Canoes & Kayaks
CANOE AND KAYAK BUILDING THE LIGHT AND EASY WAY, International Marine, McGraw-Hill Publishers, is now available through bookstores, outfitters, and many online book sellers like Barnes and Noble:
Sam Rizzetta at Barnes and Noble
I occasionally modify, design, and build light weight canoes and kayaks, and I’ve developed a convenient way of building them in Kevlar, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. It is a convenient method for laminating a canoe or kayak hull that is ideal for do-it-yourself, at home construction. The Kevlar, carbon, or fiberglass hull is laminated over a temporary fabric and wood skeleton form which greatly lowers cost and building time compared to making conventional molds. If you have tools and a space to work, you can make a high tech, safe, ultra light canoe. Many of the photos in the book show building Wasp and Kayoo, the decked canoes pictured below. The book also contains valuable flotation information that can be used to improve the safety of any canoe and most recreational kayaks.
The personal responses that I’ve gotten to the book have all been very positive. However, some online reviewers apparently misunderstood what the book is about. So let me clarify that here. This book provides a method for do-it-yourself building at home. It is NOT about commercial mass production methods. It is about building with ultra light composites like Kevlar and NOT about wooden boats. It is NOT about skin-on-frame boat construction. A special type of skin-on-frame form is used, but that skin and frame are NOT part of the finished boat. As the title suggests, it is about canoes and kayaks, NOT how to build “boats” in general. And, as listed on the front cover, there are plans for two canoes and a kayak (or decked canoe), NOT plans for every type of boat or every type of canoe or kayak. I build and paddle small solo canoes and recreational kayaks and I limit the book to those. However, there is clear information on how to modify my designs to your own needs and how to use my building method with plans for other canoe and kayak designs from other sources. The book is primarily about the method, which creative individuals might apply to a wider range of projects.
One reviewer stated that my methods and designs will not work. Oh really? Anyone is welcome to try paddling my personal examples, some of which have endured many years of wilderness use.
The most important part of the book is on safety flotation, a feature that some reviewers have ignored. It would be a shame if people who could benefit by this information are not made aware that it is available. There is more on the flotation system below.
Wasp on Antietam Creek in winter.
One of my most fun boat projects is a radical design for a safer and much more ergonomic solo canoe that I’ve experimented with and refined over the years. The design is called Wasp, because it combines flared bouyant ends with a narrow tumblehome waist which makes it easier to paddle. Paddle strokes can be made closer to the hull centerline to provide straight tracking. But it also turns on-a-dime. A pleasant cruise speed can be maintained without much effort due to a hull design that is surprisingly efficient below the waterline. Wasp is especially resistant to capsizing. And, with my flotation system installed, it can be easily re-entered after a capsize, making it much safer. The ergonomic features that provide a shorter reach to the water with the paddle also make Wasp especially nice for fishing. It is very responsive and easy to use for smaller paddlers but also has a large volume hull that easily carries heavy paddlers and lots of gear. The light weight Kevlar prototype has proven its efficiency, easy handling, and durability during several years of hard use on a wide variety of waters.
KAYOO in the Boundary Waters.
Kayoo is a decked canoe/kayak with a built-in self-rescue flotation system.
Plans for both Wasp and Kayoo are included in the canoe building book. There are also plans for a small, 11′ 7″, ultra light weight, and very simple to build canoe design called Dragonfly. And there are chapters on making paddles, making kayaks and decked boats, and on making a scale model canoe.
A most important feature of the book is my flotation system. A recent study shows that most fatalities in canoes and kayaks are the result of capsizing. My flotation system provides stability to a flooded canoe or kayak. It helps prevent capsizing and allows a solo paddler to re-enter a capsized boat from deep water without any assistance, special equipment, or training. The flotation is light weight, easy to install, inexpensive, and has been tested on canoes and recreational kayaks 27 inches wide and wider. It is not an outrigger; the flotation goes inside the boat and does not interfere in any way with normal paddling performance. Boats used for camping still have plenty of room for camping gear. The flotation becomes effective and very helpful if a boat becomes flooded or swamped, or if it capsizes. The book describes how to outfit existing canoes and recreational kayaks and also how to incorporate the flotation while building a new boat.
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My next planned canoe design project is Dragonfly II, a modification of the 11′ 7″ Dragonfly canoe to include a partial deck for increased tumblehome and a redesigned wider and lower stern that will ease deep water re-entry and increase stability for larger paddlers. Target weight is 14 to 16 lbs. in Kevlar and carbon. I hope to build one this winter.
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CANOES AND KAYAKS FOR SALE
I have none available at this time.