duckkisser Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 anyone ever build a canoe i have been playing with the idea of making one seen a few kits but how hard is it to make it from scratch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Kolva Posted August 27, 2012 Report Share Posted August 27, 2012 I've made 3 strip canoes, getting ready to start a couple of strip kayaks. Most of the woodworking is not that demanding but there are some critical areas where you need to be very careful or you'll wind up with a boat that's not going to paddle well. It also takes significant time and space to build even a small boat. I suggest getting a few books covering the building method you're interested in and reading them thoroughly. Canoecraft is one of the references I started with, excellent book and includes offsets (needed for building the forms) for several boats, Nick Shade's Strip Built Kayak is another good resource even though it is targeted for kayaks, he also authored "Building Strip-Planked Boats" although I haven't read it, the methods are the same. Let me know if you have more specific questions and I'll do what I can to help out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted August 27, 2012 Report Share Posted August 27, 2012 I'm familiar with bark, canvas, and fiberglass over a wood frame, and aluminum canoes. I would think a canoe made entirely of wood would be heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Kolva Posted August 27, 2012 Report Share Posted August 27, 2012 The strip boats are typically made with softwood strips about 1/4 thick, western red, alaskan yellow, sitka, and white cedars and spruces and covered on both sides with glass and epoxy. The 17.5 foot boats I've made run around 50-60 lbs, lighter than a comparable plastic boat and generally handle better as they are stiffer than plastic. I've made the Red Bird model, here are some specs from some web site: www.clarkcraft.com Post won't let paste the entire url but you can navigate to the Red Bird strip canoe page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted August 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2012 hey thanks ya space is not a problem my shop is huge it used to be a dormatory in a old mental hospital so lets put it this way i can play catch in my shop and not get close the roof. as for time well i spend all my time in the shop because i teach wood shop at the school so i can spend 2-5 hours working on a boat when i dont have kids. ill check ou the clarkcraft post later because clark is my last name so it might be perfectly fitting. i have yet to start looking for books because of tiem constraints and havent decided if i want to build this yet or not. dont even have space for it thought maybe i would donate it to the school so they can take the kids fishing and canoeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texfire Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Nick Offerman did a series of videos making a cedar strip canoe, you can find them on YouTube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted September 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 thanks tex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcanuck Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 I've built a cedar strip encased in fiberglass, it's 16' and comes in about 60-65 lbs....easily manageably by one person on and off the car/van/etc or on a portage. I have a ton of pictures of the build process on my blog. If you've got questions feel free to ask. Here's the link: http://woodcanuck.wordpress.com/projects/cedar-strip-canoe/ Good luck, it's a really fun project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barron Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Check out Rip, Strip and Row. The book shows how to build a beautiful 14' row boat using a similar process to the one described above for canoes and kayaks. My copy came with plans for the forms you need to build the boat. Total weight was less than 100 lb. I still plan to build one, just need to complete some other projects first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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