4/21/2019 – Kit and Huckleberry led a tour down to the lake and along the lake path today. Follow along as they show the current snow depths and how a large puddle is forming on Sawbill Lake. Ice out should be happening in a number of days.

-Dan

4/16/19 – Last week I was in Minneapolis to attend the NCAA Final Four with my mom and Grandpa. My 93 year old grandfather has been attending the Final Four for 50 years. He was a high school administrator and coach in Montana for many years. My mom has been attending Final Fours with him for the past 25 years. With the event being held just down the road this year it was a good opportunity to join them. 

While in Minneapolis, I had the great fortune of getting together with Sawbill Alum, Pat Nash, who I worked with in 2009. Also joining in the improptu reunion were my brother in law Adam Hansen, of considerable Sawbill fame, and Lisa Burtch and their almost-one-year-old son Louis. Good times!

-Dan

4/12/2019 – In order to keep our fleet of rental canoes new and in great condition, we regularly sell off our used stock. It has been a long standing Sawbill tradition to pass along our canoes in as good of condition as we can. We strive for them to have the most functionality, longest (after) life and beauty that we can. To that end, each time a canoe is rented we provide a comprehensive tutorial to our customers on canoe-care best practices while paddling the wilderness. We also complete timely and professional repairs as needed. We think these canoes are a great value and will provide many years of paddling joy…. and no stress about getting the first scratch. See current availability here.

Kevlar Canoes

Kevlar is a composite material manufactured as a woven fabric. It is lightweight and very durable. Using vinyl ester or epoxy resins, layers of kevlar are laminated together inside of the boat mold and hooked up to a vacuum bag system to evenly distribute the resin and remove any excess. This allows the canoes to be constructed using the minimal amount of materials necessary to achieve ultra lightweight and structural integrity.

We rent most of our kevlar canoes for three seasons before selling them. A few are kept for a fourth season if they end up getting stuck on the bottom of the stack and don’t get used as much – or if it’s a less popular model. Prior to sale, we install new external kevlar skid plates to the bow and stern. These skid plates are custom formed to match the lines of the boat in order to provide protection in the high wear spots without excess material.

A fresh coat of resin is applied to the bottom of the canoe. This resin layer fills in all of the scratches and results in a smooth shiny finish. The areas above the fresh resin are finished with a layer of marine varnish to provide UV protection. Any other necessary repairs are also completed to return the canoe to full functionality. Any deviation from this procedure will be noted on the sale listing.

Canoes are priced based on age and condition. Price is typically reduced for older canoes and for any patches that may have been applied.

Royalex/T-Formex

Royalex was a long standing go-to canoe construction material. It is durable, relatively light and paddles well in both rivers and lakes. The ABS plastic material was discontinued a few years ago, leaving a gap in the canoe market. After a few years of R&D, Equif Canoes developed a new ABS plastic laminate they have dubbed T-Formex. Sawbill will carry a handful of T-Formex constructed canoes, made by Wenonah in the 2019 season.

Due to the great durability of the these materials, we keep boats constructed of Royalex/T-Formex for a few years longer before selling them. Like their kevlar counterparts, we install external kevlar skid plates. We also touch up any scuffed paint and treat with 303 Protectant.

-Dan

4/12/2019 – Kit, Huckleberry and I went for a walk around the campground yesterday before this late spring storm rolled through and dropped five inches of fresh snow. While there are patches of bare ground cropping up, 12 – 24 inches of snow cover predominates. The crusty surface is strong enough to hold an adult making traversing the woods a joy. -Dan

4/9/19 – The ice is currently measuring in at 25″. The last couple days we’ve seen temperatures in the 40s punctuated by drizzle and a few welcome minutes of rain. We’ll take what we can get at this point since the rest of this week is not looking great for melting conditions to continue. On the plus side, spring skiing may soon make an encore presentation. -Jessica

4/6/19 – We are extremely happy to welcome back Brian Henry, the fasted t-shirt roller in the midwest, for another season at Sawbill. Brian will be making celebrity appearances throughout the season and is the perfect person to track down for all your fishing related questions.

After Brian’s t-shirt rolling clinic, we decided to head down to the lake to check on the ice. We measured 27″, but are happy to report standing water, an afternoon of blue skies, and temperatures in the 40s predicted the next few days. Hopefully those puddles will absorb some of that sun! -Jessica

4/5/19 – Just the other day we received a shipment of brand new Kevlar canoes from Northstar, some of which included the 20.5′ Northwind 20. This three person canoe is a new addition to our fleet and preforms somewhere in-between the speedy Wenonah Minnesota III and the super stable Wenonah Seneca. We can’t wait to get them in the water for a test drive! -Jessica

4/2/19 – Another sure sign of the approaching canoeing season, other than the 25″ of ice we measured this morning, is the return of crew member Paul Ryda. Paul’s been busy in the workshop refurbishing some of our Wenonah Spirit II Royalex canoes, which will soon be showing up in the online store. He gets the distinction of being the first crew member to arrive this season. -Jessica

3/30/19 – It’s finally starting to feel a little like spring around here, which prompted me to drill the first test hole of the season yesterday evening. The lake is currently sporting 27″ of ice depth. There is hope however, as all 27″ didn’t seem to be solid ice, well most of it was, but there were two 1-2″ pockets of water separating three solid layers of ice.

To catch you up a bit; we had a substantial amount of snow and slush on the lake all winter making travel less than easy. About two weeks ago we received a warm up and a couple days of light rain, converting most of the snow into slush. Since then, we’ve had freezing temps overnight setting up the lake quite well. This followed by sunny days has made the ice quite slick in most places. All in all, we now have some quality lake walking conditions, provided you have a set of yaktrax strapped to your boots. Stay tuned for more updates! -Jessica

3/22/19 – The below video walks you through the process for reserving a Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness permit on the new recreation.gov website. -Dan