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 Stewart
River canoes and boats are built by me, Alex Comb. I started canoeing
when I was eleven and built my first boat shortly thereafter.
On one of my first trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in the mid
1960's I saw a wood and canvas canoe and the image hung in my minds' eye
until I built my first canoe in 1972. I started Stewart River Boatworks
in 1979 with a 14' tandem canoe model and have since added and subtracted
canoes until today we build 10 different canoe models. Living near the
shores of Lake Superior for the past twenty years, I began kayaking as
a way to navigate the rocky shores of Superior's North Shore, and have
added a series of Greenland inspired sea kayaks to our standard models.
Rowing boats have been built to suit customers' requests, though most
of the boat models listed on these pages were chosen because they reflect
the kind of boating I like to do.
Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I have borrowed canoe designs when
they were available. The traditional designs I prefer are those built
by Chestnut and E. M .White. When the existing designs weren't quite "right"
I modified them. In some cases, as with solo canoes, there were no traditional
designs available, so I made my ow n.
In these instances I have designed them to look "traditional." My kayak
designs are based on the Southwestern Greenland styles as depicted in
the Adney and Chapelle book: The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America.
Again, these are traditional designs modified to better fit the intermediate
paddler. Rowing boat designs are of proven designs by some of the best
builders in recent memory like R. D. "Pete" Culler, L. Francis Herreshoff
and John Gardner, as well as some "traditional" designs.
With eldest son Jesse now off to college, I live with my wife and our
young daughter Fiona near Lake Superior on the edge of the Superior National
Forest which seems to offer us "the best of both worlds". We are close
enough to the woods that getting to it is not a major undertaking, though
civilization is still close at hand. Sometimes it seems too close. It
is a constant reminder of the importance of a simpler life; a life where
wilderness is essential.
It is my hope that these boats can help others to reach the elemental
existence we all need.
Living North
article on Alex Comb |
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