If you’ve spent significant time around boats, you develop an appreciation for the lines of a boat. I’ve shown the canoe to a lot of people, and at some point, people who know boats will walk to the bow, squat, close one eye, and sight along the keel. They assess the line from bow to stern—is it straight?
Wood strip canoes start with a strongback, a sturdy spine and stations to form the shape. If the strong back isn’t straight, then the lines of the boat will be off.
Matthew built the strongback and laid the first strips at the Benson high school wood shop in 2013. He took pictures of his work, and it’s easy to see why the canoe looks like it does.
February 2013
The strongback’s first appearance was February 20, 2013. It’s not much more than a bunch of scrap lumber and a plan. These are the legs, which we eventually cut off so we could place the strongback on the top of the car for the trip to Port Townsend. You can see the construction was substantial; three two-by-fours nailed together and standing on a two-by-four foot with a plywood triangle for reinforcement. With the spine mounted, it looks like a gymnastic balance beam.
To the left, in the background, is someone’s cabinetry project, a much more elegant piece of woodworking that puts these early stages of Matthew’s canoe to shame. They have no idea what is to come…
Showing the boat to people now brings on a bit of confusion. They see a cedar shell that has magically assumed the shape of a boat. They haven’t seen the stations that guided those cedar strips.
March 2013
Here are pictures of the creation of those stations, starting with the cut-out paper shapes glued to a sheet of plywood, then cut out with a saw, then precisely shaped with a router. One picture shows them stacked them in order.
The stack shows two identical stations at each width; thus, the boat is symmetrical from bow to stern. In fact, we didn’t have to choose which end was bow or stern until we reinforced the gunnels to accept the bow and stern seats. The top station in the pile is marked “1-15”; meaning it could be the first, or the last station along the length of the boat.
May 2013
The last picture in the set above shows Matthew attaching the stations to the spine on May 28th. There is a piece of string to mark the centerline of the boat; it’s essential that Matthew gets the placement exactly right; exactly square to the spine, exactly at one-foot apart, exactly aligned side to side. This will form the line the experienced boat people are looking at when they close one eye and look along the keel. “Do a good job, Matthew. Everything is counting on this step.”
June 2013
Finally – June 10 – Matthew attaches the first cedar strip. This is another step of outsized importance. When the boat is flipped over, this will be the edge – the gunnel. Every other strip will build on the line formed by this first strip. If you look close, you can see small sticks at the edge of each station, ensuring this strip conforms to the guidance of the stations. Then Matthew attaches a second strip. Then a third, then more, up and around the stations. He uses masking tape to keep one strip in tight contact with the next.
The first strip was attached to the stations on June 10, 2013. The last picture in this set was taken on August 27th, 2013; roughly three months.
August 2013
Two days later, the boat is kicked out of the Benson wood shop. Benson High School is good enough to loan Matthew a truck to haul it to his parent’s garage where it will sit until July 4th, 2023, when Janell and I pick up the story.
December 2023
The beauty of this boat started ten years ago with Matthew and a high-school wood shop project. He built the strongback with precision and care and that’s what makes the lines perfect. I’d like to hear his shop teacher talk about the early days.
I think this last photo is poetic, showing an older boat and an older Matthew. He told us the canoe is a community. I think that’s poetic as well.