Creating a wanigan...........

Ok....I am thinking cedar strip wannigan. With legs, and a way to mount at least one small propane burner. I had a sort of wannigan many years ago. Actually it was an old 81mm mortar ammo crate with rope handles. And we never had to carry it, it rode in the back of the truck. But I am thinking here that my Coleman stove must weigh close to 10 pounds itself and if I got to tanks with a burner it may not be too much heavier to have a wannigan.

I take a collapsible coleman stove stand now so that could work as part of the equation too.

No Title

All of these boxes are great!

Joker, I like your lid and how it completely seals the top from rain. I made my second version flush, fitting on top, with no overhang over the sides so I could use my NRS Sherpa to carry it on the trail. I rely on a stick on foam door seal @ 1/4" wide. Two years of canoe and ice fishing and it's already starting to show wear.

Clemency, my first wannigan was roughly modled after the one in the article you posted.

Mem, we also cooked the spam over the fire on a hot dog stick. There was no doubt that I had you in mind when I took that picture!

Iskweo, that's exactly what I was thinking... our fold up camp table with Coleman stove holder is 19lbs alone. A two burner propane stove is 6 or 8 more... without any gas! The burner in the pic is a walmart cheapo and hits the scale at 16 ounces. A 1lb green tank of propane is 2lbs full. So the stove empty actually weighs 2lbs for each burner. My brother and I just spent 6 days up to Lows Lake (during the snow storm) and all cooking was done on that cheap burner and one bottle of propane! Well except the one use of the fire ant stove from emberlit to rehydrate the pizza sauce. I haven't put the bottle on the scale but I know for sure it had enough left in it for one more day. We did coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, and dehydrated meals for lunch and dinner. Not counting pizza night. Oh, and I made the wannigan sized to my reflector oven!

A couple more photos

Joker, sorry for rambling.

When I get more time I need to put all these pics together in a trip report!

Jason

Jason,

Ramble on man; I'm often guilty of the same thing.............rambling that is.
I enjoyed the content of your post.

Have not finished my 2nd, and larger wannigan yet.
It's construction is finished, but I still want to seal all the seams, and am going to stain it golden pecan.
Not as dark as stain I used on first one.

I ended up making the bottom & the 2 end pieces out of 1x12.
Two sides and top are made of birch plywood. Top is framed in strips of 1x12.
Made wood handles instead of using rope loops, and put 4 risers on the bottom to keep it off the ground.

Haven't weighed it yet. 12 to 12.5 lbs guesstimate ?
Dimensions are: 10"W x 15"H x 25"L.
Photos soon.

Joker 42

No Title

Late to the party...as usual...

This is an idea we crafted this winter using some leftover cedar strips and using steam bending to replicate the tumblehome of my Chestnut Pal. We roughed the dimensions from the inside of my canoe.
Its still a work in progress- haven't figured out how i want to secure the lid and how to carry it. And with paddling season here it'll proibably remain this way until Fall.
At this point in time its more of a floating coffee table than functional Wanigan.

Bruce

Pook said:

Late to the party...as usual...

This is an idea we crafted this winter using some leftover cedar strips and using steam bending to replicate the tumblehome of my Chestnut Pal. We roughed the dimensions from the inside of my canoe.
Its still a work in progress- haven't figured out how i want to secure the lid and how to carry it. And with paddling season here it'll proibably remain this way until Fall.
At this point in time its more of a floating coffee table than functional Wanigan.

Bruce

Click to expand...

That Sir, is what comes to mind when I envision a wannigan. A proper one indeed.
The wannigans of my youth were all rounded at the ends, like yours, and flat bottomed. Mated to the contour of the vessel they were built for. I had one that was an old hand-me-down, and the lid was attached with leather straps attached to the sides and lid, with brass buckles that were from old belts. They didn't even match, but they worked. Had 10-12" long, round wood handles at each end that were attached with rope to the wannigan. When set into the canoe, the wood handles rode on top of the lid. Handles were long enough to get two hands on for lifting. Sold it 30+ years ago when upgrading canoes, with the canoe, and have regretted it since.

Good work guys, I never used a wannigan but like the idea and hope to build one someday. What I really liked in this thread were the pictures of Jokers garage with all the canoes in it. Now I don't feel so bad.

Chip said:

Wannigans. I don't "get" 'em. Well, in 1953, sure. But these days, just get a Rubbermaid Action Packer box. The folks that introduced me to backcountry canoe camping used to talk reverently about them. I pictured a box that was shaped with a concave bottom that would match the curvature of the hull, maybe with some folding legs to set it up in camp. I was pretty disappointed when I figured out wannigans were basically boxes.

Be that as it may, I recently built a plywood box to provide floatation for a kinetic sculpture. I tested the box for leaks by filling it up with water. There were no leaks. The box was built of half-inch plywood. The joints were gorilla glue backed by half-inch square nailers that I ripped from various pieces of scrap. I used 3/4" brads and every long clamp I owned to hold things in place while the glue set. I throw this out for the information of potential wannigan builders. Gorilla glue claims to be waterproof, and if I were to build a wanningan, I would want it to be waterproof. Good luck and enjoy your wanningans.!

Click to expand...

Wannigans are way better than a action packer, first there is no waste of space like in an action packer and its odd shapes... Second, you can sit, stand on them with out having them caving in under your weight. Third you can cook on them with out it to melt. Fourth, mine is water proof. It is made out of 1/4" baltic birch ply epoxied together with epoxy filets in the corners and have a nice little tray to get things organized. And it is the perfect size cause I made it that way!!

Plus plastic box sucks so does plastic canoes!

No Title

Here are a couple pictures of the cedar strip wannigan I am in the process of making.
1/4" strips bead and coved, 6oz fiberglass inside and out with a thickened epoxy fillet on the inside corners. I'm guessing it weighs 6# and is surprisingly strong once fiberglassed.

I too made a wanigan using some pine and plywood scraps. It was made smaller for solo use but fully stuffed it has worked for my young son and I. Here is a writeup on my basic build with more links to other online instructions (some have repeated earlier in the thread):

http://paddlemaking.blogspot.ca/2014/05/wanigan-build.html

Can't resist the urge to decorate plain wood, so it has been dressed up with frivolous woodburning decorations.




Like Canotrouge mentioned, I've found wanigans to be multi-purpose so for me they make up their disadvantage in weight. That flat surface can be very convenient in camp. Obviously useful as a tabletop, stool or seat, but it can be used as a tree shelf too...


My son has also spent plenty of camp time using the hard surface for drawing. This past winter I made a homemade chess set and burned a checkerboard on the underside of the pull out tray. So now the wanigan is part kitchen/entertainment center. Chess pieces are cherry and basswood. Figure in a pinch they can be burned for tinder and made again if needed.


Here is the latest pic of use just this past May weekend...

This thread is why I love this forum. I don't know if I need one, but thanks everybody for the wannigan education. Mark

Sven- love the look of yours. That is kind of what we were going for.
Fibreglassed, eh? Was hoping that Shellac and varnish would be enough to seal it.
How are you attaching the lid?
I'm looking for ideas...

Bruce

And Murat- your Blog was one of the reasons we figured we could build our own wanigan. You do spectacular work, my friend!

Pook

The fiberglass is really to make everything more rigid.
I was thinking about using 1" poly webbing and a couple buckles secured to the sides and wrapped over the top to hold things together while on the go. I think shellac and varnish would be good to protect the wood from moisture and such.

I am also contemplating making it into a backpack of sorts instead of the traditional tump line.

No Title

dogbrain said:

I don't know if I need one,

Click to expand...

Of course you do. How can you have a picnic date without one?

Murat V said:

I too made a wanigan using some pine and plywood scraps. It was made smaller for solo use but fully stuffed it has worked for my young son and I. Here is a writeup on my basic build with more links to other online instructions (some have repeated earlier in the thread):

http://paddlemaking.blogspot.ca/2014/05/wanigan-build.html

Can't resist the urge to decorate plain wood, so it has been dressed up with frivolous woodburning decorations.

m2GjVXt1Djt5mgCLcB/s600/DSCN9910_rs.jpg[/img]

Click to expand...

Murat, that is a work of art.

For camp log (or shortie “butterfly” chair sitters) a wannigan makes more table elevation sense than a 2 foot tall blue barrel.

WOW. Compared to Murat, my wannigan attempt looks primitive. I did have a chance to take it out twice and liked it OK. The problem is I still put too much stuff in mine, so it ends up pretty heavy.

No Title

This is the one I made a wile ago, it came on many trips so far, in every seasons....

No Title

Sent photos of the 2 wanigans I made for base camping to a paddling buddy.
He decided he needed a paid of them, and made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
And here they are..............

I'm pretty sure they will also be used strictly for basecamping.

BOB