[Paddlewise] What boat do we paddle?

I have paddled a 17ft. cedar chestnut and a fiberglass chestnut canoe
since 1974. Truly a marvelous canoe built in Peterbourough Ont.
The canoe line, including freighter canoes were once a big part
of Hudson Bay Canada store merchandise and the canoe celebrates
quite a history I am told. Today, they fetch as much as $5000.00
Canadian for a used one.
Many were sold to the North Country and were reveared to
be one of the best canoes ever built. With the advent of the snowmobile
purchased their sales to the Dene, Inuit and trappers ect. declined
drastically.
The company went out of business around 1979 I believe.
The cedar canvas was my favorite and enjoyed a 1000 of miles
of rivers and BC lakes. I truly loved it. And now? I am boatless! For a
little while
longer.

It would be appropriate to brag, but I have no bragging rights as of
yet. so I can't. Not yet. But soon! In the mean time, I'll just keep
building
until it is finished.

I am in the midst of building a George Dyson Baidarka with 6061-T6
Aluminum tubing, and 15 oz Ballistic Nylon skin coated with neoprene
and hypalon.
Thanks goes out to John Winters, Bill Low, Peter Carter, Alex Ferguson,
Kirk Olsen, Wolfgang Brink, Tom Clark, Chris Young, Garry Rose and oh
yes George Dyson for all the help and advice I have received from these
truly wonderful, helpful people.
They have been a real blessing to me in reconfiguring the design of
George's Dyson's already famous 17.32 ft. single Baidarka.
A special thanks goes to John Winters for having run the boats lines for
me
through his computer and for a whole lot of yaking over the net whenever

questions came up.

I have increased her length to 18ft. 4inchs. Her beam is 22.75 inches
and her depth is 10.25 inches
The bow is an upturned bifercated hull. Already reputed to be very fast
and stable I have gained an even faster boat according to my experts and
one
that is more capacious for cruising.
It is being fitted for a sail, and will have adaptability to use either
a tab rudder and/or a longer foil rudder for down wind sailing purposes
and to accomodate rougher waters. where I will be able to choose the
rudder
style for expected conditions.
I will be installing a battery operated electric bilge pump with a solor

panel (for charging) on rear deck, much like the Australians.
My seat may be either a foam carved one or I will go with a self
constructed bean bag seat with a soft foam layer fabric over top.
I will also have a sea sock.

I am constructing this eleven stories up in my apartment overlooking the

Saskatchewan River. I hauled 200 ft. of tubing up the side of the
building wall to my balcony and brought it inside to lay out along the
north
wall where I have my building jig sitting on a pair of iron work horse
stands.
Over 1300 holes are to be soon finished drilling.
Holsclaw benders were recently appropriated and the tube bending should
be finished in a weekend. The frame will come together fairly quickly so

I can then start lashing with nylon and then epoxy coating the lashing.
Following that, I will install Alex Ferguson's design ideas for rudder
foot pedals, then the skin is to be sewen on. I am having a sewing
party at that
point to speed things up. Once complete [estimated completion date= June
10th]

I will be lowering the baidarka to the ground and taking it to where I
can safely coat it with some air quality control {xylene
fumes/neoprene/hypalon}.
My daughter is sewing my sail based on Dyson's fan design so to expedite

completion. Yes, a photo record of this marvelous project is being
maintained.
Nuts for doing this? No just demined to have my way. Internal floatation

bags built in. No it will not have sponsons! They are a marvelously
stable
craft to begin with.

This craft has been three years in the making and I am delighted that
its birth is not much further away. The biggest delays for me involved
rounding up all the tools and having larger blocks of time to focus on
construction. However, the research I gained and the stuff I learned
from
so many has been simply invaluable. Wow, you are some marvelous folk
out there! Wayne stephens thinks that I will finish before he gets his
done.
Hope he is right. MadPoodle stands a chance to take me fishing next year

if the tornados don't get him first or he gets hit by a hockey puck. %^)

I expect to join with Sylvio Lamarch as sometime
in July after he gets back from his paddling in VietNam to do some
paddling in the Kootneys and then some island paddling somewhere in the
Georgian Strait off Vancouver Island and Bellingham is a certain
destination
thats for sure.
Got to show the wares off to George and maybe get him to try out a
streched version. This is such a cool kayak!


Cheers,

Philip

P/S  Jackie, you can hold me accountable for my completion date!



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