Many years ago my friend Ken started building canoes as a way to pass the winter months in northern Maine. He and a couple of friends were going to build canoes for themselves and that would be the end of it. Except it wasn’t. Ken’s not sure how many he’s built over the years and it seems like every summer I make my annual escape to the north country he’s working on another one. This year was no exception and I had the privilege of helping him plank one of his 17’s to the point where it was time to pull it off the form and flip it over. This is always a magical (or tragic) event since up to this point the inside has been hidden from view. You never know if you will find a rib badly split that needs to be replaced. Thankfully this boat suffered no such issues and we were delighted by a clean interior.
To the layman it might look like we have a mess on our hands but you have to leave the ends free until you take the hull off the form or it will become trapped. Below is a picture of my 17′ canoe that Ken built on the same form over ten years ago:
Between the fishing, paddling, traveling, and sharing time with friends (both in the shop and out) it was a great week and over far too fast.
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It is so beautiful!!! I love the color and the photo is greattt!