Thanks, Slowwalker. I'm much more familiar with the strip canoes, myself. Those on the "Sandy Point" website I gave above are cedar stripped. Our pal, Riverrat, built one a year or two ago. The pix he sent me were beautiful. I'm leaning that direction.

Fiddlesticks

'Sticks and all,
Check out this site for wooden canoes.
http://www.woodencanoe.com/canoes.htm
Sparks

The 26' North Canoe that we took on our 100 mile trek on Lake Superior had high ends. We had no problems even when the wind came up. We had 5 men with paddles which probably helped.

Being from northern minnesota only about 35 miles from the BWCA is where i was raised in the small town of Embarrass i pretty much grow up in a canoe,in and around the lakes and rivers there, my dad had build'et a canvse one it did'nt last to long tho.we have had the noise alum,still have them around. I have a corcraft it has served me well since the 70's it's quite on the water and great for hunten,trappen from.But one of those birch ones would be great.still dreamen of them after all these years i'm sure thats all the closer i will get to one tho.There is a lot of history near home the trappers would come up the st.louis river to embarrass river and portage to the pike river andon to lake vermillon and points north still looking for the spot where thay portage from.

Coonhatter? How come the canvas canoe didn't last very long?

Fiddlesticks

mainly because us kids were a little ruff on the canvas one,sticks,rocks and logs tore the canvas in a few spots dad patched it severl times.after being stored out side a few winters also took its tol on it then we got the alum.
never put a hole in it just a few dents.

Canvas, wood and birch bark canoes all require much more care than aluminum (shudder) or fiberglass canoes. I guess that's why the alu and fib are so popular. Birch bark especially needs TLC. It should be kept stored inside or at least covered. When you get ready to use it soak it inside and out in water to soften the bark because it has a tendency to be dry and brittle when out of the water. When it's wet it is more soft and pliably and will actually bend when it goes over a hard surface like a rock. Although rocks need to be avoided whenever possible.

I've had many canvas and wood strip canoes as well as a birch bark. Here is a cedar strip canoe I used on my trap line for awhile, I traded it in on a flintlock rifle to Jud Brennan. He took it with him when he moved to Alaska in 85. You'll note there are no seats in the canoe, I had to kneel in the bottom (had better knees back then)

Canoes can be a great aid in hunting. This buck shot during a snow storm had to be brought out the next morning by canoe.

Keep those pictures coming, 'Hunter. I can't get enough of 'em!

Got my book, today: "The Illustrated Voyageur." It'll make a dandy companion piece for the Sandoz book, "The Beavermen" which I'm currently reading.

Fiddlesticks

Sticks,
I hope you enjoy the "Voyageur" book. I've spent time in Grand Marais, but I'm not sure I've met Sivertson even though I've been in the gallery. Not entirely certain he's still alive, but I think so...

Dick

Thanks Dick. I'm sure I will. Funny how I was reading about the very issues illustrated in this book.

Hey 'Hunter? How long is the canoe you're bringing that deer out in? I'm still mulling over what length I need to get.

Fiddlesticks

NWTF....nice bunch of fur and a nice buck. Is that quiver bobcat? Good lookin' bow too!

'sticks, NWTF is using that canoe as I described to you. He's swapped ends and sitting on the front seat. With the buck in the canoe, see how nicely it balances. Obviously I don't know but I'd guess it's a 17 footer, or thereabouts.

I'd love to have an Old Town or L. L. Bean cedar strip canoe but I'd also like to have 2-3 grand to waste as I'd like. It would also probably get the daylights torn out of it in these shallow, rocky Ozark streams. I have neither the time nor inclination to build my own.

Vic

Vic...yes it's a Bobcat quiver, the bow is snakebacked osage, 72#. The canoe wasn't mine but if I remember correctly it's a 16'

Here's a picture taken on another trek with the big North Canoe. That's me in my little custom built 12' wood and canvas drafted beside the 26 footer. the 12' was a neat little one man job (2 man in a pinch)...wish I still had it.

Sharps! get yourself this book ,Featherweight Boatbuilding by McMcCarthy,he's in BROOKLIN MAINE,takes you through the whole process,materials,strong backs,lacing seats,to making paddles, I used it when I was teaching furniture/cabinet/boat building and the KID'S made some fine canoes,that they could afford. The most difficult thing to find ,in some cases, will be good cedar to make the strips. When your finished you will still have money to by food. The biggest problem we had was filling orders,once you pals see it your in business if you arn't careful.You can even put your own pattern in as you go.Now that has to float your stick.You can fly fish out of a canoe,if the water isn't over chest deep,HAW HAW

NWTF, if wouldn't be to much to ask, can I use your pictures as screen savers if I want to?I can't wait for the ice to go out here in MAINE.

Sure, no problem.

I've been a canoe nut all my life and as long as there's open water it calls to me. Since I'm French Canadian I may have been a Voyager in an earlier life.

NWTF ever think of having on of those calanders made where you can have your own pictures on the top of each month??????????I bet there are enough pictures out there amongst all the Camp writers to make a darn good one.Just the pictures you have I'd buy one.Could put significant dates on the months from the annals of the trappers/long hunters/movement over the mountains,births/deaths of anyone who wanted to donate/buy a calander and writes in.Something to think about;} Might E-Mail linda and ask what the interest might be!!!!!!!

'crow, what a neat idea about the calender.

Where might I find this book by McMcCarthy, (is that how it's really spelled?).

Vic

Sharps, go right to the place,Wooden Boat Books P.O.Box 78 Naskeag Road, Brooklin,Maine 04616/0078, 1-800-273-7447, Internet WWW.WOODENBOAT.COM/ E-Mail wbstore@woodenboat.com THIER EVEN OPEN ON SAT, OCT-DEC or order it from the book store near you,$19.95 best money ever spent if you want to build your own strip canoe. ISBN # 0-937822-39-6 When I was teaching, I taught 12 year olds to build thier first canoe or any other project for that matter,and they helped the next student to build thiers,this book is user friendly. Authors name correctly spelled,oops! Henry "Mac" McCarthy,but the book is under Mac. McCarthy on the cover.Speaking of cover, if you look on line and the cover is what you see, you will see what I mean by Beautiful. The really great thing is these people are real dirt under the fingernails, working for a living,chasing the Dream, folks.The don't just write books,they build these boats and teach how to do it.Get's any better,they would have to build it for you and ship it.
The calander idea is what I call a Grandparent Calander,cute pictures of the family for gramp/gram,with date{important ones} birthday,anniversarys and the such, bet I would sell with interesting subjects each month, with reminders,Shoots,gun shows,hunting season.wedding anniversarys.The schools around here use them for fund raisers.

I'm surely enjoying that illustrated book on 'Voyageurs' that Dick put me on to.

The ol' boy who painted and put it all together was raised in a commercial fisherman's family in the Boundary Waters area, so one would think his geographical depictions to be accurate. 'Tis a pleasure to fill in a little bit of another of my many "gaps" in historical knowledge. When you get to reading how hard those canoe-men worked, 40-60 paddlestrokes a minute for 18 hours a day, stopping twice a day for pemmican and a pipe, one sinks into his sofa in despair.

Reclinin'sticks