Showing posts with label canoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canoes. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 April 2017
Updates on Old and Ancient Canoes
Back to the subject of birchbarks, here's a fine video illustrating their construction in great detail:
Sunday, 2 April 2017
Sturgeon Nose Canoes
 |
| Sturgeon-nose canoe on Kootenay Lake. Image courtesy of Touchstone Nelson Archives, from the Virtual Museum of Canada website. Click any image to enlarge |
Sturgeon-nose or ram-ended canoes of were used in the interior of British Columbia and Washington by the Kutenai, Kalispel, Salish, and Sinixt people. While instantly recognizable by the unusual reverse slope of the bow and stern, they possessed several additional features that distinguish them from other North American bark canoes.
According to Adney (in Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America
, from which most of the following content derives), sturgeon-nose canoes were built from whatever bark was convenient: birch, spruce, fir, or white pine, the latter apparently being a common choice. (As with birchbark canoes, the rough outer surface was turned inward to face the boat's interior.) Whenever possible, upper panels of birchbark were sewn in for the entire length of the boat, with the grain running fore-and-aft.  |
| 15'4" LOA Kutenai canoe, from Adney & Chapelle. Click for larger view. |
There were no stem-pieces per se, but three stem battens reinforced the upward-facing bark end seam, one on each side, and one at the end, forming a "cap." The three battens and the bark were pitched and sewn together. The end battens extended a few inches above the gunwales: this must have been purely aesthetic.
Two gunwale arrangements were common. The first was the common three-piece combination of inwale, outwale, and cap, with the rib ends sandwiched between the inwale and the bark. The other arrangement, which I have not seen in other North American bark canoes, involved upper and lower inwales and an outwale, but no cap. The ribs pierced through holes in the bark envelope where the upper, birchbark panel was sewn to the lower main envelope, so that their uppermost few inches were on the outside of the hull. Their upper ends were sandwiched between the outwale and the bark.
Often, only one thwart was used, amidships, but there were not infrequently three. While thwarts keep the gunwales apart and thus spread the boat's opening, sometimes hide straps, spaced between the center and end thwarts, were used to pull the gunwales inward.
Bottom sections tended to be very round, but some canoes had a slightly flattened bottom and flaring sides, The enclosed ends were nearly elliptical, except for their pointed upper end. The bottom tended to be hogged, but because of the boat's light structure, the ends came up when it was loaded so that in use, the boat had a slightly rockered bottom.
Most were 14' to 20' LOA and quite narrow -- 24" to 28" in beam, although examples as long as 24' and as broad as 48" are known.
The overall form is somewhat of a mystery. Although they have the reputation of being particularly well-suited to the particular mix of condition in their users' environment (large open lakes, swamps, swift rivers), it's hard to see what aspects of their form makes it so, or in any way superior to other First People designs. The ram bow might provide benefits when crossing large areas of open water, by extending the waterline and by providing what amounts to a "bulbous bow" similar to that seen on most large modern cargo ships. But the narrow beam is a liability here, and the bow, with its lack of flare and its rapidly-diminishing buoyancy, is far less suitable than that of a conventional flared bow when encountering wind-driven waves. Furthermore, the pointed bow at or below the waterline would be tend to catch vegetation in swamps, and would impair both maneuverability and durability in rocky rapids.
 |
| J.R. Bluff paddles a Kalispel sturgeon-nose canoe he built of western white pine bark on cedar. (Photo by Robert C. Betts/Vanguard Research.) (Source. Scroll halfway down page.) |
 |
| Harvey Golden's canvas-skinned Kutenai canoe. |
 |
| Paul Montgomery's modern, nylon-skinned interpretation of a Sinixt sturgeon-nosed canoe. |
Friday, 17 March 2017
More Canoes at PMM
Some classic wood/canvas canoes on display at Penobscot Marine Museum. The first three shots are a Morris with extraordinarily shaped recurved stems. Numbers 4 and 5 are an Old Town sponson canoe (sorry, don't know the exact model) named Susannah, hanging upside down and soon to be part of a new exhibit called Rowboats and Rusticators. Interesting thing about sponson canoes: the sponsons were applied after the rest of the canoe was built, and the sponsons themselves were built much like boats in their own right, with planking laid over station frames.Thursday, 9 March 2017
Paddle Tumplines Bark Canoes
Here's a vintage photo dated to 1906 showing some bark canoes at a trading camp close to Lake Temiskaming in central Ontario. Interesting construction details show that the gunnels are secured with nails instead of time consuming root lashings and the paddles are rigged with tumplines on the centre thwart for portaging.
Un campement sur les bords du lac Sharp près du lac Témiscamingue ligne du C. P. R.
L'album universel, Vol. 23, no. 1157, pp. 257 (30 juin 1906)
L'album universel, Vol. 23, no. 1157, pp. 257 (30 juin 1906)
Source Link: http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/illustrations/htm/d286-03.htm
Thursday, 2 March 2017
Clearwater design canoes
Clearwater design canoes would be the tendency connected with current favorite information, could through the investigation in the google search so that you could provide you with ideal aspects we all test to look for photos regarding any Clearwater design canoes . as well as the final results you can view under handled several of the snap shots is definitely the case in point.
Sample images Clearwater design canoes
Clearwater design canoes - this has happen to be uploaded with the hope exactly who you can easily stimulate fantastic a person. This informative article can easily assist being a guide remember when you are mystified to choose the best suited lead This Clearwater design canoes discussions may perhaps be your foremost method that they are put on to the repair system, the way it possesses its very own approach will probably think far more content Clearwater design canoes - Valuable suitable for you for this reason people are attempting get the best origin which in turn may help you discover motivation without having misunderstandings. never forget to help you store this site, as its possible in the future you have to pick the software lower back like any inspirational choices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
