Epoxy resin and glass cloth isn’t a hard job, but need attention and some precision. No air bubbles can be tolerated, no wrinkles in material. Warm up the room at 80 degrees F or 25 C, for a better epoxy cure. When hardened, 24 hours later, sand surface and put 2 more thin coats of epoxy resin, make sure you sand surface each time. Then, spray 2 coats of 2 parts epoxy varnish for a tremendous gloss finish and UV protection. Oh! By the way, don’t forget to add sketch (art) if you want, before epoxying; mine are Indian head chief done with a pyrography pencil. Wooden strips are also glued before epoxy for maximum protection. Outriggers weight only 20 pounds each, my goal is not speed but safety first.

Here in Quebec, winter is long, spring is nature’s revival. May was good time for outriggers first trial. Until now, I wasn’t sure about how they would perform in water. My 17 ft cedar canoe (another canoe), was ready for the first attempt, in my private pond, Wow!!!, no more than 5 minutes where enough to figure how reliable they were; outriggers were better than all expected!!!!! But I had to wait later to go sailing, because some elements were missing: rudder, new leeboards, mast, thwart, rigging. Finally in July, D-Day came!!! Beside little adjustments, it was a real pleasure to sail my new trimaran sailing canoe.

My wife and I went for a cruise on Lake Toro, at St-Michel-des-Saints, Quebec, in August. I’ll never forget that day. Sunshine, F3 wind, I was so happy, raising sails (I also have a jibsail), holding tiller, taking pics and video clips, and so my wife did. We landed on a sandy beach on an island for a picnic. Back home for 8:00 pm, I was full of joy, I can now sail a canoe. Outriggers make safe sailing, definitely. My relative from Switzerland is preparing a 2 month's trip in Canada next summer, we’ll go on Lake Toro for a full week cruise, camping in wilderness, cooking foods with Coleman heater, and all gear.

Lake Toro (actually Teaurau makes 95 sq. Km, has 32 km of beautiful sandy beach, located at 2 hours from north of Montreal, it’s 54 islands provide shelters for camping. Video clips are available on YOU TUBE under my username GRAFOPHONE.

In winter 2008-09, I decided to read more about sails and rigging. My goal was to improve the rigging, or possibly make a new one. I purchased an awesome book from Amazon, titled ‘’Canoe rigging; the Essence and the Art’’ from Todd E. Bradshaw. What a book! Full of details and explanations, and beautiful drawings. I decided to go lugger sails rigging, 2 masts (ketch). One more time I was working on the canoe. I went to a fabric store to purchase polyester fabric, burgundy color, I changed blocks to bigger size, new ropes. Masts and spars, made of spruce, were cut from the forest next door (in winter there is less sap in the wood so it dries faster). I removed all bark from trees, let dry for 3 weeks, use a manual electric 3’’ planer, belt sander, disc sander, stain (3 colors, maple first, walnut and finally some amaranth (purplish color) giving a tremendous result after varnishing!!! I also build 2 baggage holders made of pine wood and laced similar to a tennis racket. They are very useful and they save room aboard the canoe.

My wife made all sewings for the sails, a great job! I cut out fabric. Todd’s book was a great inspiration in sail making. I never found that was a hard job while making the sails, neither masts and spars; it takes only patience, some knowledge about tools and power tools handling, some of your time and last but not least...you have to be enthusiastic about your project. Enthusiasm is the motor that will lead you achieving your goals, to everything.