Thanks for the advice. My brother built two of the canoes at the same
time from this book. They were almost complete when I saw them. I had
a copy of Ted Moores Canoecraft that I had read cover to cover. I was
less than impressed with the lines and the butt joints were really
obvious under the epoxy. I had brought with me my copy of CanoeCraft
and I ended up giving it to him. According to what he tells me the
canoes are OK but a bit heavy.

I haven't built a boat yet. I suspect that I should build a canoe and
learn some skills. A square stern is a likely next project. I aspire
to the quality that Gary achieves. I am accumulating tools and
preparing space in the garage for the project.

The boat at my friend's place was sweet... fast and agile with a four
horse outboard. The bow was really sharp and cut right through the
waves with a really smooth ride. It would carry quite a bit of weight
without much loss of performance. Sebago gets quite rough at times.
This boat handled it really well.

If I lived on the East COast I would go and measure the hull. Next
time I get out there I probably will.


"Gary Wright" wrote in message news:FtmTa.121492$Ph3.15592@sccrnsc04...
I shouldn't comment on the book shown at this link -'Building a Strip Canoe'
by Gil Gilpatrick - because I haven't read this revised edition. I DO
however own the first edition of this book - and I never let lack of facts
get in the way of forming an opinion.

In my first edition, there is a photo of a 13 ft Laker, but no photo of a
finished 16 ft Laker which is what the plans in the book are for - so it is
not immediately clear if the plans are for a double ender or square stern.
However the plans have 9 stations spaced at 18 inches and the stem spacing
is specified as 24 in. Adding (8x18)+(2x24) and dividing by 12 equals 16 ft,
so I believe he intended two stems rather than a square stern.

IMHO the book could be much better and I am hoping the second edition has
been much revised. The illustrations of a shop class building a boat do not
inspire the reader to strive for great, or even good, craftsmanship.

One example: Gilpatrick encourages the use of simple butt joints to join two
strips which are too short to run the full length of the canoe. If you can't
get your hands on full length strips, it's really not that much trouble to
make a scarf joint; the resulting plank will be less likely to leave an
unfair transition between the two planks as well as much better from an
engineering point of view.

To my eye, many of the boats pictured in the book (1st ed.) don't look quite
right. I don't mean the craftsmanship, but the shapes and lines. Maybe it's
just bad photography, but several of the boats look 'funny' - not graceful.
The method given in the chapter 'Other Design' for modifying plans will
probably work OK for an experienced builder with a good eye, but following
this method without great caution could easily result in something ugly and
mishapen which is what I fear may have happened to some of his plans.

Based on the photos of the finished boats in the 1st edition, I was afraid
to invest the time and money on questionable plans - might be better to go
to some of the plans from Bear Mountain (http://www.bearmountainboats.com/)
or Newfound Woodworks (http://www.newfound.com/index.htm) although there are
no plans at either site for a square stern like Roy T wants.

--
Gary Wright
Springfield, MO