I believe you are looking at a cedar strip canoe. It sounds like you
want something better than the the old fibreglass/aluminum tubs that
your buddy's parents have at the lake and never use because it handles
like a barge.


You should be able to get 18' planks of cedar from BC relatively
cheaply. From there, your main expense will be the fibreglass, which
costs the same for a cedar strip as it does for a plywood design.

2 time killers can be avoided too. The first one is building the
strongback and forms. If you can, borrow them from somebody (I have the
strongback and forms for a Freedom 17' here in Saskatoon). The second
is the actual stripping. Use staples. It takes a 50 hour - 4 week job
using the staple-less method and turns it into a 20 hour - 1 longweekend
job.

Also, the ripping of the boards and the bead&coveing does waste a good
afternoon, but will go pretty fast with a buddy, a good table saw and a
router

In the end, you will have a very strong, very stable canoe that also
looks great.

Mike
Saskatoon SK

wrote:
Hi all,
I am hoping to build a canoe and was looking into input about what
kind of design would be good for me. Allow me to describe my
requirements in detail.

First, the canoe should be most at home with two fit 20-somethings,
their lunches, and a dinner; however, if possible, it won't be too
strained by a weekend trip or a short solo outing. It will primarily
float the Bow River in Calgary, and I doubt it will ever see anything
worse than class II water. I hope to build this canoe in my modest
backyard with limited tools and inexpensive material. It needs to be
a fast builder so I can make the best use of the short summer here.

It should be as beautiful as possible within these constraints, the
limits of my expertise, and my patience. The most complicated boat I
have built was made of cardboard and duct tape. My most significant
woodworking project was lofting a bed.

Considering these issues and what I have read so far, a "stitch-and-
glue" design seems most appropriate, however I am open to other
suggestions. I assume I will end up ordering plans, but of course if
any free plans are suitable they would be more desirable from the
standpoint of total cost and evaluation. I'm not designing it myself
because I need to learn something about the techniques involved, a
tested design will build quicker, and I am somewhat concerned about
appearance.

Thank you in advance for your advice and helpful pointers,
Kevin