Canoe Launch Day at Sunset Lake

Special permission was granted by the City of Guymon that allowed us to launch our canoes in Sunset Lake. The lake is usually closed to all boats. The Texas County YMCA allowed us to test our canoes in thier indoor pool prior to the launch date.

Joel in Cherline (16 foot Double Ender)

Annabelle in her 12 footer.

Joel and Alex


Abraham getting shoved off.

Norberto and Abraham

Abraham chillin.

Ezequiel and Orel

Michelle and Annabelle

They really got the hang of it.

It was a long way back!

No day at the lake would be complete without a watergun fight. GAA would like to thank the following people and organizations that made this project a success.

Wirtz Lumber

Reed and Jerry Barby

Texas County YMCA

Sandoval Roustabout Service

Tom Thoelke

Cheryl Sandoval
The Guymon Daily Herald

as well as all GAA students that stayed to help us out.

Canoe Say Canoe 4

GAA student and volunteer helpers were really pushing it to finish the canoes before the scheduled launch day of May 21st. These are photos of the last few weeks of work. Special thanks to all other students who showed up to help us finish.

Mr. Thoelke and Mrs. Sandoval sealing the inside bottom joint.

Abraham preparing to glue the bottom of his canoe on with PL Premium.



Annabelle gluing the bottom of her canoe on with PL Premium.

Special thanks to Alex for helping us hold the transom in place while securing it with PL Premium and drywall screws.

Annabelle sealing the transom joints.

Stacey sealing transom joints.

We used 4 inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe clamps to hold the bottom till the glue dried.

There was a trick to putting them on. They could be a little difficult to stretch.

Attaching the bow stem that would later be trimmed flush with the top and bottom of the canoe.

Mr. Thoelke detail trimming the bottom of the canoe after the glue had dried.

All ready to be primed and painted.

Stacey the Poser.

Now Stacey AND Annabelle are posing while the guys do the work!!

Canoe say Canoe 3

GAA canoe builders are nearing completion of thier boats. The next step is attaching the bottoms. As the spring weather allowed, construction operations were moved outside.

Andy was our furry little mascot.

Mrs. Sandoval applying PL Premium Construction Adhesive to the bow stem. The majority of joints are glued together on these canoes.


Mr. A showing Annabelle how to secure the bottoms of her boat onto the chinelogs, with brads after a layer of PL Premium was applied.

The bottom has been securely attached and a thin bead of PL Premium was applied and filleted as an extra leak barrier around the entire bottom joint.

The temporary strechers were replaced with the permanent ones and the inner gunnels were attached with Titebond II and drywall screws.