“I’m getting Old, But I’m not Old yet”

by Bernie Levy, aka Jackknife

Since I was introduced to the Warden’s Cabin on Three Mile Lake by Dusan in February of 2014, I have become very enthralled with the area. Since then, I have had many enjoyable trips to the cabin with friends and family, some work parties, some leisure and a combination of both.

Then Covid came along and we were advised not to travel or visit people, and so I made my first of many solo trips into the cabin. After a couple trips it became clear to me that the journey, including four portages totalling close 2.6 kilometres, was becoming more and more tough. At times I was carrying up to 90 pounds including canoe, gear, water and food.

I was not getting any younger, and to continue with these solo trips I had to come up with a weight loss plan. The heaviest item was my canoe, 17’  Nova Craft Cronje, weighing in at 56.6 pounds, not overly heavy but still too much.

Often when I want something new, I think, “can I build it rather than buy it?” After being involved with building at least six other canoes I felt confident that I could. The goal was to build a cedar strip lightweight canoe suitable for solo and tandem use, with removable seats. After looking over several canoe patterns, I settled on the 15’ 2” Hiawatha model, found in Ted Moores’ book CANOECRAFT. The Hiawatha has straight sides which I decided to modify, designing in some tumble- home, giving the canoe a sleeker look.

Gordon Warnica and I had been building an 18’ Kevlar stock canoe for him in my garage on Wednesdays, from a borrowed mold. We finished that in May 2022.

Then in July we went into cedar strip mode and by mid August 2022 we had the first strips on and I had named the canoe “Warden”. We tried a new method of holding the strips in place while the glue dried, eliminating staples (and their holes), but this extended construction time. Plus, there were several details that took longer to figure out: rawhide-laced seats times three, custom-designed brackets with magnets for easy seat removal, epoxied to the inside hull, times six.

With the help of various other people at key times such as the fiberglass lay up and inside gunnels install, the “Warden” had its maiden voyage on the Shubie Canal at Fairbanks Centre on Thanksgiving Monday 2023. Warden met all expectations, both solo and tandem. To help reduce weight I built it with no stems, inside gunnels only, of laminated ash/cedar, short decks, removable seats, and 6 oz fiberglass cloth outside and 4 oz inside. Warden weighed in, with painters, at 42.2 lbs.

It wasn’t until April 2024 that I took Warden on her first solo trip into the Warden’s Cabin on Three Mile Lake, following the new-to-me route of the Johnson River, recommended by Ian Guppy, to access the north end of Preeper Big Lake. This reduced the total portage distance by 1.15 km, and turned out to be a very viable route, now becoming my go-to route. I arrived less fatigued having carried much less weight. Warden handled very well with gear and I found it much easier to do single carries with canoe and pack. Since that trip I have had the Warden into the cabin three more times, paddling solo once, with Jeff White also soloing, and twice tandem, once with my wife Wendy and once with Gordon Warnica. The canoe was excellent even with two paddlers and double packs.

I have been very pleased with the performance of the Warden and feel that it will extend my solo tripping another lustrum or more. I have only forgotten the seats once on an afternoon paddle, hopefully that won’t happen again. I did tell you I’m getting “Old.”

Special Thanks to all those who helped me with this project; Gordon, Allen, Hal, Ethan, Ben, Nhung, Wendy, Erin.

Bernie Levy aka: Jackknife