Hello
I need your help with my next project. I can not find plans for this kayak and yet I believe there is a growing market for it.
First, who I am. I’m a retire wood worker with time to build a boat. I’m a life long paddler in my 70’s . My wife and I enjoy getting out on the water. We paddle flat water, lakes and river in good weather. Short day trips. My wife now has an electric bike. So now we can easley ride together. She is no longer bothered by long distance trips, long up hills or that constant wind in her face.
My weight 190lb and my wife weight 115lb
The boat I’m looking for. I want a short stable kayak that we could add an electric motor to. We do not need that long sleek easy paddling kayak. When I look for this boat I find fishing and recreational boats, they are not pretty boats, they may be functional but lack the beauty and craftsmanship of a cedar strip boat. So I would like to find plans for 10 foot (more or less) stable kayak that would have a keel that would accept an electric motor. I built a cedar strip canoe several years ago. When we take it out people always come up to us and comment on the boat, it’s beauty, grace and some also know of the craftsmanship that’s goes in the building of these boats
One electric motor that I’ve seen on line “Newport NK180”
I’m looking forward to your response. Just like the electric bike market has exploded, i feel many people like my self, would like a beautiful cedar strip electric kayak.
Chesapeake Light Craft sells kits and just plans for a wide range of beautiful strip-built wood boats. I know several people who have built their kayaks. Perhaps you can get some ideas from their offerings or order one of their builder plan sets and modify to your liking. They also sell a range of accessories that builders may need for their boats.
There are also outfits that have building courses or sell design packages and kits for rowing wherries and Adirondack guide boats, both of which have a snubbed stern upon which an electric trolling motor could be mounted.
This company also has a range of wooden kits and plans including fishing boats:
With all due respect, I really don’t think there is apt to be much demand for what you are describing. The “fish-shaped” design of a kayak is intended for efficient propulsion by a paddler sitting mid-hull. It is not a design that is effective for propulsion by a rear mounted motor. If, as it seems, you mainly intend to use the craft as a motorized fishing boat, why not build a strip built model specifically designed for that purpose, like the offerings of some of the makers I suggested above?
You may get some ideas for an alternative by checking out the wood-framed lightweight skin boats that Brian Schulz of Cape Falcon Kayaks has designed. He recently came up with a skin-on-frame fishing canoe that can be propelled by a removable foot-operated pedal drive (like those in Hobie plastic fishing kayaks) . His boats are beautiful and practical, as well as lightweight. He just got back from an extended fishing trip to Baja and posted videos of the performance of the pedal drive boat on his Facebook profile. They are also viewable on his website capefalconkayaks.com Here is a link to the pedal drive skin on frame fishing canoe:
He has many videos showing how the skin on frame boats are built. I have one of the Greenland replica kayaks built this way and it is tough, light and (I think) quite beautiful. The translucent epoxy coated fabric hulls glow in the light. My boat always attracts admiring attention when I take it out. And being as it only weighs 31 pounds (at 18’ long) it is easy for 74 year old me to lift onto my roof rack and carry to the launch.
SKin on frame boats are faster to build than a strip built as well, and because you can wrap the frame temporarily with heavy stretch wrap to test the boat before the final skin is stitched over it, it is a good method for trial and error in designing a boat. Modifications can be made to the frame before the final skinning and tests repeated until the desired performance is achieved.