Sassafras Canoe

Tom Peretti spent a year building this 12′ Sassafras Canoe from a kit created by Chesapeake Light Craft. He trimmed the stitch-and-glue plywood boat with mahogany rails and thwarts. Tom covered the outside of the hull with Epifanes yacht enamel, and the inside with their wood-finish matte. He made the paddle from yellow cedar in a class at the Brewery Creek Small Boat Shop in Vancouver, Canada. Tom writes that “the canoe is very light at 26 lbs and is easy to carry through the woods to that secret fishing hole. Overall stability is great, and I really enjoy it taking it out during the fall when the leaves are turning colors along the river bank.”