unfortunately my legs have caused me issues with my kayaking life
(especially if I want to keep my shoes with me...) and therefore I want
to build myself a cheap canoe for fishing, canoeing & travel - just to
muck about in.

I can't afford to buy my own, but don't mind building my own now the
winter is here. I've seen a couple of cheap canoe plans

http://www.bigdamfish.net/ccanoeM.PDF seems pretty indepth and cheap -
but will it be stable for someone my size for the activities I want to
do, or should I be modfying the length?

Help :- ( preferably from someone who'll stop me from making an
expensive mistake!

Tim,

Have you considered making a "strip-built" canoe? I have bought and
read a book on strip building written by Gil Gilpatrick. He has taught
strip building to high school students for years and the boats look
wonderful. One great feature is the ability to modify the the length
and general shape of the boat to get the handling characteristics that
you want. The boat looks great AND fits your needs. Fairly cheap to
build, light-weight, and would be an excellent winter project.

Hope this helps,

Paul

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 13:16:35 -0700, Tim wrote:

unfortunately my legs have caused me issues with my kayaking life
(especially if I want to keep my shoes with me...) and therefore I want
to build myself a cheap canoe for fishing, canoeing & travel - just to
muck about in.

I can't afford to buy my own, but don't mind building my own now the
winter is here. I've seen a couple of cheap canoe plans

http://www.bigdamfish.net/ccanoeM.PDF seems pretty indepth and cheap -
but will it be stable for someone my size for the activities I want to
do, or should I be modfying the length?

Help :- ( preferably from someone who'll stop me from making an
expensive mistake!

Michalak Piragua ?

Two sheets of ply, easy to make flat bottomed canoe, enclosed storage area
at the front and back, stable, mine is anyway The best way to get the
plans is to buy Michalak's book which is about $20.

On 11 Sep 2005 13:16:35 -0700, "Tim" wrote:

unfortunately my legs have caused me issues with my kayaking life
(especially if I want to keep my shoes with me...) and therefore I want
to build myself a cheap canoe for fishing, canoeing & travel - just to
muck about in.

I can't afford to buy my own, but don't mind building my own now the
winter is here. I've seen a couple of cheap canoe plans

http://www.bigdamfish.net/ccanoeM.PDF seems pretty indepth and cheap -
but will it be stable for someone my size for the activities I want to
do, or should I be modfying the length?

Help :- ( preferably from someone who'll stop me from making an
expensive mistake!


Something with a 30 inch beam is not hugely stable but you should not
get into paddler induced roll oscillations either. The cost can be
rather low for this design. I'd give a thumbs up for "give it a
try"!

Brian Whatcott
p.s. I designed a pram - shorter but wider, and much more difficult to
roll - you might look at one or two designs like that - you trade
stability for reduced speed - naturally.

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail.php?prod=Smpl

Building your own can be cheap or just as expensive as buying. Depends
on the materials you use.

Strip-built boats can get expensive in that you have to build a
strong-back first.

Strip-built boats can get expensive in that you have to build a
strong-back first.

There's and ad at ott.rec.canoe-kayak for strong back and molds for a 16 ft
prospector stripper used twice for $300 Canadian.

Strippers are pretty expensive to build. You save about 1.3 off retail by
building it yourself. I guess the savings in labour pays for the strong
back and mold and then some. People tend to build these boats over other
kinds for appearances.

--
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"Tim" wrote in message
oups.com...
unfortunately my legs have caused me issues with my kayaking life
(especially if I want to keep my shoes with me...) and therefore I want
to build myself a cheap canoe for fishing, canoeing & travel - just to
muck about in.

I can't afford to buy my own, but don't mind building my own now the
winter is here. I've seen a couple of cheap canoe plans

http://www.bigdamfish.net/ccanoeM.PDF seems pretty indepth and cheap -
but will it be stable for someone my size for the activities I want to
do, or should I be modfying the length?

Help :- ( preferably from someone who'll stop me from making an
expensive mistake!


I built a variation of that Cheap Canoe and am pretty happy with it. I
differed from the plans, making it longer and using chine logs rather than
stitch and glue. I also added some floatation chambers.

You mention "someone my size" - I'm just under 6' and 240(ish) lbs and my
boat works well for me. With a second person in it putting the weight over
300lbs it does get a bit tippy. I built a seat by nailing a 3/4" board to
some 2X4s on edge and find that works fairly well for my less than limber
body. Sitting on the bottom is pretty uncomfortable.

http://www.floatingbear.ca/PirogueBuilding.htm

--
Andrew Butchart

You mention "someone my size" - I'm just under 6' and 240(ish) lbs and my
boat works well for me. With a second person in it putting the weight over
300lbs it does get a bit tippy.

Looking for: stable 60(ish) lb second person willing to share paddling.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

I built two of these boats and think highly of them. Strong and light
$275.00 investment.
Bill
"Tim" wrote in message
oups.com...
unfortunately my legs have caused me issues with my kayaking life
(especially if I want to keep my shoes with me...) and therefore I want
to build myself a cheap canoe for fishing, canoeing & travel - just to
muck about in.

I can't afford to buy my own, but don't mind building my own now the
winter is here. I've seen a couple of cheap canoe plans

http://www.bigdamfish.net/ccanoeM.PDF seems pretty indepth and cheap -
but will it be stable for someone my size for the activities I want to
do, or should I be modfying the length?

Help :- ( preferably from someone who'll stop me from making an
expensive mistake!