Tips Sail

With winter in full swing, I've dove into another gear related project for future trips - a new shelter for shoulder season usage.

First off, I'd like to give credit to the inspiration source for this new project. Robin L (operator of CanoeTripping.net) has often posted pics and outstanding tripping videos featuring his customized canvas hot tent. The shelter started off as an 8'x10' but Robin felt it was too big and heavy for solo use so he cut it up and re-stitched it to a 6' x 7' with a reduced height of 54 inches.


Instead of using the standard steel pipe for an internal frame, he ended substituting with more weight manageable pine closet rods...



An old nylon tarp serves to fully waterproof the roof and with a small wood stove, he is comfortably setup for chilly temps of early or late season paddling.


Inside his tent looks super comfortable with the cot, wool blanket, stove and other accessories.



The setup looked so good that I've decided to try and make a custom homemade version. Not sure if it will be a success but it will at least serve as a prototype of sorts for a future decision to go with a proper tent maker.

As a sidenote, I've also liked the idea of the classic Baker or Campfire tent (popularized by Bill Mason) which is essentially half of a wall tent.



After many sketches and ideas bouncing in my head, a decision was made to make a sort of hybrid shelter that could be a fully enclosed wall tent along with an option to convert to a Baker with open side and canopy. That way, I'd have one tent that could be multipurpose.

To meet these needs, the planned dimensions were to be 7' x 7' x 6' high with 3' side walls. It helped that we have a small 7ft ping-pong table in the basement that served as a work station. Once again  I would be using a Canadian-made drop cloth (12' x 14') that is unlike any others I've seen in stores. The weave is tighter in a twill pattern rather than an open cross weave more commonly seen with other brands. It is also heavier so a full tent at this size would be quite a load.



Other wall tent pics on the internet showed that some folks suspend their tent from a ridgeline and use side supports to prop up the walls. I wanted this flexibility built in too so copied the idea of grommets on a ridge flap as well as side flaps or eaves. This way if the full pole frame is too heavy for a trip, there is a lighter weight option using  a few side poles.




Also noticed that many other DIY canvas tents sometimes have sidewalls from nylon or other material to reduce weight while preserving the breathable canvas roof in order to limit condensation. So to save some weight, one back wall, two side panels and a single removable door were to be made from a polyethylene tarp. I ended up with a heavier duty 12x12 weave of polyethylene tarp from Amazon that again seemed better than the supply at local stores. I had calculated that a 10x20 tarp would be sufficient for the material needed and provide some leftover in case of a mistake.


Before doing anything on the main tent, I washed the massive 12'x14' dropcloth multiple times in hot water and dried it using high heat. In the end, it shrunk 6" in width and 9" in length. The new length worked out so that when I accounted for the various seams allowances, side eaves, and a top ridge flap of grommets, the canvas tarp would cover the roof and one side wall without having to cut any fabric lengthwise.

Then work began on the poly tarp back wall and side panels.  Here is a photo of one of the side panels after cutting. The vertical flap in the foreground is a two inch folded flap were the ground grommets would be installed for pegging in the ground. The remaining 12" sod cloth in front will fold back into the tent preventing drafts and openings on uneven ground.




Here the rectangular back wall piece from the poly tarp is being cut and shaped. White Gorilla tape was used around the cut perimeter edges


After these parts were cut out, I began the process of attaching the pieces. The flat felled seam required a lot a repositioning and flipping over to get right but everything worked out in the end. Below the rear canvas roof is being attached to the poly back wall.




Mentioned earlier that 3 of the side panels were to be made from poly tarp. The remaining door would be from left over drop cloth material. This is where I plan to eventually put a stove jack for when a future wood stove is in the tent.

More pics and discussion of the internal frame in a subsequent post.

The leather canoe tumpline has been constructed, but before I could give it a test run, I wanted to learn more about its correct method of use. Given that this piece of equipment is seen as "outdated technology", most sources that discuss its use are old archived texts. This online article in Popular Mechanics (June 1952) outlines the technique for lashing the tump to the center yoke and securing paddle blades as a shoulder rest. Although, their method calls for drilling holes into the thwart and using copper line to keep paddles in place.

This article by a canoe tump enthusiast suggests a contoured centre yoke is a horrible innovation. His method requires the replacement of the "stinky" centre yoke with 2" diameter round aluminum tubing. Might work for him but not going to happen with my boat.


Contoured Yoke Protest
I also came across a recent article Portaging a heavy canoe with a Tump Line (PDF Format) from a staff member of Camp Nominingue in Quebec. This full colour, clearly written article outlines all the technical aspects although they tend to use canvas & cord based tumps. Interesting that their lashing method involves securing the tump cord 1.5 inches ahead of the actual centre thwart.


Camp Nominigue Setup
Since my leather tump is akin to the Northwest Woodsman's site, I've used his photos and accompanying YouTube video to learn the correct method of lashing it in. The video shows the method for a wanigan first and then for a canoe around the 3:50 mark. His canoe also has a contoured portage yoke just like mine.



NW Woodsman Tump Pics
However, one thing I never quite liked about the paddles being lashed in the claustrophobic space created by sandwiching your head between the blades. While re-reading the classic birchbark canoe text, The Building of a Chippewa Indian Birch-Bark Canoe by Robert E. Ritzenthaler I came across a paragraph (p. 96) describing one native way of using the tumpline.

It involved lashing the grip end of the paddles to the centre thwart with the blades pointed towards the bow. The position is such that the the shafts of the paddles are flared away at the yoke resulting in a much more open triangular space. The arms are wrapped around the shafts with the hands loosely griping the sides of the tumpline on the forehead. Here's the accompanying photo on pg. 95


One Native Tump Method
This last method appealed to me the most. With all tumplines however, trial and error to get it adjusted just right to work properly. While up north for a brief fall getaway, I got a chance to test out the setup. The tump was secured to the yoke with simple hitches but it took me about about 45 minutes of fiddling to finally find the right length. In the end, I figured out that for my boat and yoke, the best measure was when the centre of the tump's headpiece just touched the bottom of the hull when pressed down with my finger. This will make it much easier to attach/adjust in the future so as not to waste much time.


Laying out; Clove Hitch to Yoke; Re-adjusted length
The slack was used to tie in the grips of two paddles and a piece of 1/2" wide leather strip was used to secure the blades to the seat. In the end the setup was quite secure.


Grips lashed in; Blades secure; the final setup


Canoe tump portage
The results: I'm totally impressed with the use of tumpline. While my boat isn't a heavy beast to begin with, the tump and paddle setup really make for an seemingly lighter carry. I walked around the property with the canoe (including uphill) to a parking lot area drawing some funny looks from neighbours and while it wasn't an authentic bush portage, the tump carry did make a difference on the shoulders. From a safety standpoint, if I slightly shrugged my shoulders up and tilted my head back, the tump would slip off and roll backwards because of the way it was lashed in. A simple hand motion would swing the tump back into place onto the top of the head so it is relatively easy to get in and out if needed.

Especially significant was the ability to let go of the paddles and rest the arms while the tump & shoulders balanced the boat. Also, with the bulk of the weight borne by the tumpline, you only really need one hand to secure the boat while moving. To take the picture above, I set up a sawhorse in the driveway, placed the camera on it, set it on a 10 second delay and walked into position, all the while efforlessly balancing the canoe with the tumpline. It may have its critics, but for me, I can see the potential in this piece of gear.

Willets Ansel, author of The Whaleboat, defines molds as: 'Temporary forms used in whaleboat construction , around which the boat is planked'. Apparently the term is so ubiquitous I found no other definition in about two hours of searching the internet and boatbuilding texts including Chapelle. So let me attempt to expand on Willets' definition. Molds are built to conform to the inside form of a boat drawing, taken in regular vertical sections and serve as a framework around which the actual boat is built. Most common practice today in traditional construction of small boats have the molds set upside down and the boat is only turned right side up after planking is finished. The whaleboats are built right side up, like Norwegian small boats and most larger boats and ships.
The lines of a boat are drawn full size and laid down on a lofting board. The molds are cut to conform to these lines. Once built, the molds are secured to a 'strongback' or support frame or 'table' to allow the building of the boat.

I visited the boatshop today to see what progress had been made on the building of the molds for the two whaleboats. I found Gina Pickton, an employee of the workshop, busy putting together precut peices of the molds. The mold halves are joined after cutting rabbets for the keel to fit into. After they are joined more rabbets will be cut for battens or ribbands, horizontal strips running the length of the boat to tie the molds together. With molds and ribbands in place and the keel laid, all is secured to the strongback and planking can commence. These boats are unusual as the garboard, (gar·board/ˈgärˌbôrd/
Noun: The first range of planks or plates laid on a ship's bottom next to the keel.) and the next strake (1st strake) and the top two strakes (gunwale and sheer strake) are built lapstrake, while all other planking is carvel.
Gina and co. are building two sets of molds, one for the ISM boat and one for Rocking the Boat in NY.
When I visited, Gina was quite accommodating, answering my questions and allowing me to document her work. She also showed me a portion of a 6 hour (3)DVD set from Mystic Seaport which follows the construction of a whaleboat there. The team at WoW are using this as a guide to sequence their build and to answer many of the questions that come up along the way.

A quick note about Gina Pickton. She has been an employee of the boatshop for about 1.5 yrs. and has been involved with boats for over a decade, mostly larger boats, tall ships. All the work she has done prior to the whaleboat project has been repair/reconstruction maintenance type work. She allowed that she is very excited to participate in a ground up new build project.