u/gla_Gartenthoma

After nearly a month of waiting, it finally arrived from overseas today! My copy of Song of the Paddle (1988) is here, and it is in absolutely beautiful condition. No dog-ears, no creases, no tears—it looks and feels like brand new.

​It even comes with a beautiful, clean embossed library stamp from a previous owner on the inside, which gives it so much character. I’m incredibly happy to finally have this masterpiece in my hands and can’t wait to dive into Bill Mason’s amazing photography and stories tonight. The duo is finally complete.

After a busy, 38°C day spent working with hay, sorting out the canoe storage setup, and doing other chores, I enjoyed a bit of the "cooler" evening air by the lake. The Prospector handles like a dream—paddled while kneeling and, of course, nicely heeled over on the calm water, just as it should be. 😊 By the way, the homemade seats are very comfortable. Benno, my beagle, was along for the ride again, too. And—as recommended in a comment on one of my previous posts—he now has a life jacket. He’s already christened it, too. 😅

I'm still haying the tree-filled farmyard area. It also makes excellent fodder for the Dexter cattle.

Got the Old Town Camper hung up today. Front is on a pulley system, back rests on a solid wooden beam.

​The Prospector stays on top of the Land Rover so I can head straight to the river whenever I want!

Today's a great day. After more than four weeks of waiting, the book arrived.

Very well condition. Beautiful pictures and so interesting to read.

I’ve watched Bill Mason’s films dozens of times and already practice heeling my Old Town Camper. Reading this masterpiece now helps me understand all the details and backgrounds even better to perfect my strokes on the water. Especially now, with my second canoe, the Nova Craft Prospector.

​Can’t wait to dive into it! And in two or three weeks, my hardcover copy of Song of the Paddle will arrive as well – I just had to treat myself to both!

Well, after a lot of work and seemingly endless weaving, I’ve installed my homemade seats in my Nova Craft Prospector. I couldn't care less whether the mounting holes are in a perfectly straight line or if anyone takes issue with how I built it. If anyone thinks they can do better—go right ahead. They’re welcome to it. I never claimed to be an expert—I’m just a farmer and electrician, after all. But I’m happy with my work. 😊 It needs to be sturdy and comfortable, and it had to replace those plywood sheets so the Prospector could regain some of its character. If someone doesn't like it... 🤷🏼‍♂️ ...well, they aren't the ones paddling it, are they? I hope that, after the thunderstorms of the last few days, I can finally get out onto the lake.

Edit: Forgot to add that I also treated the whole canoe with 303 Aerospace Protectant to give the hull some proper UV protection after washing it.

Hey everyone,

​After a lot of back and forth in my last threads regarding my ugly temporary plywood seats, I finally finished the real deal today. And there is a hell of a story behind the wood.

​The frames are handcrafted from Stieleiche (English Oak / Quercus robur). This specific wood comes from a massive oak tree that stood on our family estate for over 450 years before it finally had to come down.

​A lot of people warned me that oak is critical around water, told me I absolutely must drown it in marine varnish, and that oiling it would be a mistake. Well, in Europe, traditional craftsmanship tells a different story:

​The History: English Oak is the ultimate wood for historic European hydraulic engineering (Wasserbau). For centuries, it was used to build locks, dams, and foundations.

​The Proof: Just down the road from me in Bamberg, Germany, there are historic river locks and water barriers from the 18th century built entirely from this specific oak. To this day, they still use the original timber—submerged under water for nearly 300 years and still rock solid. English Oak is naturally packed with tannins, making it incredibly resistant to rot and fungi.

​Instead of choking the wood under a plastic layer of varnish that will eventually crack and trap moisture, I chose a traditional oil finish. It lets the oak breathe, brings out the beautiful grain, and is super easy to maintain.

​For the weave, I used 4 mm Paracord 550. Since I wanted to keep the 40 mm oak frames completely strong and stable, I skipped the fine cane-weaving pattern (which requires too many holes close together) and went with a heavy-duty, double-strand basket weave. Every hole is cleanly countersunk to prevent chafing.

​The result is incredibly comfortable, absolutely overbuilt, and carries 450 years of family history.

​What do the Canadian and American builders think?

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Bonus detail: I also made the seat spacers out of the exact same 450-year-old English Oak. I took square scraps of the oak timber and turned them into round spacers on a 114-year-old metal lathe that used to belong to my ancestors. Kept it old-school all the way through!

Time for an upgrade. I'm building some new seats out of 3 year air-dried oak and will weave them with 4mm paracord. Since the original gunwale holes restrict me to a 17cm (6.7") bolt spacing, I'm keeping the frame solid and strong.

​Quick question for the community: Would you finish the oak with linseed oil/tung oil or a proper marine spar varnish? Let's see how it turns out.

Hey guys, what’s better than one canoe? Two canoes, of course!

​To give you some context: Finding good canoes around here in Germany is tough, so you have to be ready to travel. I bought my very first canoe back on April 4th – a fiberglass tank that weighed a brutal 50 kg (110 lbs). I quickly realized it was way too heavy, so I parted ways with it and scored my second one on May 3rd: a 16ft Old Town Camper made from the legendary Royalex for just €400. I absolutely love the Camper, but since it has a flat bottom, I really wanted something more agile that gives you that classic Bill Mason feeling.

​That’s why today, I just couldn't resist adding a Nova Craft Prospector 16 in SP3 for €600 to my now two-boat fleet.

​To get it, I had to go on a massive 600 km (370 miles) round trip today. The boat was located in Lengfeld, near Regensburg. To make the long drive and the high fuel prices worth it (diesel is currently at €1.77 per liter here!), we combined the trip: we first drove deep into Lower Bavaria to pick up a wooden corner bench for the house, and then hooked up the Prospector on our way back. Efficiency is key!

​After getting home, setting up the bench, and having dinner, I just couldn't wait. Even though it was late, I had to take it out for a quick 25-minute maiden voyage on my small, humble farm pond just to see how it handles.

​One thing I'll have to tackle next: The seats are no longer original. Apparently, when the boat was bought brand new from a dealer in Deggendorf, the original webbed seats were removed and replaced with these custom plywood sheets. I’m already thinking about building my own replacement seats with traditional webbing, using some oak harvested right here from my own farm.

Today, I’d like to show you another machine from my farm. I know it’s not a tractor, but it is used for agricultural work and shares something in common with my Kramer KL300: the Fuchs is also powered by an air-cooled Deutz F2L712 diesel engine, though this one produces only 22 hp. The excavator weighs 6 tonnes and can lift 3 tonnes when the boom is at its maximum angle (75°). I have quite a bit of equipment for the excavator: two digging grabs, a manure grab, a dragline bucket, and a full backhoe setup. Everything is operated via levers and cable winches; there is no hydraulics system on the machine at all. I’ve owned the Fuchs since the summer of 2024. You can see its original condition when I acquired it in some of the photos. I plan to restore its appearance gradually, but the most important thing is that the mechanicals are running well.

2-cylinder Deutz F2L712, air-cooled, 28hp

Kramer KL300 with Fahr KH4S hay tedder.

Mowed my meadows today with the IHC and my Claas WM24. Beforehand, I carried out a fawn rescue using a drone. The little ones are barely a week old. After mowing, I released them back by the hedge, and the does came and retrieved them.

And finally, our last tractor: the Allgaier A111. With its 12 hp and a total weight of 890 kg, it arrived at our farm in 1954. It was the first tractor we owned and only the second one in the village. My grandpa bought it to replace the ox teams, thereby mechanizing our farming operations. It features an air-cooled single-cylinder engine, four forward gears, and—thanks to a reversing gearbox—four reverse gears. It is also equipped with a height-adjustable towing hitch, a PTO, a hydraulic mower lift, and a hydraulic three-point hitch. That was far from standard at the time. In the past, it had to handle a heavy workload. Today, it enjoys a sort of "semi-retirement," taking on only lighter tasks—such as dragging the meadow, as shown in the last video.

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If you're interested, I’d be happy to share more photos of our machinery. However, the others aren't tractors—they include a combine harvester, a wheel loader, and a cable excavator that I use for farm work.

And now, a tractor brand that should be familiar overseas—though this one bears a German stamp, having been built in Neuss am Rhein.

My dad and grandpa bought this tractor brand new from the dealer in 1984.

It was a 72 hp IHC 745 XL with four-wheel drive. The "XL" designation refers to the safety cab—developed jointly by IHC and Porsche—which offered excellent all-round visibility, comfort, and plenty of space.

The tractor was purchased alongside a Krone plow to boost operational efficiency. Grandpa also needed a tractor to pull the manure spreader, as the Kramer KL300 and the Krüger spreader simply didn't get along. (That’s a story for another time 😅)

Grandpa really took it easy on this beautiful red machine, though. It was reserved only for the truly heavy-duty tasks, while the KL300 handled everything else.

That explains why it has only 2,400 hours on the clock today.

In 2015, at around 1,500 hours, a turbocharger was retrofitted, boosting power from 72 to 84 hp.

This was done because, while the tractor was wonderfully compact and agile, its 72 hp struggled to handle its 4-ton curb weight; it was a bit of a sluggish performer.

Fuel consumption had also been quite high previously, but the turbo significantly reduced that.

A few years later, the IHC was fitted with larger cylinder liners and pistons, increasing the displacement from 3,990 cc to 4,034 cc. Furthermore, the injection pump from an IHC 856 was installed, allowing the power output (measured at the PTO brake) to be raised to 95 hp.

Until last year, the IHC was our most powerful tractor. That role has now been taken over by the MB Trac Turbo 900, which delivers another 20 hp on top of that. Nevertheless, the IHC is an indispensable helper on the farm and in the forest.

That lil' boy on his father's lap is me. That was almost 35 years ago now 🙈

Today I’d like to show you my very first tractor. I got it as a gift from my grandpa when I was 7 years old.

​Originally, it was a 1955 Kramer K15 with a ZF transmission. He got it from a neighbor for a crate of beer because the engine block had cracked from frost. My dad actually wanted to scrap the tractor, but I nagged him until Grandpa gave it to me instead. So, my dad roughly patched it together for me.

​For 20 years, the tractor ran just like that, handling all the dirty little jobs around the farm. In 2018, my dad and I fully restored it, which took 6 months of work. I needed a new engine block and better cylinder heads, so I bought a Kramer KA15 with bearing damage to use as a donor. We turned two tractors into one.

​The KA15 features Kramer's own "Baugruppe 1" (Group 1) transmission and also came with a hydraulic three-point linkage. Because of this, we used the KA15 as the base for the rebuild, but over 60% of the parts actually come from the old K15.

​I use the tractor for various light tasks because it's extremely agile. It logs quite a few hours running in front of our Köla loader wagon, harvesting green fodder for my Dexter cattle.

​Despite its 15 hp, the little tractor still puts in a solid 170 operating hours a year.

Currently, the tractor has 34,500 hours on it.

Today some photos of my Kramer KL300. It has 28 hp and was bought brand new by my grandfather back in the day for 11,950 DM. It currently has 35,000 hours on the clock. My grandfather didn't own a car—just the tractor. There’s an old photo included, too. That’s me driving it. I inherited the tractor from my grandfather and still use it—logging about 140 hours a year.

Edit: Removed the previous post as it contained a photo I didn't intend to share. Sorry about that.

My dad and I finished this project last summer, after 7month of work. It's the old 900, with small cabine, Pneumopower-Gearbox and 115HP

Last year my dad and I finished this project, after 7month of work. It's the old modell of the 900, but with Pneumopower-Gearbox. 115HP

My father with his Allgaier A111 and the inverted harrow. Spreading out the cow pats a bit.