In article , "Paul R. LaBrie"
wrote:

Ummm. I think you've confused Gilpatrick's plans for "laker" canoes
with those of the "Grand Laker" which is a 19' square-stern. snip

I wasn't aware Gilpatrick offered plans the Grand Laker - if they can be
found this should make Roy T. (funjumper101) very happy. Plans for a 19 ft
square stern are NOT to be found in the 1st edition of Gilpatrick's book.
-GW

In the late '80s I built a 19' Grand Laker square-stern to Gilpatrick's
plans. He did issue a caveat that they were not "his plans" but that he
was simply supplying them for those interested.

A wonderful article in Wooden Boat #121, (and, apparently also appearing in
the May 1994 issue of 'Field and Stream'), gives credit to one Herb 'Beaver'
Baker as building the first Grand Laker in the 1920s. The canoe's name comes
from Grand Lake Stream in eastern Maine, and, as of the time of the article
(early-mid 1990s?), there were still one or two natives of that area
building variations of Beaver Baker's design. The way these things go, I
doubt any of them ever had a set of plans, but it might be worth checking
into if Gilpatrick's plans cannot be found. -GW

The resulting boat was
mostly wonderful (it was based on molds, I believe, from some of the
original Grand Laker square sterns) but it did have some problem with
oil-canning -- which I solved by putting in compression struts between
the thwarts and keelson. Given modern (and heavier) 4 stroke outboards
and given the American propensity towards heavier passengers, I'd
redesign such a square stern canoe today for more buoyancy/bearing aft
and would take some of the flatness out of the bottom. These are neat
boats.

- paul

Another solution to the oil canning problem which might be easier than
re-doing the plans would be to increase the thickness of your strips. My
seat of the pants guesstimate would be that a boat of this size should use
cedar strips at least 3/8 inches in thickness, maybe more.

The bottom of the boat could also be stripped using an inherently stiffer
wood such as basswood or yellow poplar - both of which which have a modulus
of elasticity about 50% greater than western red cedar - they also weigh
more, but not 50% more. I think we can forget about putting a 20 ft square
stern up on the roof rack by yourself no matter how you build it. The
wood-canvas versions are reported to weigh 160 lbs. I believe you can beat
that in cedar strip, but perhaps not by a significant amount.

--
Gary Wright
Springfield, MO
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