Columbus Day weekend I had the opportunity, along with an old friend, Rich, to visit Lincoln Canoe and Kayak in Freeport, Maine. Lincoln Canoe has been around for over 50 years, and was recently purchased by Ponch Membreño and Marc Bourgoin, both ‘Mainers’. They have some great ideas for growing the business, while still keeping the reputation for great workmanship on their boats.
Rich holding on to the 5.3 Kevlar canoe.
I was curious to see the canoes and kayaks, and Rich was looking forward to talking design ideas. We got a great tour from Gerry White one of the employees, who also is an avid paddler. The canoe they are standing next to is a 5.3 Kevlar. It’s the longest one Lincoln makes and is designed for expeditions. Designed as a cruising canoe with plenty of carrying capacity. While we were there, Lincoln was holding a swap and sale. People were bringing in boats to sell, and there were many people buying the boats also. Another Maine company, Malone Auto Racks was also there with some of their boat racks on display.
We started out with the tour, and some explanations of how the boats are constructed. I was amazed at the way some of it is done. There is a neat combination of old fashioned hand craftmanship, and modern technology. I’ll add their description as it is much clearer than mine could possibly be.
The Paddle-Lite® process is a unique vacuum-bag, resin-infusion process that allows us to use both modern and traditional materials in the manufacturing process. While some manufacturers claim to build Canoes and Kayaks under vacuum, they actually only vacuum the core and the last layer of material. In contrast, Lincoln’s Paddle-Lite® Canoes & Kayaks, the entire boat is laminated under vacuum for the ultimate strength-to-weight ratio.
The resin infusion takes place after all layers of the boat are laid in the mold. This sequence allows us to carefully place all dry materials in their proper place without the normal restrictions of a fast resin curing time. After all the materials are laid in the mold, we apply a vacuum bag over the entire layup. With the bag in place, we then infuse a special vinylester resin into the Kevlar fabric. No excess resin is allowed to build up which means no extra weight need burden your shoulders.
There is a link here: http://lincolncanoe.com/craftsmanship.htm to a time lapse video of the process of building a Kevlar kayak.
I was so impressed with the quality of the boats, and the time and attention given to each one.
Just hanging around... waiting for some finishing touches.
As the guys discussed designs, I had the chance to look around the store. There was a sale on most of the items there – paddling clothing, accessories and paddles. They were very well stocked, considering it is just about the end of the paddling season. Good time to buy holiday gifts.
After looking around and talking, Marc invited us to go paddling the next day on ‘his’ river, the Sheepscot. I have very little canoeing experience, so Marc offered to let me go with him. I was apprehensive, as I wanted to try out one of Rich’s solo canoes. That night, we camped on Wolf’s Neck, and had a great time, despite the wind. We had a Bald Eagle in the trees above our site, which is always a great treat. We shared some wine, and talked until the fire gave out.
The next morning, we were up early, off to breakfast and up to Marc’s to paddle. One look at the river, and I took him up on his offer. It was a lot more technical than I was ready for. Rich, who is very experienced found it a good challenge. I was thankful that I did go with Marc, as it gave me a good chance to learn some paddling techniques. I even got fairly good at spotting rocks that were slightly below the surface too. The Sheepscot River section we did was about 7 miles, and is totally undeveloped. We didn’t see another person the whole time. We did see some Comorants and Blue Heron, that were sunning themselves on the rocks. It was such a beautiful stretch of river.
It was a great weekend all around paddling and camping, and getting to check out what’s going on at Lincoln Canoe and Kayak. They are planning some new designs, and have some great ideas. In the spring, I’m hoping to get to visit again, and maybe try out some of their boats on the water.
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