This fall, students from several schools met weekly at Pratt Fine Arts Center to collaborate on this project, with one student returning from a previous Sawhorse boat build, and three students participating simultaneously in our Boat and Black Star Farmers programs (busy bees)! This group was especially interested in using the table saw to rip long strips of cedar — around 85 inches of straight line — and a couple folks loved creating the seats, which involved a lot of repeated drafting and drawing up designs, and mocking up patterns to fit the actual canoe. Shout out to our awesome mentors – Joe Miller, Gil Humphreys, Wil Zogbaum, Jenny Taylor, and Kyle Kilboy for exploring this technique with our students!

To install the cedar strips, we worked in two groups of four, one on each side of the canoe. Starting at the front of the boat, we screwed the strip into the stem, with one or two students handling and bending the strip, one student applying a bead of glue, and another stapling the strip down, little by little, working toward the stern. Once we get to the stern, we make a precise angled cut and screw the end of the strip into the transom.

As of our final program day, we’re about 80% finished assembling the strip plank hull and will be finishing the boat in an upcoming program.