Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Another Story – the Significance of Twist Ties

All my “forebears” were from Madison County, south of Huntsville. My mom was born near and grew up at Japton, and my dad grew up over the ridge near Aurora on Ferrel’s Creek. My dad’s parents were still living there in the mid-‘60s – no running water, outhouse, slop bucket, and all - until my dad moved them to a farm north of Springdale.

Stay with me here…there’s a link to boating…

A few years later, Dad built his folks a new house, and I remember only one thing about moving day. As we boxed up stuff from the kitchen, we pulled out about 2 ½ bread bags full of twist ties. Yeah, wire twist ties – probably thousands of them. We shook our heads and kept on packing that day. But it was years later before I understood the significance of those twist ties, which were probably accumulated over a period of 20 years or more.

What I came to realize later was the impact the Great Depression had on those who experienced it first hand. It’s probably a big over-generalization, but I came to realize that folks from that generation didn’t throw much away, and they are pretty creative and resourceful in using what they have for other things.

Maybe that explains why you build a canoe out of car hoods.

Not long after I got into boating, we were at some family gathering, and I was probably talking – a lot – about canoeing. Someone mentioned that my uncle had built a canoe out of car hoods once, so I started shooting out the questions rapid-fire. What? Out of car hoods? Really? When? What ever happened to it? Here’s what I found out.

My great uncle built the thing out of two car hoods, along with some other sheet metal, and some metal tubing for the gunwales. I believe both hoods were from 1938 Chevys. I don't know how long it took him to weld it all together, but he finished it around the 4th of July, 1957. And my uncles took that thing all over the Ozarks and fished out of it.

Here’s the picture of the boat on the day they finished it up.




Not sure who the two men on the left are (need to find out), but third from the left is the builder, my great uncle, Claude McChristian. To his right is my great-grandfather, John Spurlock. He and his brothers built the tomato canning factory in Japton to help folks in the area scratch out enough of a living to get through the Depression.

Before they passed away, my uncles told me a few good stories about experiences they had with the boat. Those stories will have to wait a day or two.

Good looking netwire hog fence in the background of that photo Randy. Amazing how the geometry of those car hoods reminds me of a Mohawk XL13 bow and stern. Talk about being ahead of time. Madison County rocks!

Randy, I've heard a similar story before about canoes out of car hoods!

And I think Nolan owes those boys some royalTIES! Like Shelby said, the similarity is amazing!

I had so thoroughly enjoyed this topic. I spent a bit of time this weekend digging through my old picture box and found a few classics presented here for your enjoyment. While not very old photos some of these do record a sort of progression in kayak designs.

Hope you enjoy.


Me running a ledge drop on the Hailstone in an old school Holoform kayak. Photo taken on May 20, 1990. The level was 8 inches over the Ponca Bridge. The Holoform was introduced in 1973 and was purported to be the first production plastic kayak.



Me on the table ledge drop on Falling Water Creek paddling a Noah Jetti circa 1991. This photo was taken by Ryan Johnson. We had a whole gaggle of paddlers running Falling Water that day because we deemed Richland was too high. Looking back at what I know now this level on Falling Water is indicative of a PERFECT level for Bobtail Creek. From the time this shot was taken it would be about 5 years before anyone ventured down Bobtail. The Noah Jetti was probably the first creek boat design. It didn't quite take over the market the way creek boats would a decade later. It was short and slow but very stable. The rest of the market seemed interested in the speed offered by the Perception Dancer.




Me in my Infinity Quantum Kayak at Power House Rapid on the Ocoee River, Cleveland Tennessee. Circa 1993



Randy Jackson in the runnout below Beech Ball on Beech Creek circa 1994 Randy was paddling one of them new fangled Dagger Crossfires. The rest of us thought the boat was pretty funny looking. They became wildly popular and shortly after they came out boat lengths started getting shorter and symmetrical hull designs went out of style.




Wade Colewell in an old school Perception Dancer running Hypermart on Shop Creek circa 1995. This was the first production boat that blew open the doors to modern whitewater kayaking. I think Wade proably still has this boat and probably still uses it.



Me surfing Half Moon rapid on the East Fork of the Little Buffalo. The boat was a New Wave Mongoose creek boat. Circa 1997. This was about the time that real honest creek boat offerings came into fashion. Manufacturers were no longer building one boat for all occasions. I'd decided by that time that a creek boat for Arkansas would be the one design style to always keep in the garage.

Stay tuned I have a few more.

While not too terribly old these shots by today's standard represent what is becoming a lost art seen on our creeks and rivers - tandem canoe paddling. My comments may stirr up some great debate possibly for another thread. There were some great tandem paddlers in the state but few willing to venture beyond Class III-IV. So for your viewing pleasure I give you some action shots of what I consider to be one of legendary tandem duo's to ever dip a blade in an Arkansas creek.


Bubba Newton White and David Thrasher paddling tandem through the Green Room rapid on Richland Creek. Newton anchored the stern and David handled the bow. December 10, 1994




This is the first drop below the Green Room rapid, starts kinda wide then narrows into a sluice. Note the form, both working their blades on the right side of the boat. You can see the splash of water from David pulling out of the water after hitting a cross-bow draw. From the sequence you can tell he placed his stroke right behind the rock and is pulling out to switch sides.




Down into the sluice. David has switched his blade to river left and Newton is still working the stern from river right.




Tackling Richland Falls on river right.



And so... the legendary status grew even larger around the camp fire at night.

Why am I not seeing Shelby's pics?

Work place filter?

I'm getting all the other ones. Workplace schmorkplace.

This link goes straight to the where the photos are stored on Flickr. See if that works.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18769938@N ... 188324358/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like the schmorkplace doesn't like flickr, either. Pic's will have to wait till I get home.

I've got some pictures of old boaters in old boats, do they count?

Got my guesses as to who this is, but I am just not sure!! Anybody? Think this was in 1980 on the Piney at the Mother.


Long time ago, I lived out of state. Came back on a business trip and while driving from the Fort to Texarkana, I took a side route down some forest service roads based on a map that I got out of an old Arkansas Times article. A story about paddling in Arkansas with rivers and pics! This is what the Tot looked like on my first glimpse!!! And no, I did not have a boat with me as I was on business!



Then, I on my very first trip on the Tot in 1984 before I moved off to Texas for six years, I shot some pics of some Dallas area boaters. Gives you an idea of what the boat of choice was. Got some more of the races at Big P before I left for Texas. I'll try to find them.

I did not know this shot existed. The shot of the yaker in the white kayak on the Piney was me when I lived on the dark side of the planet. Eat your heart out Dave Robertson!

Tom Kennon

Man, just looking at those pictures of 90 degree offset paddles makes my right wrist hurt.

(The 30 additional years of wear-and-tear has nothing to do with it...)

Tom, do you want me to send the image to you via email? If so, just PM me your email!!

I think the shot is from May, 1981!!!!!!!

Wanna know who I thought it was?















Mikey Beard!!!

If one of you guys ever want to go retro and do some old school reenacting, I’ve got two Iliad flat-blade, 90-degree paddles in my basement that were given to me. I’m only an occasional rec kayaker, never could figure out how to use them. They're huge! I always wondered what they looked like in action. Great stories and Thread.