Wilderness-Tripping Canoes
Ojibwe Longnose; Bark Canoe Store; www.barkcanoe.com; Length: 15'3"; Rocker: Sight; Beam: 36"; Weight: 58 lbs; Price: $5,250
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"WOOD"
Ojibwe Longnose, Bark Canoe Store
We'll start with the "just for fun" canoe, a beautiful example from the "wood age"-a handmade birchbark canoe built by John Lindman of the Bark Canoe Store in Spokane, Washington. Though perhaps not the most practical construction for the modern canoe tripper, the boat does serve as an interesting reference point for today's materials. The fact that a canoe that paddles so well can actually be made entirely of materials found in the forest is nothing short of amazing.
If you've never seen a real birchbark canoe, it has a skin that looks like heavy parchment and a sturdy internal rib frame. The seams of the skin as well as the inevitable knotholes (this was a tree at one time, after all) are sealed with a heavy coating of pine pitch. These boats like to be wet (the skin gains resiliency when soaked) and are remarkably durable, having stood the test of time as the primary means of travel for Native Americans and trappers over hundreds of years.
Our Ojibwe Longnose was as stiff and light as many Kevlar canoes and paddled beautifully. With the irregularities in the skin surface, the boat is slower than its modern counterparts, but that's not really the point of paddling a boat like this anyway. While the majority of present-day birchbark-canoe purchasers may buy the boats to hang on the wall, the original concept has set an impressive benchmark for longevity. The boats of the synthetic era have another thousand years or so of catching up to do to become equally as prevailing!
Pros: Authentically attractive, lightweight, minimal hull flex
Cons: Very expensive, somewhat fragile
User: Purists only!
Want to jump to a specific canoe?
Charles River, Old Town
Freedom 17, Mad River
Mackenzie 18-6, Clipper Canoes
Seliga, Bell Canoe Works
PakCanoe 16-5, Pak Boats
Pro Pioneer 16, SOAR Inflatables
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