Finally finished my white oak canoe (The OAR-Deal)
I decided to build out of oak to make it more of a whitewater tank than a lake cruiser. Ended up at 81lbs, most cedar built boats are around 60lbs, so I’d say that’s a fair trade for twice the density of cedar. Total build time was just under 5 months, this was basically my full time job as it was a university senior project. Started by routing bead and cove joints on ~75 oak strips. Next was steam bending the inside and outside stems. Then built the mold, and stapled the strips to it, secured to the stems at the ends with pin nails. Staples held the strips in place while the glue on the joints was drying. Once the hull was fully shaped I removed all the staples and sanded. Added the outside stems and trimmed flush with the hull. Sanded the hull, then glassed with fiberglass and epoxy. Removed the boat from the molds, cut the diagonal sheet line and glassed the inside. Next was building/installing the gunwales and decks. After that, built and installed the seats, and got the portage yoke from Bear Mountain Boats. Final step was varnish on the hull and tung oil on the gunwales/decks, and Voilà!