: Hope someone here can help. I am looking for some plans or ideas on making
: two short thwarts for a solo canoe. Anyone know where to look.

: TIA
: Rod

For short thwarts David Hazen's book suggests using closet rods -- those big wooden dowels your clothes hangers hang from. You can buy this by the foot in the wood trim and millworl departments of most home stores or lumberyards. if you want to make this a bit dressier, use a plane to flatten the top and bottom, giving your thwart an almost oval cross section.

For "Carry" thwarts, you might want to find a nice one on some other canoe and trace the shape onto a piece of paper. Transfer this design to a the center of a piece of 5/4 x 4 hardwood (ash, oak, maple, birch) rough it out with a band saw or jig saw, and then refine the shape with planes, drawknives, or lots of sandpaper. Nominal 5/4 lumber is usually a tue 1 inch thick, which is fine for a thwart. You can get by with using a common 1 x 4, which is a nominal inch thick, but really measures closer to 3/4 of an inch thick.

hope this helps

PGJ