I’m thinking about building a stitch-n-glue prospector…any comments?
http://www.adventurecanoe.com/forum/topic/stitch-and-glue-canoe-plans-i-am-building-a-canoe
The other day I was reading an article on Nessmuking about stitch and glue canoe building. I always thought that plywood boats were just crappy craft built in garages and paddled by weird people who didn’t know any better. I mean why would you put something together out of plywood with a bunch of copper wire and cover it in fiberglass when you can go out and buy a perfectly good royalex canoe. I figured all the panels would create chines that would make it unstable or catch on things.
While all of this is probably true the desire to build some sort of craft is overwhelming. I’d love to build an ultralight airplane, electric car or something along those lines but I think the satisfaction of the build will come pretty easily in building a canoe.
So I emailed Eskimo Tom over at http://www.finewoodwatercraft.com and he sent me a huge PDF of canoes he has designed. The one that caught my eye had this description: Based on lines from Prospector Canoe Not yet finalized Max beam on waterline, lots of rocker and volume for given beam, Tumblehome above waterline, slight recurve in bow and stern.
Ah, the classic prospector. I have Nova Crafts 17’ derivation so why not come up with my own. Tom’s plans clearly stated “not yet finalized” so I thought I’d send him some of my suggestions for personalization.
I want a short solo boat with a 30” beam. Tom’s plans where for a 15’7” boat that was 14.67” deep amidships. I asked him to shorten it to 14’ and make it a bit deeper. I like to paddle solo with the boat healed over a bit and I’ve dipped a gunwale on the Nova Craft.
-James
Thats a good start
Offend all the people that know the answer! :-/
I always thought that plywood boats were just crappy craft built in garages and paddled by weird people who didn’t know any better. I mean why would you put something together out of plywood with a bunch of copper wire and cover it in fiberglass when you can go out and buy a perfectly good royalex canoe.
I am no expert but
since this is the internet, I will chime in. How heavy are you? Secondly what do you have in mind for the canoe. It sounds like it will be a slower canoe that turns well but would be quire susceptable to wind. You might want try some solo canoes before building one.
Before you try anything,
you might check out Pygmy Boat’s canoe kit at http://www.pygmyboats.com/mall/taiga.asp . It’s larger than what you are looking for, but if you are willing to humble yourself enough to undertake such strange boatbuilding behavior, you will need a boat with this length and beam for stability to handle your increased head size.
I did build an ultralight plane, and it was a satisfying experience - but so was the experience of building plywood/fiberglass S&G kayaks. For what it’s worth, some people thought me to be strange and weird for building the airplane; not so much for the kayaks. If this is a concern for you, lots of hobby shops carry doll house kits. You can build one inside and nobody has to know . . .
Not sure why that would offend.
You just want a chance to retype it for posterity?
You’re feeling touchy, too, like
makinwaves? I can’t see any reason why someone would feel offended by what James said.
None of it is “probably true.”
"paddled by weird people"
why would you say that?
what kind of comments are you soliciting
build it.
Ideally a shop space with steady or predictable temps is worth having. I saw this dialog on your site, you need steady temps for building it, not just for curing the epoxy. Your comment is like saying you can paint in a duststorm, just cover it with a tarp.
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Dennis - 11 minutes ago »
You’ll likely need some heat when it comes time for epoxy.
I saw a post on this somewhere…they covered the hull in a tarp and put an electric space heater underneath. Not ideal but it worked. This project may be put off until springtime anyway…just speculating here.
Building a boat
"Any man who wants to can produce a good boat. It takes some study, some practice and, of course, experience. The experience starts coming the minute you begin, and not one jot before. I sometimes hear the wail, “I have no experience.” Start. Start anything, and experience comes. Some say building a boat is one of man’s nobler efforts. Maybe so; it’s a lot of fun anyway. As one of my builder friends says, “Its only a boat; go ahead and build it.” If the first effort is a bit lumpy, so what? There will be another much less lumpy later on
Written by the late R.D. (Pete) Culler, in “Skiffs and Schooners” 1974
Pete’s words are what got me up and building.
Dave
Creeks
I usually stay away from lakes and other bodies of water affected by the wind. My paddling venues include small fast streams and rivers in the ozarks… slow and turny is good
-James
http://www.adventurecanoe.com
Built one
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2226231090087581313BCGwMR
Make sure your workspace has good lighting.
Invest in a good respirator – I like the 3M 7500.
Masking can prevent a lot of scraping.
Scraping beats sanding.
Use a sander with a vacuum connection, and a good filter on the vacuum.
Gunwales need a LOT of clamps.
Experience
I like that bit on experience. I think I will just order the plans and get some plywood and get to it. I’m sure I will glean plenty of experience along the way.
-James
http://www.adventurecanoe.com
Doll houses
I think I’m going to hold off until I have a daughter to build doll houses. That way if anyone comes over and sees it I’ll have an excuse.
-James
http://www.adventurecanoe.com
Offended?
I guess what I meant was previously I thought this…then when I considered it further I realized that it was actually a good idea.
Sorry for the ambiguity
-James
http://www.adventurecanoe.com
Don’t do it!
You will become obsessed with home built boats.If it is a little chilly out you will want to build. You will become drawn to lumber yards…
At least I am.
Which one you gonna build?
There is a Tiaga for sale on Hemlocks site under used/demo canoes. Dave has priced it approximately in line with his premium layup canoes. Not that you’ll necessarily get that quality of build on your first try, but a well built boat is a commodity.
And you will become a weirdo
Plywood
I’m having trouble finding marine plywood here in St. Louis. Does anyone have any suggestions?
-James
http://www.adventurecanoe.com