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Building a War Canoe - Building Kiki

 

A 27' Voyager Canoe

 

 This canoe is now SOLD;

 it has moved to it's new home around Cape Coral Florida

and will be used by groups of veterans, 4-H club, the Sheriffs Kids, and birthday parties etc.

We fixed up the old trailer, sanded, primed, and painted the hull, scrubbed and bleached out the inside,

 and re-varnished all the paddles. She is like new again and back in service to the community!


 

The Idea – The builders:    As Bob and I were building our kayaks one day, we talked about building war canoes next. The idea was to bring back the fun of the old days when kids at summer camp would race their big canoes with kids from the other camp. I told him about how the camp my mother went to, Camp Osoha, is still using the war canoes they had when she was a camper. Mom is 80 years old. Those canoes must be near 100 years old! But where can you buy a war canoe today? We could not find plans on the internet. We decided to build one, maybe two, and have some good old fun. It would be a challenge to make the canoe from scratch.

The Design – The Name:    Everyone knows what a canoe looks like. All we had to do was make a really big canoe. While searching for any kind of plans or measurements to begin with, we found a book titled, “The Bark and Skin Boats of North America” by Adney & Chapelle. In this book, we found line drawings and pictures of old fur-trade canoes of the Iroquois French Canadian style up to 36 feet long. These large voyager canoes were called the “Maitre Canot” in French, which means the “Mother Canoe” in English. So I got the idea to build the mother of all canoes, and name it after my Mom, whose nickname is Kiki.

 

Later on, I was informed my French translation was incorrect, "Maitre Canot" actually means "Master Canoe" meaning, the big one, rather than, the mother of all canoes. The correct French for "Mother Canoe" is "M`ere Canot"! I never was good in French class. It makes a good story anyway; that's how the boat was named.

The Bending Forms:   We had the strong-back bench that we built the kayaks on, so we added length and a wider top to that. Then we marked off the centerline and the stations at 12” intervals on this larger sized strong-back. We special ordered 10 sheets of  ¾” reject plywood. This is exterior pine plywood that has defects worse than CDX grade.  With some numbers in mind, and having just read the book about canoe designs, we discussed the amount of rocker, tumblehome, bottom shape, beam, depths, and length. We took a carpenter’s pencil and sketched out a cross section of the center rib on a 24 x 48 piece of plywood. We cut that out and then cut a parallel cut 2 inches away, so we had a bow-like form to bend our rib on. We copied that 3 times, make it smaller, copied that one , made it smaller and copied that, and so we made the forms. As we made these forms we cross braced them with a 2’ strip of plywood at the same height, and cut in notches for the keel, seat stringer, and inside gunwale in their same positions. As we finished each form we attached it to the strong-back building bench in its correct position. It got trickier as the boat neared the pointy ends. We used some techniques we learned from building kayaks for making the bow and stern keel stems. We made our forms so they could be removed later in two pieces. We used strips of wood to check our form as it was being shaped by holding them in place with clamps and standing back and eyeballing the boat to-be. You use your imagination and visualize a war canoe, then take away everything that is not a war canoe. Eventually, after a number of Sunday morning sessions, we had an imaginary war canoe.

 

    

Steaming the Ribs and Stems:   We used a wall paper steamer for our steam bending with the output hose stuffed into a galvanized pipe, and sealed with a wet rag. Our ribs were white ash (Fraxinus Americana) 3/8 x 1.5 “. We learned it would take about an hour in the steamer to get one hot enough to bend easily. As each rib came out we would quickly clamp it on its proper form. After it cooled we would remove it, pre-drill the holes, then apply glue and screw it into place. Each rib was attached to the keel, seat stringer, and inside gunwale that we had placed in the notches we cut into the forms. When bending the keel stems we steamed all three laminations at the same time and clamped to a form we made for that purpose. After cooling, we glued them up and eventually attached both ends to the form. Each rib had to be notched into the inside keel at it’s cross point so we built a router jig that cut 3/8” deep, 1.5” wide, and was repositionable at 12” on center. We were careful to check for consistency as we made these cuts since a small 1/16”error can compound with each successive cut. When we got the jig working perfectly the notching –in went quickly. Steaming the ribs and stems took many Sunday mornings.

 

Planking the hull:   We were in our 4th month of Sunday mornings when we first applied a plank to the form. We used Eastern White Cedar (Thuja Occidentalis) for the hull planks. We started with a 2.5” wide plank straight along the seat stringer about 12 inches up from the bottom, in the middle of the boat. If nothing else we knew we had the first plank on parallel to the waterline. We switched to 1 & 1/8 inch wide planks as we turned around the bilge and to 6 inch wide planks as we covered the bottom. Each plank is screwed to each rib with silicon bronze boat screws. We lost count of the screws over 2000. The planks were beaded and coved on a router table with hold down clamps in place. We used Titebond II woodworker’s glue in the seams between the planks and we used a two-part epoxy glue mixed with some sanding dust at each plank to rib joint. After planking the narrow strips around the turn of the bilge we scribed a wide bottom plank in a long arch to make the lines run straight again. After the bottom was done we went back to the first plank and continued with 2.5 inch wide planks up past the top of the inside gunwale. After the glue set, we trimmed off the excess with a trim router and a flush-cutting bit.

Fiber glassing the bottom:    We used Fasco Fas-Fair #26 epoxy fairing compound to fair a few spots on the hull. After sanding and fairing the hull, and sanding and fairing the hull, and sanding some more, we applied 3.5 oz. fiberglass cloth to the hull using Epoxy Plus marine epoxy from Clark-Craft. We applied weave, fill, and cover coats and sanded again back to smooth. Did I tell you we sanded it? We used a 3 x 21 belt sander very quickly at first, then finished with 5” orbital sanders. We made up and applied plastic laminate disks to our sanding pads to make a hard surface to stick the sandpaper on. With our hard disk sanders we used repetitive figure “8” motions to fair the epoxy coating.

Applying the keel:   The keel went on with silicon bronze screws and epoxy glue in three laminations of 3/8 x 1.5 inch strips.  We used Fasco Fas-Stick #110 epoxy glue. The ends were pre-formed with steam and a jig. The end-to-end joints were all scarf-cut in a 12 to 1 ratio. Shaping with a round-over router bit and sanding was done before the keel was fiber glassed in place. More Clark-Craft liquid epoxy was used to fair the seam where the keel cloth lapped over the hull fiberglass and we sanded that fair.

Painting the hull:   We used Awlgrip 545 Epoxy primer (D8001) with the hardener in it to prime the hull. The hardener is called converter (D3001) and they sell that separately. This paint is labeled for professional use only. It was not hard to work with. We put that on 3 coats and sanded again to smooth. Next, we tried an epoxy paint from the Sherwin-Williams store, called Dura-Plate 235, mixed to the yellow color we liked. After three coats of that and sanding again to make it smooth, we made a decision that enough epoxy was on the boat and we just needed a nice surface color. We found Rustoleum makes a good exterior Safety Yellow glossy finish oil-based paint. We wanted the ease of scratch repair and the simple roll on and tip off method of painting. So we got the color and gloss finish we wanted, on a boat we know will get scratched up, and it will never rust! We put on three coats, with wet sanding to 320 grit before the last coat. Applying the fiberglass, primer, and paint to the hull took as long as it did to build the boat. There were lots of days of sanding and watching materials dry. About a year after we started, we turned the boat upright.

 Applying the outside gunwale:     When the boat was turned over, we trimmed off the excess fiberglass and drippings of paint. Then we routed off ¾ inch of the top plank using a router with an edge guide and a straight cutting bit. We made this cut so the outside gunwale would cap off the top plank to seal it from damage by the harder wood. The ash gunwale was rabbeted to lay in over the top plank edge. We got the steamer back out to form these pieces to the boat. The outside gunwale was then screwed and glued to each rib end and into the inside gunwale. Next, we taped off the newly painted hull and finished the gunwale by plugging the screw holes and sanding the shape.

Finishing the inside:    The epoxy glue and sanding dust mixture that we used to putty up all the plank-to-rib joints was left to squeeze out and harden in place. This filled most all the gaps we had, but then we had to trim that off with scrapers and chisels afterwards. We chipped glue and sanded the insides for several weeks of Sunday mornings. We used a pointed “mouse” sander , a square vibrating sander, and a triangle detail sander to get into all the corners and edges created by the ribs and keel being fastened to the planks. To avoid the high cost of individual packets of triangles and mouse papers we cut our own from an old roll of drum sander paper. We sanded and sanded, then hand sanded with papers wrapped around square sponges.

        Now we were in the wet season; we had planked and fiberglassed during the dry season. The boat showed signs of swelling with humidity. It was raining tropical storms on us daily. We were working under a tarp canopy and keeping another tarp over the boat for protection from windy rain and leaks above. Before saturating the inside with epoxy plus, we put a dehumidifier in the boat and two 60 watt light bulbs with a tarp covering and let the boat dry out a few days. We clamped the tarp to keep wet winds out. The hull was toasty dry when we mixed our epoxy. We put one small brush load of  Zar #120 “natural teak” oil-based stain in each double Dixie-cup size batch of resin.  In this way we colored the wood gradually with tinted resin to get a nice, not blotchy, clear but colored, finish. Where we had gaps in the bead and cove joints we used a ketchup bottle to squeeze the epoxy into the cracks.

      After we sanded the epoxy, we needed to protect it from ultra-violet rays of the Sun so we used a product called Dura-Coat , which is sold as a concrete floor coating. The Dura-Coat, “Protect your Surface” coating can be used on all outdoor equipment. We used it later for the trailer and the paddles. It goes on clear and stays clear, but we tinted that too with the teak stain. When we had achieved the color we desired, we did a final coat of Dura-Coat straight from the can. There was some more sanding and wiping off the dust to level out our drips and runs here and there.

Building the seats:   Until this point, the canoe has been held together side-to-side by temporary plywood pieces screwed to the seat stringers. The seat stringers are the end-to-end nominal 1 x 2’s we had installed in the notches we cut in the original forms 12 inches up from the bottom. So this board is built-in, attached to every rib, and supports all the seats at the same height. When we removed the temporary braces we clamped the boat side-to-side with long pipe clamps. We had a long discussion about the width of seats, distance between seats, and position of seats. We made up imaginary seats with plywood scraps and pretended to lay out positions. We split the difference between several tests until it came out even. We decided on 11 inch wide seats at 25 ¼ inch intervals. The stern seat has enough space for an average person to sit comfortably, and the bow seat has leg room for a tall person. The finished seat height is 13 inches where the gunwale is at 19 inches or more. Keeping the weight low in the boat adds greatly to the stability.

     The seat frames, made of ash, were pre-measured and constructed in the shop with glue and clamps.  Two 3/8 inch dowels were drilled and glued into each joint after assembly. Each seat is different in width overall but each seat section is about 15 inches wide. Where we had extra space, we built in some drink-holder trays. Two middle seats have 3 sections, the stern has one, the bow seat turned out small for two people or big for one person, all the other seats have two positions.

      The seats were woven with plastic cane by hand (by Gwen Tisdale). I measured and drilled the 5/16” holes, 7/8 inch apart, 732 times. I made a little jig for marking off the drilled spots. The cane is woven around and around both ways twice, then diagonally both ways, then up and down all around the edge. It takes over 4 hours per seat if you know how.

     After the caning was done we added supports under the seats and installed the seats in pre-drilled holes along the seat stringer. The caning and seat supports were then finished to match.

Making the paddles:   While we were waiting for seats to be finished and installed we were working on the motor for the boat, 13 paddles! Some paddles were made from select cypress and some from basswood.  It would be easy to go out and buy paddles, but you don’t get any satisfaction from that, and you have to work on those factory-made paddles to use and maintain them. I’d rather have a paddle cut out of a solid board and shaped to balance by hand. It takes about an hour to make a paddle and more time after that to put three coats of finish on it. A flat-sawn board of sapwood works best for strength and light weight. First you draw it on the board, then band saw the shape, plane the blade with a 4” electric planer, round the handle with a router, grind out a finger grip on the handle, belt sand the blade and edges, finish shape by eye and 80 grit orbital sander, orbital with 120 grit, hand sand with 220 grit, seal, sand, finish, sand and finish again. Lucky people get their names wood burned into their paddles. Paddles should be about chin or nose height for most people. Blade size should be larger for sprint races and smaller for distance races or touring all day. If you do it carefully you can get two paddles out of each board by drawing one facing each way.

Modifying a trailer:   I bought a new trailer for a 15’ skiff. I went to a welding shop and got a 20 foot length of steel beam the size of the trailer tongue 2 x 3 inches. I removed the factory trailer tongue and installed the long length but did not yet re-install the winch and coupler. To the back end of the trailer, I installed some very hard wood, recycled from marina pilings, to bring the lights and rear roller back, and to support the rear end of the carpeted bars. I made carpeted bars from pressure treated 2 x 4”s - 16 feet long, and installed them on the trailer bed with angle brackets. I installed more keel rollers and adjusted them down until after the boat was loaded. After the boat was carried to its trailer, we adjusted the rollers and we set the tongue weight by positioning the load; about 3 feet of the boat hangs off the end of the trailer past the lights and license plate. About 3 feet of the trailer ended up in front of the boat for the coupler and the winching post. We cut off the long steel beam and re-installed the coupler, and safety chains. It turns out I only needed about 14 feet of the steel beam. We then ran the wiring for the lights and coated the trailer in a clear protective finish.

A canvas cover:    The ribs of the canoe prevent water from flowing to either end inside the boat, so drain plug would not work. The canoe needs to be vacuumed or sponged out after each use.  A custom made cover was called for, after all this work was done, to protect the boat from accumulating falling leaves and rainwater. We built a 3 piece aluminum bar for a ridge pole, with two supports in center positions and wooden holders on each end to support the Sunbrella ® custom made canvas cover. Sixteen custom sized bungee cords hold the canvas to the trailer.

Accessories:    On each end of the canoe we built-in a samson post from the keel thru the deck. These, we decided, would be good for attaching accessories. Accessories such as mooring lines, the ridge pole of the canvas cover, flags or decorations, and interchangeable heads and tails.  I made up one plywood sculpture of a dragon head and tail just for fun. The idea is to be able to interchange heads and tails for different events such as a pirate head, a mermaid head, a parrot head, or a Viking head, and tails to match. We could attend any festival in matching style.

       In addition to the samson posts we installed the necessary equipment, spliced mooring lines, an anchor with line, lifejackets bungee corded to the seat stringers between every seat, whistle, flare kit, and the name lettering on each side of the stern.

 

 Launching Party:    After almost a year and a half, the day came when we were ready to have an official launching celebration. We invited lots of friends who had been waiting for this day. The local newspaper had been waiting too, for the news it was done.  The party went well at sunset on a Friday evening. Snacks and beverages were served under the tiki hut at our neighborhood community park. We paddled with groups of people out around the mooring buoys and back. The paddlers were a mixed group of beginners and seasoned canoe anglers, aged young and old, male and female. They paddled with so much delight, chaos, chatter, and laughter that the stern coxswain could hardly keep a straight course. We dallied around for the cameras on another boat, waving paddles, and joking with great pleasure. It turns out the boat handles well in a light wind and waves, is very stable, and draws practically no water at all. We changed groups and went around again, and again. Everyone was giggling and trying to get in paddling synchronicity as we tried to make up paddling song. It was all so funny to see from the stern position and from shore too, I’m sure.

       Conclusion: we need a serious practice session, and, we need to start building the second boat, a sister-ship to race against! Long live Kiki, the war canoe! Or should we call her a peace canoe?

 

READ MORE: The FREE PRESS - Key Largo - Wednesday November 7, 2007

 " Craftsman launches handmade 27-foot canoe" by Steve Gibbs, Free Press Staff

War Canoe Summary of Details: 

 

Designer, builder, owner – Mr. Rex Rothing

With assistance by – Mr. Bob Clinefelter

 

Inspiration and Design reference: "The Bark and Skin Boats of North America"

by Adney & Chapelle 

  

Name of vessel – Kiki

 

Date of Launch - November 2, 2007

 

Hours of labor – 450 (June 2006 to November 2007)

 

Total cost: Grand Total = $5705.72

Boat - $3825.56 plus 418 hours labor

Seat caning - $855.00

Sunbrella canvas cover - $900.00

Trailer - $850.16 plus 12 hours labor

Paddles - $130.00 plus 20 hours labor

 

L.O.A.  ……………………….27 Feet

 

Beam ……………………..…53 inches

 

Depth at mid-ship ………...19 inches

 

Weight of vessel …………..about 300 pounds(?)

 

Height of Seats………..…..13.5 inches

 

Distance between seats….25.25 inches

 

Capacity 15 people (13 paddlers, 2 passengers ) about 2500-3000 pounds

Draft fully loaded …. About 4 inches

 

Seats are hand woven plastic cane - by Gwen Tisdale

 

Woods used:

Ash – keel, gunwales, ribs, seat stringer, seat frames

Atlantic White Cedar - planks

(Atlantic White Cedar provided by http://www.YachtCraftCompany.com)

 

Materials used:

Fasco Epoxy Glue planks to ribs

Titebond II plank beads to plank coves

Clark Craft Epoxy Plus inside and outside 

3.5 oz. fiberglass cloth outside

Duracoat interior coating over epoxy

Zar “natural teak” stain mixed into Duracoat

Fasco fairing compound as needed

AwlGrip epoxy primer

Sherwin Williams yellow epoxy coating

Rustoleum Safety Yellow Paint

Silicon Bronze boat screws (every plank to every rib)

 

Paddles:

Handcrafted Basswood And Cypress

(various lengths for various heights of people)

 

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