Dugout Canoe - Technology and Design
Original Vessel for the Navesink River
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This page provides reflections on the Red Bank primary school dug out canoe construction.
What little information that is available on the construction of dug out canoes does not relate to Lenapi dugouts, and does not relate to tulip tree dugouts. So far, nobody involved in this project has any dug out canoe construction experience. We are therefore truly starting from square one and will have to feel and guess our way through the process.
The entire construction process will be a large experiment that will investigate traditional processes and will be an attempt to discover how long it would have taken the Lenapi to build a dug out canoe and how good a canoe can be built using a tulip tree log.
It is possible that in the end our efforts will result in nothing more than a huge pile of shredded tulip tree wood, but regardless we will have learned a lot and then hope that the knowledge provided on this page can be used to build a real canoe on the next try.
We will be experimenting with traditional construction methods such as fire and hand tools, but also expect that most of the process will make use of power tools such as chainsaws. We hold no illusions that our 21st century physiques and skills can compete with 17th century native Americans, but we certainly want to experience what it means to build a canoe using fire and hand tools.
At this stage we have many questions and few answers. Some of these questions with tentative answers are shown below. We are sure there will be more questions as the process develops, hopefully there also will be some good answers.
Should the log be shaped while green, or should the log cure?
We took down a green log and now need to make an almost blind choice to carve now or wait. We will need to prevent rot and will keep a close eye on the log. Fortunately we have plenty of diameter so a little rot on the outside diameter should not kill us. We are a little worried about excessive checking, and therefore plan to plan to leave the bark on to reduce the drying rate. We could seal the ends of the log to reduce end drying, but then again we doubt the Indians use modern sealants. If the log starts to check (split) we can always cheat a little and make use of some epoxy to fill the cracks. What little dugout canoe information exists make no mention of log curing so it probably is best to go at it as soon as possible. We will probably take a few moisture readings soon and post them here.
Carve the outside first or carve the inside first?
Jim Hassfeld, our log mover, is a pretty good wood guy, and it looks like he put the log with the good side up. This pretty much fits with the need to have the good side be the bottom of the boat. So now the bottom is up, which truly tempts us to carve the outside first. Fortunately what little information exists indicates that the outsides are generally shaped first.
How big will the boat be?
The log is about 40 inches in diameter at the center (the maximum beam point) and 22 foot long. That should make a nice size canoe and probably will be paddled by about four people with another person steering the canoe in the stern.
What shape should the canoe have?
There are almost as many dugout shapes as there are dugout canoes. There is the very simple pirogue shape and the very elaborate west coat shape. We will probably keep it pretty simple and the boat will pretty much look like a traditional double ended birchbark canoe without the high ends. We know such shapes paddle well and we know this will not be a high speed craft. Other dugout building accounts talk about spreading the sides of the log with heat. If we do that the ends will tend to turn up which probably will enhance the seaworthiness of our canoe. It is interesting to note that in the 17th century a dug out canoe for the Navesink would not need high ends, because there simply were not any big waves on the river, but today with large powerboats running at high speed we probably want to raise the ends a little to keep from getting swamped when we use the boat ... or we could ban big powerboat wakes from the river. Hmmmm.
What tools will we use?
We have chain saws, we have some axes, and we have a tool that is very close to a shipbuilders adze. We'll sharpen all and see how things work. If there is anybody out there who has traditional carving tools we sure would like to give it a try on the log.
What about burning the shape?
That will involve a couple of experiments. When we start shaping we will probably cut of some fairly large chunks. We can put those chunks on the side and see what it takes to start a fire and to burn shapes. This will probably be a weekend side project. Once we figure out a little more on the process we might want to do it on the actual log. We sure plan to do some burning on the inside of the canoe. Quite a number of years ago my son and I burned a miniature canoe out of a log, and that turned out to be pretty easy, but it is a slow process, and this project will be a stop and start process so we do not know how much time we will have.
How thick will the hull be?
Right now we are shooting for a hull thickness of about 2 ½ inches, but this can change as we learn more.
More on this project at:
For further information contact
Rik van Hemmen.
