Caribou 495
Latest updated Tuesday, March 05, 2013, 6 comments
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Plans, Caribou 495 - 114 EUR
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Caribou 495 is a touring canoe for 2 persons with gear. Long enough to combine fine ends with large volume midships, it is easily paddled and safe and dry in rapids. A long canoe is also easier to pole over shallows and upstreams. The rounded bottom and almost vertical sides combine strength and low weight and keeps green water outside the canoe. Caribou is modelled after a legendary American guide canoe from the twenties. A guide canoe was the working craft for transporting recreational hunters och fishermen out in the wilderness. More often than not the guide alone paddled and the daily distances could be awesome. To compete successfully for customers the guide needed a fast, roomy, easily propelled canoe in which he could safely tackle the rapids without upsetting the passenger.
With a glued strip hull, Caribou is lighter, stronger can take a heavier load and needs no maintenance. The stems are slightly higher then they would have been 70 years ago, as the risk of meeting speedboats with huge wakes has increased. The hull form, on the other hand, is too good to be tampered with and since strips, as opposed to aluminum, plywood, veneer etc can be coaxed into any conceivable form, there is no need to compromise. Building your own canoe from a good set of plans is a good way to rediscover the suberb qualities of the birch bark canoes of the 19th century.
Particulars
| Length |
495 |
| Beam |
84 |
| Draft |
11 |
| Weight |
24** |
| Load capacity |
350 |
| Stability |
Normal |
| Intended use |
Touring and day trip for 1 - 2 persons with gear. |
* These dimensions can be adapted to suit personal needs or wishes.
** Depending on type of wood, equipment, care with epoxy usage, sanding etc. etc.
Plans
The plan sheets contain the information needed to build the kayak/canoe. Station molds, stems and construction details are in full scale. For kayaks the recommended cockpit size is shown half scale with offsets for a full scale drawing and advice on altering the size. On the plans you will also find advice on how to shorten or lengthen the craft. Lines and construction drawings are in metric scale 1:10.
The illustrated step-by-step building manual is in Swedish only, but it is available online in english: it covers all steps in detail and will guide first-time builders through the project.
Plans, Caribou 495 - 114 EUR
Purchase
