Bwe for our Jiman

 04 Mar 23:

Last year I made a double bwe (paddle). Looking at it today with new cultural knowledge I think I accidentally shaped it like the mek wzewanek (beaver tail). It will be a good paddle to use on our jiman.

Paddle Paint

22 Jan 22:

Added more color to the Double Paddle, a stripe of TotalBoat Wet Edge Blue Glo White, applied with a 2 inch chip brush. Lines were taped with 3M Scotch 218 Fine Line tape, which leaves a clean edge.

Second coat drying. Our goal was to make the blade tips look like an airplane propeller tip, so no one walks into the prop arc :)

Double Paddle Paint

 20 Jan 22:

We are putting a custom paint job on parts of the double paddle, in order to make the tips more visible while Skipper is paddling, thereby making it less likely that someone will walk into the whirling paddle. Step 1, the tips were painted with TotalBoat Wet Edge Fire Red, taped off with 3M's Scotch Fine Line 318 tape.

ATTU

17 Jan 22:

ATTU is a double paddle canoe that I spotted at the Herreshoff Marine Museum back in 2019, her simple design and utility has been rattling around in my brain for a couple of years now. She is a built from a ASDeWH design. As you may have figured out, we are fascinated with small boats and the care of those craft, and I chuckled that she sits mostly unnoticed under the hull of a large keelboat.. ATTU looks like she is ready to go, 1 or 2 folks could carry her over to Bristol Harbor and go for a nice paddle to check out all the other nautical marvels. Or she'd ride nice on a C-Tug canoe cart. Well, maybe not in January...although checking weather in Bristol, RI today it is 48F, with light winds and light rain, warmer than Hampton Roads.

ATTU has an adjustable back rest that uses a simple peg adjustment, the starboard side of the cockpit coaming has 3-4 fixed holes and the port side has corresponding notched holes that the back rest support peg can be dropped into. The two backrests are articulated in the middle on small metal? straps, so that the back rests pivot vertically and independently as the paddler's shoulders and upper back shifts from side to side. There is a small wooden seat inside with appropriate contours for an mid 1900s sized butt, and adjustable foot rests. The side coamings are convenient and comfortable spots to brace knees against. L. Francis Herreshoff writes that the cockpit was also wide enough so that a paddler could sit Indian style for a bit if so chosen. The high splashguard also helps keep the cockpit dry. 

The double paddle is intriguing, and the motivation for our current double paddle build. The Herreshoff paddle has the blades set perpendicular to each other, and that "feathering" has benefits that I don't quite understand yet, related to wrist angle during the power stroke and possible aerodynamic drag reduction from the dry blade. More questions and research on that to follow.

Seems all one needs now is a suit and jaunty cap, and away we go!

(Image Credit: Herreshoff Marine Museum/Off Center Harbor)

FMI: 

Herreshoff Marine Museum

Herreshoff Marine Museum and Bristol Visit 2019

Herreshoff Double Paddle Concave Shaping

 14 Jan 22:

Lacking a concave spokeshave, compass plane or concave draw knife, I turned to the Skill belt sander with a 40 grit belt to even out the blade faces I also to cut a small channel down the middle of the face of the blade and carved a spine along the back. L Francis Herreshoff purports that the concave face plus some concave shaping side to side helps keep the paddle from fluttering and to scoop more water during the stroke.

The shaft was 8 sided with a Stanley #51 spokeshave, and tapered towards each end on 2 sides from 1 14 inch down to 7/8th inches. The shaft is oval for better grip.

Some sawdust for Doug and Richard. who always complain about our shop being too clean and organized.

Herreshoff Double Paddle Canoe

 04 Jan 22:

The Herreshoff Double Paddle Canoe design has caught my eye recently, I believe this is a 16 footer by L. Francis Herreshoff from his book Sensible Cruising Designs. 

LFH states that the double paddle canoe gives the most fun for the money of any type of boat, and that it is his favorite form of aquatic sport.

14 foot plans are ordered from Mystic Seaport, at a minimum they will be fun to look at. And maybe we'll build one to see if he was right.