Hey David, As mentioned above I'm thinking of trying a strip-built version of a Lincolnville Salman Wherry. How thick were the strips you used? I've got piles of salvaged redwood in 1 3/4" x 4", 6", and 8" x 8' and 10'. I was wondering how your redwood handled compound curves in the two inch width. When I built my canoe out of standard 1/4" x 3/4" strips, I fought some splitting and some resistance to the sharper curves at the stems. Thanks, Tom

P.S. Congrats and thanks for doing your part in protected our small craft heritage.

: Guide boats are simply wonderful. I over heard the last part of a
: conversation at a show where I was showing a couple of canoes, where the
: nice sweet lady was telling her friends that she REALLY needed some one to
: buy and care for her old guide boat. She had played in this boat when she
: was very young on one of the lakes in the chain of lakes up there in New
: York and just couldn't stand to see it left in the barn after she was
: gone......I just happened to be doing my east coast delivery trip that
: fall and I stopped by to see her boat .... ended up owning it and bring it
: back with me. Turns out it is a John Blanchard boat of about 1905,
: identified by John Blandchard daughter, Rose, who I met at the Ad. museum
: in Blue Mountian Lake on the trip, amazing!
: I removed every other rib from the inside and drew the plans and have never
: built as fair a form for a boat as this one.
: Stripped, stapleless, in two inch wide, seventeen foot long redwood, six
: ounce cloth, doubled on the bottom board, weighed in at 65 for the bare
: hull and 95 portage weight with 8 foot oars, and yoke, and three seats/.
: I have loaded it to 750lbs and it handled just fine and is quite FAST with
: one person on board.
: Simply a great boat
: Thanks for the forum, Nick
: David Barrett in fresno, ca