* This belongs
to the collection of David & Helga Zimmerly.
Mackenzie Delta Kayak
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, NMM
IV-D-2039
(to get free Adobe Acrobat Reader, see
PDF)
PDF Plans -
1-2
figures, Lines and Construction Details;
2-4
figures, Framework;
3-10
figures, Lashings and Ties;
4-8
figures, Structural Details. (The figures take from 10 seconds up to
several minutes to download).
Photo by Charles W. Mathers, 1901, Fort McPherson on the Peel
River. E. Brown collection, Provincial Archives of Alberta.
There are four known Mackenzie Delta kayaks, three of them in the Canadian Museum of Civilization collection. The finest known is IV-D-2039. The
construction
is elegant. The strakes are so thin that they actually create their
own
bend. This is the only pitched-deck kayak known in Canada and
Greenland.
The
Mackenzie Delta type is an inland kayak used to hunt beluga
whales
in bays and
estuaries. All inland kayak types require a balancing act to
paddle. Of the type,
this one is relatively stable.
