I keep thinking of Nessmuk and his 10 pound Rushton-built custom canoes. Sure, he was tiny and they were short. But we still have plenty of tiny people out there. And puddle jumping loves a short boat. Is anyone producing or custom making 10-lb boats today? A quick google shows me a 15-lb Nessmuk-inspired kit boat. But that’s almost twice the weight of his boats! Ha. With all our modern materials? I think his boats were GOOD. So i dont mean a freak goofball project. I mean something that really fits the needs and desire of somebody. I don’t mind fragility. The result just has to make sense.
I see it’s Guillemot that offers that 15-lb 10-ft Nessmuk kit. I suppose he has to make sure the result is NOT fragile. And if anyone offered a custom boat that WAS fragile then they’d have liability. Unless they said “screw it,” which they should. There’s a place for a Show Boat. I mean, a builder cd make one for themselves. But if anyone saw it they’d want one and start bribing… Anyway. It just seems like ppl cd be building 10-lb boats out there! With modern fabrics – like Cuben cloth – the result might even be strong and longer, 12-14 ft. ?
I really appreciate my early Advantage. Thin fragile wood gunnels. Weighs about 26 lbs, I’d guess. (I forget.) But it’s actually really big and long. 16.5 ft no rocker. Early racing C1. …I could see a 12-footer w rocker being nice for tiny twisting streams…
The only guy I know making creative boats around here is 6’4" and 240…
Maybe we need to keep in mind all the wonderful lessons we’ve learned from airplane and snowshoe building… And give some props to Platt Monfort! And his Geodesic Boats. https://gaboats.com. He’s using heavy old Dacron. Why not sweet new Cuben?