JEM Watercraft

Zeb,

That looks like it belongs in a museum!

How about a report on how she handles and such?

zeb

Over here in the colonies that banished the king and queen , no one owns the water ... it is public domain for all of us to enjoy at our will. The land along the sides might be a different story but the water is everyones.

I would think that anyone would appreciate seeing the work of art you made float by them , you are disturbing or destroying anything , just enjoying one of life's simpler pleasures that is in harmony with nature.

Chuck.

That looks like it belongs in a museum!

How about a report on how she handles and such?

Matt, Look at the piccies mate. Can'tcha tell, she paddles beautifully

Oh dear, so many beautiful boats to build and only one life time to build em in, I can feel the urge again.

Thanks very much for Your kind comments

I might add the tail fin sugested in the plans (for Ellie)until She gets a bit more experience,maybe make her a yak paddle too.
I had no probs keeping her straight with a j stroke.

She was tippy feeling at first(compared to my peerow)but two minutes paddling and getting used to it ,I could lean her to the gunwhales without going for a swim!!!!!

I prefere ot kneel when paddling but when you sit on the floor she feels rock solid and when i fit the seat for Ellie I will keep it as low as possible

She is a light boat and i had no problems carrying it to the waters edge.
I used 6mm ply on the bottom and 4mm on the sides


A builder could make a super light boat using all 4mm

Thanks Matt for designing a little peach of a boat.


Now to organise that Co.Durham tea party

few more piccies (Thanks Phil)



All the best zeb

Nice job Zeb and it looks like a beautiful place to pladdle too. Sorry for the restrictions. As Sparky says the water here is pretty much open but, believe me there are those that would have it other ways and we have to remain on our guard to keep it open. Thanks for the pics.

That was a bloody good read and the canoe looks fantastic.Shame about the water not being for everyone to use though.Until recently I always assumed you had the same rules as us, we have something called "the queens chain" a certain distance either side of a river stream or lake is free for anyone to use.There was a story in one of the local fishing magazines about a guy who moved from the UK to NZ so he could fish for trout wherever he wanted.

Thanks Surfman and Raumati,
The queens chain sounds to me like a really fair system , we can legally paddle 2% of our waterways

Thanks again Zeb

Zeb,

Great looking canoe Looks like it paddles pretty good. How is the stability were you sitting on the bottom or do you have a seat installed. What did it end up weighing? Is the hull pretty stiff any oil canning etc. I think i will be building one this winter need a pack canoe for carries in the Adrondaks.

Hi Banoe
Shes stable sitting on the bottom,I havent installed a seat yet but I will keep it low (for my daughter)I prefer to kneel as I think it gives You more control(please remember Im no expert)

No oilcanning whatsoever as the floor has a slight vee shape.
There is a few build options,well three!!! all 6mm taped seams,4mm sides and 6mm bottom taped seams or all 4mm with fiberglass cloth,I used option two.

Sorry I dont know how much she weighs(we are all skinny in our house so we have no scales!!!!)but i can easily lift Her above my head,if or more likley when I build another I would have a chat to Matt about thwart position and install a centre one and have two sort of grab handles close to the breast hooks(for hull stregnth),this would make slingging Her over your head an easier task with the centre thwart.
I will try and borrow some scales from a neighbour and weigh the girl(please keep this info confidential as we do not want to upset Her )

There is a supplemental step of adding a skeg to the stern,I am thinking of adding it for my daughter as She is new to canoeing, I love the manouverability of the Eno but other people may like to add it for tracking
Matt does state on the plans to try the boat out first and see how You go.
What sort of river is the Adrondaks ?

Hope this helps You out a bit.

All the best Zeb

Zeb.

The Adirondack Park in upstate New York is about a 9,000.00 sqare mile state park and is the largest park in the contiguous United States.

It contains tributaries for five major basins: Lake Champlain, Hudson, Black, Saint Lawrence, and Mohawk rivers.

Within the Park are 3,000 lakes and ponds and 30,000 miles of rivers, streams, and brooks.

I have a camp on the Raquette River on the western edge of the park. I paddle mostly in the Saranack Lake area and the St Regis area.

The St. Regis canoe area has about 30 lakes and ponds connected by waterways or carries (in the adirondacks portages are called carries) the St Regis Canoe area doesn't allow the use of motors paddling only.

There are also many camp sites along the lakes so you can travel from lake to lake and set up camp at the end of the day and do it all over again in the morning. The need for a light weight canoe is important for the carries many are one mile in length you have to be able to carry your pack and canoe at the same time or you spend all day going back and forth over the carry and not canoing.

There are a couple of commercial canoes made out of Kevlar and Carbon that weigh about 17lbs but the want about $ 2,000.00 for them. I am thinking I can make an Eno cheaper than that.