Ever since I saw my first stripper I knew I had to have one of my own. My wife finally told me to get it out of my system, and we went and bought the supplies for a NW Canoe Excursion. I built the strongback, cut the forms and now I'm ready to lay my first strips. It would be great to see some pictures of other cedar strip canoes to get a feel for pattern of dark vs. light, patterns, etc. Any other strip builders out there?

Enter the builders section of this forum. You should see what you're looking for.

Builders forum

Most of my boats had dark wood at the top and lighter wood below. I used all the wood from a board together rather than a lot of pattern. Later boats were with a dark stripe a few inches below the gunnel ending short of the stem. I had a real nice source for cedar and could select colors. Dark chocolate boards were nice to run across and and I bought them even if I didn't need them at the time.

I made two dark canoes with a light stripe of spruce. The first turned out beautiful, the second had a little cloudy haze to the glass and looked awful. It wouldn't have showed on a lighter wood. I would not recommend it.

Not what I was hoping when i clicked in here. Lol. Just kidding...

In the builders forum, I detailed every set of my build 2 years ago. Should be able to find it in there. “Saganaga”. That might help a bit.

Thanks! I hadn't been aware there was a builder's forum. I'm in it now and reposted the same message there. Sorry for that duplication.

Not a canoe, but I'm pretty happy with it

Beautiful boats!!!

I don't think it's bad you posted here. Everbody can use a stripper pic now & then to brighten their day. ;-)

Here's a couple of pics of my Merlin I have under construction up at my cabin. Hoping to get it glassed in the next couple of weeks. Most of the strips are Spanish cedar. The other accent strips are WRC, purpleheart, and aspen. The outer stems are ash.

CabSauv,

If you are on Facebook suggest you join the Cedar Strip Canoe and Kayak Building Group. You will seeing pictures from all over the world of cedar strip canoes in every state of build plus many completed canoes to give you lots of ideas.

I took a slightly different approach: A painted hull.
Don't get me wrong; As a furniture maker- I love natural wood, but sometimes you have to change it up a bit.
I built this for my bride, but didn't quite finish it in time for her to paddle to our wedding ceremony...instead, she used her Merlin 2 pictured in the background.

I recycled a solid 4x6 beam of WRC into 3/16" strips.
Trimmed with Cherry gunwales, thwarts and handles. The seat is bent laminated Cherry with a walnut middle ply.
Instead of a central "seam", I inlaid a strip of walnut. Routed scubbards and ovalhead SS screws attached from the outwale ( I like the visual effect), complete the look.

Beautiful canoe mrpg72. The dark color of that cedar is amazing!

Is that USFS green?

Thanks, Beavers!

USFS green would make for a great looking boat, especially with Ash gunwales.

I'm very happy with my color: Epifanes "light Green".
It's uncommon to see a canoe that color. In fact, it changes in different light. The previous photos show it as being more "aqua" . The photo below shows it as a "bright lime".
It's somewhere in between as it hangs in the garage.

First one is my old "station wagon" 18 footer and the second is my current Merlin.