Canoe Cruising and Camping, by Perry D Frazer

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Canoe Cruising and Camping, by Perry D Frazer

‘The author of this book claims nothing for it as an instructor of men to whom canoe cruising and camping, and all that follow in their wake, are as an open book. It is his aim to give to the uninitiated many little hints and suggestions that are usually only learned and mastered after years of experience.

‘That which first prompted me in this work was as follows: In the cities it is a common thing to hear young men say, “I wish I had some plan of spending my leisure hours in more pleasant manner than by sitting round the house or the parks.” If asked why they do not pass holidays and vacations in fishing or hunting, they will say they cannot afford it; that a month in the woods would cost them twice or thrice as much as they can earn when at work a similar length of time; they may not care for horses or bicycles, and a sailboat or small yacht is entirely out of the question, as far as owning one is concerned.

‘When the reader has thoroughly studied the information I wish to give, I hope he can see how easily he may provide a means of enjoying leisure hours, without great expense.”

This is a great online book with some stonking old photos. Thanks to Craig O’Donnell for taking the time to scan it and put it up at his website. Read the book here.

Canoe Cruising and Camping by Frazer


Photographs of the Hudson folding boat at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show

Hudson folding boat at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show

Hudson Folding Boat on the National Maritime Museum stand at the Beale
Park Thames Boat Show this year. Click on the images for a larger photograph

One of the most fascinating objects on show at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show this year was this amazing folding boat. I’ve posted a photograph of this boat once before, when the National Maritime Museum Cornwall included it in a display of folding boats.

However, I hadn’t realised it was such an exquisitely complicated piece of engineering. This is a real mass of hinges and brackets, sealing wax and string, and deserves admiration!

The folding boat was designed by a gent called Dick Hudson in the early part of the 20th Century. Intended for use as tender that could be tied onto a yacht’s roof without obscuring the helmsman’s view,  it folded down to 20cm in thickness and with the help of a couple of brackets would sit on the running board of a car of that era.

Hudson folding boat at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show

Hudson folding boat at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show

An alternative folding boat

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Handy Andy folding boat plans

10ft folding dinghy plans at the Svenson free boat plans site

Attention boating enthusiasts – is this folding boat the half-forgotten answer to the eternal tender problem?

Tenders tend to be be a nuisance as we all know – the nasty rubber things cost a fortune, take ages to inflate, take up a lot of space on board and row like psychopathic milk jugs, and of course a solid tender is a can be a pain to tow.

So some people might like to consider this folding alternative, which I’ve just spotted. Plans can be downloaded at the Svenson website.

Follow this link for more free boat plans.