Here are the northwest coast Native
American canoes that I have made. The first two were made for my
family's use. The rest of them were all made for various tribal
organizations. I am not a Native American and at the request of
several tribal members, I am not offering these canoes or the plans
for them for sale to the general public. The replicas are made with
the taped
seam plywood technique.
Plywood panels are joined with strips of fiberglass to form a
seamless hull with no ribs or framing. The original West Coast style
canoes were carved from Coos Bay Oregon up to Nootka Sound B.C. They
had flat bottoms and flaring straight sides. Since I can make a
rounded fiberglass chine joint between the sides and bottom, I can
duplicate the traditional shape pretty well. I have also had an
opportunity to carve a dugout canoe. Together with members of The
Confederated Tribes of the Lower Rogue I carved a traditional
Southern style river canoe from a redwood log.
I try to make the plywood replicas to
be as close as possible to the traditional canoes. I use historical
and academic sources, oral histories and measurements from existing
dugout canoes where possible. When someone from a particular tribe
asks me to make a canoe, I try very hard to find a design of that
tribe or as close as we can get. I want them to not only look like
the originals but to act and perform like the originals. One of the
keys to making a successful replica is to make it with the same
weight and weight distribution as the original cedar dugout version.
The thick bottoms of the dugouts served as ballast. This allowed the
traditional carvers to make canoes that were narrow and sleek but
also stable and safe. Therefor I use very thick plywood for the
bottom plank to get these same qualities. I make the nose and tail
and gunwales of these canoes out of Western Red Cedar so that they
can be carved into traditional forms with traditional tools. These
replicas are not intended to replace the traditional dugout canoes.
The replicas are more economical to build and easier to transport.
This means that more people can have a chance to see them and paddle
in them. They are serving to raise the awareness of tribal culture
among tribal members and young people as well as non-native
people.
You can click on the links
below to see more about each canoe.
© John McCallum 2003
