JEM Watercraft

That is a beautiful canoe. Great Job!

And to give due credit I guess we have to say that Matt hasn't done too bad a job either

Dead right there! There's genius in those drawings, all we have to do is follow them

Rob

Wow I thought the red looked good..............but the green nails it

Thanks Craig & Bemm

Bemm 52 wrote:Wow I thought the red looked good..............but the green nails it

The red was slapped on so I could sand it off. It did surprise me though, how good it brought out the timber. I'm hoping the green will do the same, its actually British Racing Green

Cheers Rob

I was able to put my hands on the gunwale and lean almost my entire weight over it before I chickened out.

Best thing you could do is not to chicken out. Tip it over! I guarantee you will not noticably shrink.
You'll learn a lot more that way than tiptoeing around. Probly lean a LOT more than you think you can if you keep your upper body vertical throughout. The knowledge of where it actually will tip over is a lot more useful than guessing that you might be close to tipping over.
The whole thing including the paint choice is stunning enjoy.
Cheers John.

waaaaarhooooo.... way to go
Looks nice Rob, bet your looking forward to having a go paddling.
Nice work
Col

SHE'S FINISHED (almost)
I'll be doing the graphite bottom tonight
There will be a fair bit of detailing to do but that will have to wait till after the official launching
This coming weekend is my launch deadline. (can't believe it's here already)
We have a family get together at Rainbow Beach at this time each year and that's were I want to launch

I'm pretty busy at the moment, so I will post more details on the seats later

Here's a couple pics, Sorry the completed one's I took early this morning turned out to dark



Rob

Great looking seats. Did you use a router to make the slots?

Thanks Craig
It's made up of slats with the edges trimmed with an edge trimmer and jig

Rob

Yahoooo!!!
The Trapper was launched at Rainbow Beach on the weekend
It's not supposed to be like this in Queensland, but the weather was terrible, with constant rain and squally winds (It was even a bit cool)
Eventually though we got enough of a break in the rain (not the wind) to take her for a quick test paddle
First impressions are that she performs beautifully, every bit as good as I hoped. IT will probably take a trip or two to fully asses her potential I guess
Two up it was stable, tracked well, maneuvered easily and slipped along at a handy pace despite the windy conditions.
Solo was a bit different, with the bow up and less hull in contact with the water it was difficult to turn across the wind. Once headed into the wind though it was no problem to keep control and make good head way. Tracking solo was OK though not as good as when loaded. The comment was that it was begging for some camping gear on board
All in all we couldn't be happier with the trapper.
I say we because I built her for my sister & brother in-law (Nickname-"Roo") who will be the proud new owners when I have finished tidying her up. They used have a 14ft fiberglass canoe, and "Roo" reckons the Trapper is half the weight, he couldn't believe it. We tried to weigh it with a couple of electronic bathroom scales but we couldn't get it clear of the ground and read the scale, so will have to get back to you on that one.

There's also more pic's and a video to come when I can get it organised
I'll try to get some closer shots of the seats as well, if we ever get some fine weather

Roo takes the maiden voyage



Fair bit of weight to support there


Kneeling helps get the nose down and improves tracking

Roo & I take the Trapper for a spin




Rob