Racing Canoe

[River Racer]

I will be building a tandem racing canoe that will meet the United States Canoe Association rules for the C2 boat category.

The first step needed in building a boat is a solid strongback for building the boat on top of.

Here is a cad drawing of the strongback. It is designed to function for up to a 24' boat. The C2 boat I'll be building will be a maximum of 18' 6".



Because it's so long, I designed it to be able to breakdown for moving and/or storing.

[River Racer]

Some of the cut pieces laid out on the floor.



Starting the framing



Internal Ladder Frame



Sides going on



Making sure everything stays square



Testing to see how the top fits



The finished product. I've got casters on the bottom so that it can be moved around if needed. I don't have a weight on the strongback, but it's very heavy.

[paintman]

I'm watching this one!!! Very interesting

[River Racer]

I've been working with a friend of mine that is an architect and boat designer, and he has designed a couple of other boats for me over the years.

He runs all sorts of mathematical calculations based on given boat category criteria along with any specifications I want worked in.



The stern of the boat has a whale tale added which looks strange from the top view. I'll most likely tweak this a little bit. This is to add comfort to the boat. Most C2 canoes taper back and get really narrow in the hip areas for the stern paddler. It is mainly added for comfort. I don't like being in boats for 100 plus miles and having the gunwales of the boat pressing on my hips.

The flair is added above the waterline anyway, so it doesn't create any extra surface area or drag in the water.

Another reason I've added the whale tail is to allow the rear seat to adjust back quite a bit. I have 5 children ranging is ages 16 down to 11. If I want to paddle with them, I will have a lot of adjustment possible depending on how we paddle. If I want to help teach them how to paddle in the back of the boat, I can shift them way back along with shifting the front seat back in order to keep the boat trim in the water. I currently weigh 100 pounds more than 3 of them so I want to be able to trim the boat under a variety of paddler and weight options. Maybe one day at least one of them will race with me.

The next step will be to purchase plywood and start shaping the individual stations for the boat.

[mperez76er]

Cool following along

[bobc]

Awesome! I'm in!

[River Racer]

Picked up some mdf today for the station forms. Started ripping the mdf down and have one piece cross cut for transferring the first pattern. I've got some more cleanup on the paper profile, but you get the idea. I'll post more after we get them all rough cut and ready for final shaping.

[River Racer]

I want to make sure I keep working on this even if it's a little at a time. Here is a shot of the -10 station transferred from the paper pattern to the mdf. The horizontal lines show the waterline and gunwale locations.



I've managed to get the master station to the -10 station transferred. 11 completed and 15 to go. I prefer closer station locations than most. 12" is very common for spacing, but I like 8". Especially since I'll be stripping the boat with foam vs wood.



This is the easy part of the stations. Cutting/shaping them to the profile is tedious and great care needs to be taken. I've been wanting to put a cnc router in my shop which would make this easy. Since I don't have one, I'll be shaping these with a sander and taking great care to get them smooth and correct.

No posts until we start rough cutting and shaping the forms. Happy Turkey Day! I'm sure I won't post before then.

[Storm]

Your making progress hope you get some time to work on it during the holidays.

[LeanMachine]

A cnc would definitely save you some time. Having 26 or so of them to cut and sand, I think I would investigate the cost of having a cnc place cut them. I can see how precision at this stage would effect the entire outcome.

[Bily Lovec]

I suspect you and I have some mutual friends, I used to do a bit of paddling also...

[River Racer]

A cnc would definitely save you some time. Having 26 or so of them to cut and sand, I think I would investigate the cost of having a cnc place cut them. I can see how precision at this stage would effect the entire outcome.

I had this same discussion with my race partner/co-builder yesterday.

I run a cnc machine shop but I don't have a machine big enough to cut these as our work is on the smaller side. I don't like paying someone for something that I can ultimately do myself. I have come up with a solution that will be a combination of cnc work, plus a router with a flush cut bit. I'll post our process once we get going on that step. We'll be able to do it ourselves, and it will end up producing very accurate station forms.

[maxh]

Looking good Jeff! Can't wait to see you guys on the river in it!
BTW Thats one hell of a shop!

[thorshammer]

Glad you decided to post this. Tuned in.

[emtpbowhunter]

Very cool stuff here.