A Canoe Called "BalladHunter"

Here is "BalladHunter," a 16-foot cedar-strip design from Ted Moores called "The Prospector."  We purchased the hull half-built and spent 5 weeks finishing with maple decks, cheery thwart, and cedar mast and boom.  Yes, we converted it into a canoe-sailor for the obvious reason that there are three huge lakes on the 720-mile journey.  Easier to sit back and sail than paddle those. 

   

Maiden Voyage of "BalladHunter" at Monte Ne Ruins

If you listen closely at the very end of this short clip, you can hear me drop the tackle box in the river...great start to an expedition.  

Okay, You Paddle and I'll Steer

I'm just back from Cali and itching to get back on the river.  The canoe sat under the carport motionless for almost three weeks as temperatures reached 113 degrees in the Ozarks last week!  I lifted the cover off of my new cedar-plank canoe-yacht and a swallow flew out, a stowaway seeking refuge from the sweltering sky.

Out on the coast I found more than a few interested candidates for White River day-trips, the idea being for me to sit in the rear and steer while the guest provides locomotion.  Yea, that'll work.  Anyhow, I roped in a writer-friend, a number of my parents, and brother (at least they all expressed something more than outright rejection of the notion of participatory floating on a liquid legend).

The White River at Blue Heron Campground at the 412 Bridge