Canoe Guy BC: The Keel Question in Wood-Canvas Canoes

by Mike Elliott, Kettle River Canoes email: artisan@ canoeshop.ca

If there is an area of controversy in the world of wood-canvas canoes, the question of the keel would be it.

Historically, canoes (and kayaks for that matter) never had keels.  Edwin Tappen Adney documented hundreds of indigenous water craft throughout North America in the early part of the 1900’s.  His meticulous notes, drawings and scale models are presented in the book “Bark Canoes and Skin Boats ...