Michael Manzo, the owner and designer of Yukon Freightworks Canoe Company, has contacted Fairbanks Paddlers and expressed interest in getting a group of experienced canoeist together to design and build a 20 foot poling canoe. Michael would host the project in his 120′ x 40′ canoe and freight sled building shop in Delta Junction.
He has proposed this process with a small group of interested paddlers.
- Begin the draw-up of a double-ended, 20 ft poling canoe design.
- Train the crew on how to transfer these dimensions into a male plug.
- Train the crew to construct an industrial-grade, reusable two-piece female mold. (He will donate materials)
- Using the best epoxy resins, foam cores and paints, teach the crew how to pop a fresh hull.
- Fashion gunwales, thwarts, and seats from live slabs of white ash.
- Finish the Poling Canoe
- Test the canoe with a typical load of freight on a wild river.
- Donate Canoe to a youth poling and lining class program.
General dimensions will be 20 ft long. A center beam somewhere between 41-46 inches. A canoe designed to be paddled, poled and use of a small portable outboard no heavier than 55 lbs. A safe, beamy, all-around poling canoe designed exlusively for Alaskan families, by Alaskans, fills a void that has existed for far too long.
Photos show some of the foam core epoxy freighter canoes that Michael has designed and built.
Dates and times are flexible and to be worked out between Michael and the group. Michael hopes to attract a unique bunch that would like to contribute to the design. He indicates that it’s a complicated, challenging endeavor designing from scratch. Much of the initial white board/ design-theory can be done via zoom while we wait for medical advancements against this current pandemic.
Interested individuals or groups should contact Michael directly at:
