Plans Back to the home page
I have always tried to get families to develop their own plans for the boats they make on our canoe building weekends, as you will see in the reports on the previous weekends we have run.
However, we have made a few canoes which were copies of an old canoe a student of mine had, and gradually adapted the shapes of the panels until we have developed a simple 5 panel canoe which in theory should only take a weekend to build.
During this process I was in contact with a number of companies which produce plans. The most helpful of these was Jem Water Craft, who publish a free plan. I discussed my requirements with Matt, at Jem, who agreed to adapt one of his plans. I bought a set of full sized patterns from him in February. We built the first 2 of these boats in April 06, and are delighted with them. They are delightful boats, stable and steady but light and responsive, and they have huge capacity ( we've had 2 adults and 2 teenagers in one today, the room and freeboard to spare for more passengers, but they behave beautifully when paddled solo. See photos.
You can see the plans for the Jem Iroquois here.
Other suitable canoe plans are available from other designers, but having studied all of these, I am convinced that the only design capable of being built in a weekend is the Iroquois. Here is Thomas, ( dressed as a hobbit!) cutting out the templates
Be aware that most plans for canoes are not full sized patterns, but simply scale drawings which contain detailed instructions for "lofting" the plans to full size. This process is not a difficult one, but it is time consuming, and potentially you could make errors. One exception is
Mulamut the only full sized plans available in the UK
Dennis Davis: below is a picture of one of the canoes Dennis has designed, or see his DD19 on the sea
Free plans and some great ideas for boats from just one sheet of ply are to be found on Hannu's Boatyard..
Other canoe plans worth considering are the Wren from Selway Fisher. My very first canoe, in 1993, was a Selway Fisher Beaver, still going strong.
Other plans to give you ideas:
Kits: Ottersports have been making kits for many years, these sell for about £400 and are a good buy if you've never built a canoe before, they make a lovely shaped canoe..
Other plans Back to the home page
Canoe Building courses in Kansas