51) Silver Springs

Well, you can ignore the previous post, the canoe cart only made it a quarter of a mile before breaking. However it worked pretty well up until that point.
This is what it was supposed to look like.

The T-joint under the canoe was just too fragile and snapped with the weight of the boat bouncing on it. I will rebuild with a sturdier joint and try again - as always I'll report my findings here. Given that, I must say I am glad that one of my childhood heroes was MacGyver - I would have never made it to the canoe launch without the spirit of Richard Dean Anderson's character guiding me. I even considered canceling the outing, but with gas running around $3.30 per gallon, I would not drive back to Gainesville in shame. This is what I came up with, I simply duct taped the padding to the axle and jury rigged this to the canoe.


Once out on the water, there was a slight mist coming off of the river and I was immediately greeted by a river otter and a family of Rhesus monkeys hanging out at the waters edge, the river gods were smiling on me:) I made it up to the springs just as the theme park was opening (the land around the springs is a privately owned nature theme park, however the river and the springs are protected public property... as long as you stay in your boat you can hang out at the spring for as long as you like! = no admission) I saw tons of amazing wildlife including birds, gators, huge gar, alligator gar, and more, here are a few pics.


This shadowy gar was probably around 4 feet long, these torpedos can weigh up to 50 lbs!


Silver springs is the largest artesian spring formation in the world, and it is definitely worth fighting the current to get to the headwaters. I even got to see the sunken remains of an old native american dugout canoe, while I floated above in my modern day version...too cool. Here are some shots of some of the springs, the white around the opening is sand and shell fragments that are blown up from the depths by the strong flow.


This was a great day paddling, the canoe is a bit squirrelly heading upstream solo, a keel would help, but I want to do some more exploring before I decide to sacrifice the super shallow draft. On my way back to the launch, I paddled over a group of drift divers exploring the river from below, looks like fun.

50) Portage Cart

Some of the really good (and less traveled) canoe and kayak launches around north-central Florida require portages around a mile long. My back can take some of the shorter trips, but on the longer hikes, I can't imaging getting the canoe and gear in one trip by myself. I googled "canoe cart" and saw some cool commercial carts and some homemade varieties. Well, I made the canoe, so why not the cart. This was modeled after one I saw somewhere online (I did'nt bookmark the site). I cobbled it together with PVC pipe, a threaded rod, and some super-sized lawnmower wheels. All-in-all it cost nearly $60 from the local big box store.
Here is an overall look, note stand that will help single hand loading

This is a close-up of the wheel showing the wingnuts holding them on.

I set everything up so it could be disassembled for stashing in the canoe or in the bushes (maybe I will hit it with a camo paint job!)

49) Crystal River - Manatees!

I apologize, it has been way too long since my last update, but I figured most people would be surfing this site while daydreaming about/ doing research on building a cedar strip canoe or kayak. I don't think people really care about my paddling trips (except for family and friends), but if you are in the process of building or thinking about a similar project, here is some inspiration from the finish line. I can tell you everywhere I go, I get great comments and questions from people about the canoe... it's a real head turner.

Today it was sunny, but a brisk and windy 53 degrees F in central Florida... a perfect day for manatee sightseeing. Erin and I decided to head down to Crystal River, specifically Kings Bay. We put in at a nice little public park called Hunters Spring Park, a 30 min paddle from Three Sisters Spring (a favorite hangout of the manatee this time of year... and the tourists). If you want to get to Three Sisters Spring from Hunters Spring Park, just head towards Pete's Pier and follow the flotilla of pontoon boats (If you go in January, you can't miss them!).
You can see all of the manatees in the "safe zone" on the left, while snorkelers try to coax them out.

Here's Erin

Here I am

Now I am touching an endangered species (its legal, but one hand only)!

Not captured for posterity, a manatee "farted" next to Erin... she can now cross inhaling endangered species fart off her life list.

48) Silver River

It has been a long time since I have updated, and of course life has gotten in the way of paddling. Baby showers, birthdays, work, and marathon training have been taking a lot of time (marathon training knocks out one day every weekend - Sunday is my long run day). This past weekend Erin and I went out to the silver river. We put in at Ray Wayside park and paddled upstream to the silver river state park where we had lunch at their canoe launch. It was a 3 mile journey upstream with beautiful views and amazing river scenes. There is no fishing allowed on silver river, and the water is crystal clear, we saw gators, lots of gar and other fish, ducks, turtles, and lots of turtle grass (and a few too many prop scars). Silver springs has an extremely high flow rate, providing a healthy flow in the river. This makes the river about 20 feet deep, and you can see all the way to the bottom. The river just swallows up whole cypress trees when they fall.
Getting out on the river early is key because there is a lot of motorboat traffic as the day creeps on. We decided to turn around at the silver river state park, because it was getting very busy and we still had 2 miles to go to the spring. In fact, launching at the silver river state park would be perfect, you could get up to the spring and relax relatively quickly. Unfortunately there is a 1.5 mile portage from the parking lot to the launch, carrying a canoe, paddles, life vests, recreational stuff, and water is out of the question. That gives me an idea... I need to make a canoe cart, Hmm that would make a good project, stay tuned.
Here are some pics.
A tree in the river.

Cormorants in a tree.

Little gator.

Ducks.

Here is my birthday gift from Erin, a Eagles Nest Outfitters hammock... thanks sweetie.

47) Splashed - Ichetucknee River

I have lived in Gainesville for a few years now, but I have never made it up to the Ichetucknee river before. Wow, what a perfect place to launch the canoe. The launch was pretty unceremonious we just put the canoe in the water and took off upstream. This river is a very popular attraction, during the summer thousands of people rent inner tubes and float lazily down the river. The river is crystal clear and lined with all sorts of beautiful Florida vegetation. The canoe paddles perfectly. I have read that this design was stable and could carry a decent load, my main concern was the seat placement, I wanted to make sure the canoe was balanced with the difference between Erin's weight and my own. I also wanted to make sure that the seats were not too high, which would make it feel too tippy. Fortunately, all of my calculations were perfect, the canoe was perfectly balanced with both of us, and was not tippy at all, I was even able to stand up in the canoe! The seat design is perfect, both of us were very comfortable. The current in the river is strong, so it was sometimes difficult to dodge all of the floating people when we were headed up river, the current made tracking a bit squirrely. A small keel would help the boat track better, but I did'nt want to sacrifice turning ability on some of the more challenging runs (i.e. Juniper Springs). Overall, I am very pleased with this design and would readily recommend it to anyone.
Here is the canoe on my Jeep.

Erin proves that there are no leaks.


The beautiful Ichetucknee - the haze in the air is not fog, it is from one of the two hundred wildfires currently burning in the state.

46) Holy Crap! I'm Done!

Well, I just realized that there is nothing left to do. I am done! I feel kind of wierd, I actually looked forward to taking a mental break to work on the boat. What am I going to do now? What is Matt going to do with all of the garage space? I guess I need to start planning some camping trips. Luckily I am in the midst of some of the most beautiful canoe runs in the United States, time to go explore them. I took the canoe out of the garage so I could clean up a bit. I snapped some pictures under Matt's magnolia and was pleased to see some people slowing down to check out my craft as they drove by.

45) Brass Stem Bands

I decided to go with the brass stem bands. They were created by cutting a 6ft half round brass trim piece in half. I then drilled and countersunk holes in the band every 6-8in or so. The band is held in place with #4 3/4in phillips head brass screws. I also ran a bead of silicone under the band and in the screw holes. Overall, I am really pleased with the look and functionality of the bands.

44) Final Varnish Touch Up

My new paddles came, 40 bucks each, old town canoe, rock on.

I knew that Z Spar flagship varnish was prone to dripping and sagging when I boutght it, so I was not upset when I found drips and sags. Although it is really hard to see any flaws until you get it in the right light, this makes fixing drips and sags difficult. Last night I wet sanded the last of the drips and then I marked the spots with blue painters tape before I revarnished them. This is the last coat of varnish... period.

I tipped the canoe up to see what the final product looks like.

The only thing left to do is to install the brass stem bands. To prepare for this, I pre-screwed #4 stainless screws into the pre-drilled holes in the stem. Brass screws are notorious for breaking and I wanted to cut the threads in the wood so I did not have to deal with a bunch of broken screws. Guess what happened.... I broke a damn stainless screw off in my nice shiny stem. One last curse from the canoe gods, I need to come up with a game plan to remove the screw... and then I will put on my stem bands.

Next time, stem bands and sea trials (or stream trials)!

43) Flip and Rip

Tonight, I bolted on the thwart and flipped the canoe over. The first coat on the outside has been thinned by 10%. This allows for easier spreading on the sanded epoxy. It is nice to finally see the what the finished canoe looks like. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.... only 5 or 6 more coats of varnish and a lot of wet sanding! Woohoo!
Here are my helpers/ audience tonight.

Thats a good lookin thwart. The brass bolt heads look nice with the varnished cherry.

At the beginning.

At the end.

42) Varnish Inside

Varnishing the inside is not really difficult, just time consuming. Wet sand drips (Zspar Flagship varnish produces a lot of drips), tack rag dust, wipe down with acetone, varnish, repeat. Once you have one coat of varnish on, it is hard to see where the next coat is, good light is important. Ultimately, I wish the inside looked better than it does, but I do intend to use this canoe, hopefully a lot. I have come to the point where I have accepted that I need to get this thing finished and I can't keep worrying about small details. Here are some pics of the canoe so far.

41) Seats Finished

This weekend, I put the first coat of varnish on the inside of the canoe. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera so I do not have any pics. I did finish the seats and wove both of them. I must say the varnished cherry with the dark red webbing looks pretty cool. I will try to get some pictures of the hull later this week.

40) Beginning the Finishing

This past week I filled all remaining voids and cracks, and finally finished sanding. This weekend I began the varnishing. The first coats of varnish are fill coats designed to seal any unfinished wood (wood not sealed with epoxy). The unfinished wood is basically all of the trim, seats, and thwart. The varnish I chose was Z-Spar Flagship marine varnish by Petit. I chose this varnish becase I live in Florida and I wanted the maximum UV protection. First, I thinned the varnish 30% with Petit brand thinner (It is always a good idea to use the same manufacturer on things like this). Then I simply brushed the thinned varnish on with a foam brush. Not all foam brushes are created equal - the ones made in China are crap, they flake and "chatter" when you pull them over marine varnish. I got my brushes at Ace hardware, be sure to get the ones that say JEN MFG USA on the handle (I got this tip on the Bear Mountain Boat Shop forum). I plan on doing 3 coats with the thinned varnish and 3 or 4 with regular varnish.
Here are my weapons of choice for this weekend.

Taped of and varnished decks and gunnels, the cherry looks beautiful.


I can't wait to varnish the hull.