the order to make it for Canadian Canoes. It is a 17' white water canoe based on
the popular 16' Chestnut Prospector "Fort".
The
centre and the profile are a match with the Bear Mountain Boats 16' Prospector,
only with fuller waterlines.
These
fuller waterlines add some volume and stability and gives it a smooth shape that
is easy to build with Cedar strips. The Nomad is described as long, slim and
easy to paddle.
Instead of two seats I was going to place three seats. The middle seat should
hold two children of 7 and 10 years old.
At the end of November 2003 the work could finally start. The drawings had
arrived including an English manual. So I thought...make room in the shed and
let's make our own family canoe..
|
