Sunday, March 20, 2022

A Skin-on-Frame Adirondack Guide Boat

 Cape Falcon Kayak described making Adirondack guide boats and reminded me of time I spent in the Adirondacks, hiking as a teenager and later canoeing there through a chain of lakes.

Skin-on-frame guide boats made by 
Brian Schulz at Cape Falcon Kayak

Before roads, wood planked versions of these boats were "pickup trucks" of the Adirondack region.

Fifty years ago I paddled a robust aluminum canoe many miles in both New York state and British Columbia, Canada. Though rugged and functional, this kind of canoe is awkward, loud and heavy. Searching for a lighter, quieter craft and that I could make myself, skin-on-frame canoes stood out. But rowing is more efficient and promotes fishing. Guide boats are essentially canoes that you row (or paddle). 

Building one involves making a bottom board, two stems and two gunwales with ribs between them to establish shape. Stringers on each side then support the nylon fabric stretched over the frame that is then coated to make the boat float. Tiny decks are added to the bow and stern for hand holds or for sitting on when launching and landing. Installing seats and making oars complete construction.
Dimensions in this 14 foot boat scaled the 16 foot 
data published in The Adirondack Guide-Boat 
by Kenneth and Helen Durant.

 Discarded redwood paneling (3/4x8 inches x 8 feet), 
painted white on one side provided the wood for 
the bottom, stems, ribs, gunwales, stringers and 
decksRedwood is lightweight, rot resistant but 
not able to take very high forces.

A dead ash tree milled by volunteers from the Northeast 
Woodworkers Association provided wood for 
the seat frames and other high stress parts.

Joining then milling to half inch thickness, two 
redwood boards scarfed together make the 
bottom. Perpendicular grooves establish the 
27 rib locations.   

Plastic templates were made for the stem, above, 
and the ribs, then reproduced in redwood.

Eight thin slices of redwood were laminated 
together to make a double rib, that was split 
in half to make front and rear ribs.

There are ten different rib patterns. 

Each 3/4 inch wide rib was split in two to 
populate front and back halves of the boat.

The central nine ribs are identical: from five double 
ribs cut in half. To prevent the ribs from delaminating
 when bumping into rocks, they were wrapped with 
50 pound braided fishing line and then varnished.

Too thin for screws, lashing and adhesive 
connect ribs to the bottom board. 

`
Most of the ribs in place.

Three sets of two eight foot boards were scarfed together 
to make gunwales, the long pieces that top the ribs and 
establish the shape. This process also made an extra set 
for another boat (to insure the assembly stays straight).

The fourteen foot gunwales needed a six inch 
chord to establish the proper curve.

Waiting for the glue to cure.

The actual chord dimension and also showing 
the three layers that make up the gunwales.

Length of three laminated boards, good for four gunwales.

Lashing a gunwale to ribs.

Both gunwales in place. Extra lengths 
of ribs were trimmed off.

Stringers that support the fabric were scarfed, glued, 
sanded and varnished before lashing them to the ribs 
evenly spaced between the gunwales and bottom board.

Showing a stringer connection to a stem, 
the curved boards at each end of the boat.

The completed frame.

To this point, work was done with the frame upright. 
In order to attach the skin, the frame needed 
to be upside down.

Nylon fabric was stretched both end to end and gunwale
 to gunwale.The 14 foot long edges were first stapled 
on each side, then sandwiched between redwood 
gunwale and an added ash outwale (for strength 
for bumping docks and to support oarlocks).

Hand stitching each end a bit to the side insured 
that the hem didn't interfere with the brass 
rub strip added after coating the fabric.

The wrinkly fabric was then soaked with hot water 
and drying stretched out the wrinkles.

A dark color acid dye was applied to make 
the boat a more appropriate color but it 
left splotches and streaks.

A different dark dye was mixed with four coats 
of two part polyurethane resin to hide stains 
of the previous effort.

At this point the boat weighs 34 pounds! 
Adding decks, oarlocks, brass rub strips
 and seats added six pounds.

On the day before our pond froze in December, 
we made sure the boat didn't leak!

But we had to paddle because there were 
no seats, oarlocks or oars yet!


Durants' book above has plans for each 
seat that include holes for caning.

Seat frames were made out of ash but without caning holes.

Woven continuous strips of wet rawhide 
populate frames instead of caning.

It takes only an hour to cut rawhide into 
strips, soak one and then weave it around 
each seat frame.

There are identical decks at each end that provide 
handholds to pick up and carry the boat.

Deck support structures are made from ash to 
withstand the forces involved in sitting 
on a deck or carrying a loaded boat.

Redwood planks finish the decks. This photo also shows an end 
of the brass rub strip that runs from around the bow stem, 
along the ash keel on the bottom and around the stern stem.

Outwales are trapezoidal in section so that oarlocks rotate 
perpendicular to the water. Since screws in the redwood
 gunwales to attach oarlocks would probably work loose
 over time, I used bolts with a backing plate against
 an ash wedge to present a parallel face.

The first set of oars were made 
from a dead white pine tree.

Oar shape and dimensions were from Durants' book.

A second oar copied the first.

Now complete with three seats mounted, 
two oars and two sets of oarlocks.

I plan to make a second guide boat that should be easier and take much less time (and I already have the gunwales!). It will have half the number of ribs, keeping them 3/4 of an inch wide so screws through the gunwales, stringers and bottom board will hold well. Rib and stem laminations will include ash to make them stronger without having to wrap them with fishing line. Nylon fabric will be extra heavy to make it more rugged. Stringers will be larger to better support the fabric between ribs that will be twice the distance apart. Weight will probably be under 50 pounds.


2 comments: