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

Plywood is the fastest, easiest material for amateur boatbuilding
because it comes pre-sanded and goes together in large pieces. The
more pices to a boat, the more work it is to build, generally.

The simplist shape is a long, low dory, ie two sides and a bottom. The
sides are angled out to give some curvature to the bottom, and more or
less curvature can be had by shaping the bottom edges of the side
pieces. A popluar form of this boat which can be built to carry two as
you suggest, and for which free plans can be found by searching the
Internet, is a "pirogue", a Louisiana swamp boat created by French
Canadians, or Cajuns, expelled from Nova Scotia by the British
government in 1755.

Plywood canoe plans tend to be more complex, each side made up of 2 or
more pieces, and reverse curves at the bows. They tend to need several
evenly-spaced temporary shapes (molds) set up to bend the pieces
around to get the right shape. They also usually call for trim pieces
along the gunwales and at the ends. Doable by beginners but time
consuming.

A long, low punt is another alternative but they are usually poled or
rowed instead of paddled.

Good luck.

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