Project by: William (Gus) Dotson (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: James French
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Kelly Oshea

Description of the Project: In this project I will be learning about the wood canvas canoe from its origins in the birchbark canoe through its revival in recent years and the growing interest in its history. Then I will set out to build my own wood & canvas canoe mold by hand from a kit put together by one of the few remaining traditional canoe builders.

Final Product (e.g., documents, images, video, audio, poster, display, etc.):

Final Reflection on Learning:

Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 :

Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant):

Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant):

Trimester 1 Updates:

Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 :

In the first three weeks of this project I read the book The Wood & Canvas Canoe by Roland Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok. The book starts with a history of the birch bark canoe which was the predecessor to the wood canvas canoe. The birch bark canoe was originally made by the people native to the northeaster parts of North America. They were prized for their durability and for being much lighter than most of the other small canoes. On the other hand they were not very waterproof therefore they leaked quite often and over time it became more and more difficult to find large enough birch trees to use to make the outer shell. The transition to the wood canvas canoe is not very well documented but it is said to have started in the 1870s around the lumber town of Bangor, Maine. The wood and canvas canoe was very similar to the birch bark canoe including that it was shaped almost identically as well as being built to have a wooden frame and thin flexible planking with a strong waterproof covering over the outside. The most obvious difference in the construction was that with a birch bark canoe the outer shell was constructed first and then the frame was added onto the inside whereas with the wood canvas canoe, the frame was built and the canvas is stretched over the outside afterwards. The book also discuses how the wood and canvas canoe was not actually accepted as a real type of canoe by the American Canoe Association until the 1930 because of its relation to the birch bark canoe which was seen as primitive because if its native origins. At the time of the invention of the wood canvas canoe, the ACA was most focused on the all wood, decked-over sailing canoes mostly used by the upperclass wealthy members of high society. The wood and canvas canoes as well as the birch bark canoes were mostly used by guides and hunters in the northeast of the United States and were thought of as a type of water craft exclusively used for work. As time passed, the wood canvas canoe became more popular due to its maneuverability and how light is was and, in the 1890s canoe clubs along the Charles River and Connecticut River in Massachusetts began to accept them which was the beginning of their entrance into the mainstream. They became more and more popular all through the early 1900s but the market suffered through the Great Depression and never fully recovered. During WWII there was a lack of materials due to the war effort and in 1945 right as the war ended, the Grumman Aircraft Company made the first aluminum canoe which was much lighter and only slightly more expensive than the wood canvas canoe. The aluminum canoe took over the market until the 70s when plastic canoes took over the market. Starting in the mid to late 80s there was an increase in interest in the wood canvas canoe which Thurlow and Stelmok credit with saving the craft of the hand made wood and canvas canoe.

The rest of the book consists of details about materials and specific features of the canoes as well as actual instructions on how to build a canoe mold and an actual wood and canoe.

Photos and Diagrams from The Wood & Canvas Canoe:

Birch Bark Canoe Parts:

Decked-over Sailing Canoe:

 

Peterborough Canoe (front) and Wood Canvas Canoe (back)

The Peterborough canoe is similar to the wood canvas canoe except that instead of a canvas covering, the outside is made by rabbiting the narrow strips of wood and fastening them to the more closely spaced, narrow ribs. (This is all done with no glue, caulking epoxy or fiberglass!)

 

Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant):

 

Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant):