HUN Chapter 34: Making a Canoe

Lin Yu'an's plan conceived a few days ago was already half complete after finishing the gill net, and he decided to start executing the other half today.

"I have a new idea! I plan to use waterproof tarp, combined with some lightweight wood, to make a simple canoe!"

"This way I can more conveniently cast nets in nearshore areas or fish more flexibly."

Without delay, Lin Yu'an took his equipment and entered the nearby spruce forest, selecting suitable spruce trunks as frame materials for the boat.

Using his felling axe, he cut them from the roots and removed excess branches, obtaining about seven or eight spruce logs with lengths between three to four meters.

"Spruce wood is light and soft, has good toughness, bends easily, and is quite common in this area."

"It's no exaggeration to say that with one person, one knife, one bundle of rope, and one waterproof tarp, you can make a simple canoe."

Before formally constructing the framework, Lin Yu'an first needed to preprocess these spruce poles.

He picked up a spruce pole, leaned one end diagonally against a rock, stepped on the other end to secure it, and drew the multi-tool from his waist to begin debarking.

"Debarking not only reduces the weight of the poles, but more importantly, it makes subsequent fire-bending more uniform."

The dark brown spruce bark quickly curled and peeled away under the blade, revealing the lighter-colored wood with clear grain patterns underneath.

He carved carefully, trying to keep the surface of the spruce pole smooth and avoiding leaving knife marks that were too deep.

After all the spruce poles completed the debarking process, he also carefully shaved down some overly prominent knots and uneven areas on the poles to make them more rounded and smooth overall.

Three of them, about three and a half meters long and the most robust and straight debarked spruce poles, would serve as the bottom keels of the canoe.

"To make the bow and stern naturally curve upward, forming good water-cutting properties, I need to fire-bend both ends of these three keels."

He built a small fire, picked up a keel pole, and placed the end that needed bending above the flames, slowly and evenly rotating it for roasting.

When he felt the pole's end becoming slightly hot from roasting and could feel its flexibility increasing when pressure was applied, he quickly moved the wooden pole away.

He pressed the heated end against a large rock as a fulcrum, gripped the pole body with both hands, and forcefully bent upward to create a gentle upward arc.

After it cooled and set in shape, the keel's end had a natural upturn. Both ends of all three keels received the same treatment.

After processing both ends of the three keels, he placed the other two auxiliary keel poles parallel to the main central keel pole, each about fifteen centimeters apart on either side.

Then he drew them inward so they would precisely converge at the predetermined bow point.

"Now comes the crucial reinforcement."

Lin Yu'an took out steel fishing line and used a flat metal tool on his multi-tool that wasn't commonly used as a makeshift tightening wrench.

He cut an appropriate length of steel fishing line and first wrapped it parallel around the convergence point of the three poles several times below where they met.

Then he brought the two ends of the steel fishing line together, threaded them through the hole in that small tool on his multi-tool, and wedged the tool's flat end between the two steel wire strands.

"This method can generate tremendous pulling force. If you're in the wilderness, you can substitute other tools, the logic is the same."

Lin Yu'an gripped the tightening wrench and began rotating. As he turned, the two steel fishing line strands twisted like wringing a towel, making the steel wire loop below tighter and tighter.

The steel fishing line had almost embedded into the spruce wood. The three keel poles were firmly "locked" together by this steel hoop, completely immobile.

"After tightening the steel wire, the connection point's strength increases greatly, but this isn't enough. I need to use paracord for external protection and secondary securing."

Subsequently, he used paracord in a cross-hitch binding method to perform dense wrapping and binding again on the exterior of the steel wire reinforcement layer.

This formed a bow convergence point that was both sturdy and attractive. The stern was treated with exactly the same method, first steel wire tightening, then paracord reinforcement, handled meticulously.

After completing the bottom framework, he prepared to install the left and right gunwales of the hull.

"These two gunwale poles will determine our canoe's width and side curvature. They also need fire-bending to form the hull curves we want."

He first used the small saw on his multi-tool to cut both ends of these two gunwale poles to appropriate lengths that would fit the bow and stern.

Then he began bending and shaping. He placed the middle section of one gunwale pole above the fire, slowly rotating it for roasting to make it more flexible overall.

When the pole reached the appropriate degree of softening, he gripped the middle section of the pole with both hands and used his body weight and arm strength to slowly press and bend that spruce pole outward.

He had already temporarily secured one end of the spruce pole to the outside of the bow keel convergence point with paracord, while guiding the other end of the spruce pole to gradually approach the stern keel convergence point.

The spruce pole made slight "creaking" sounds in his hands. He carefully observed the pole's degree of bending, ensuring the curve was smooth and natural.

When the gunwale pole bent to the envisioned curvature and both its ends could fit well with the bow and stern, he began using paracord to bind and secure it firmly.

The gunwale on the other side also underwent the same fire-bending and precise installation.

Soon came the final step of installing rib poles, which would make the hull framework more stable and maintain appropriate width between the gunwales.

After selecting three debarked spruce wood segments of different lengths and repeatedly fire-bending them, he finally shaped them into gentle "U" forms and quickly cooled them with cold water to set their shape.

"These three wood segments will connect the bottom keels and side gunwales laterally like ribs. They are key components for ensuring the hull's lateral strength and shape stability."

Lin Yu'an began installing the lateral support ribs, placing these three U-shaped ribs laterally above the three keels, with both ends of their U-shaped curvature pressing against the inner walls of the side gunwales respectively.

At the contact points between ribs and gunwales and keels, he had pre-cut shallow slots with his knife to increase connection stability.

"The treatment of connection points must ensure every pole is firmly locked, forming a stable whole."

He cut segments of paracord and performed extremely solid cross-binding at all the intersecting connection points between gunwales and ribs on the inside of the gunwales.

After all rib spruce poles were installed and secured, Lin Yu'an forcefully shook the entire framework with his hands. The framework remained completely motionless, demonstrating good overall rigidity.

A canoe skeleton composed of eight spruce branches combined through dozens of sturdy rope knots now appeared complete before his eyes.

Especially the connection points at bow and stern that had been tightened with steel wire and wrapped with paracord appeared exceptionally reliable, inspiring full confidence.

It lay quietly on the grass, pointed at both ends with a slightly arched waist, full of primitive beauty.

"Excellent! The canoe's skeleton is complete! Tomorrow, I'll cover it with waterproof tarp and let it sail on its maiden voyage!"

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