Electric Canoe – Joe’s family picnic on the Snohomish River

I almost always eventually get stories and photos that bear out my design vision for a boat.

Here, a boat that is low cost in every way but no less useful because of it.

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Here we have a picnic day with the Koenecke famil – two adults and one teenager and a small fluffy dog and food and chairs on a boat that is cheap because

  1. Takes a cheap electric trollng motor – much cheaper than an outboard
  2. Goes on the car roof – so no trailer, registration etc
  3. Has reasonable performance under this sort of weight – about 7mph
  4. Builds cheaply from three sheets of exterior plywood.

The mathematics of economy work because this cargo canoe is light and slender and designed to be low drag.

No trailer, no fuel, no special tool, materials from a big box store a couple of weekends and go

Put the same weight in a much heavier aluminium dinghy and see how the trolling motor goes!  And the worse the conditions the better the Quick Canoe Electric will cover ground relative to a fatter boat.

From Joe, the owner/builder.

Very stable, very practical, light weight, and easy to build. And relitively inexpensive to build, too. Can be modified in various ways (use your imagination, but ask the designer for his advice first!). And fast with trolling motor and under sail (a modification we made with some advice from Michael). Car-top-able, but takes some practice to do alone. All in all, a great little boat!

So to the Snohomish.  The Quick Canoe looks like this.  Its slenderness, light weight and carefully designed rocker give it efficient performance at design speeds of 5 to 9mph (though some go a little faster).

QUick canoe electric ... no gas, no trailer, two can carry it. Electric trolling motor

The banks of the Snohomish are resting place for many interesting boats.  A tugboat someone is living aboard.

tugboat on the snohomish. a photo from the electric canoe

It’s name is …

Tug

“Popcorn” sees something!

Electric trolling motor powered boat DIY ... family picnic.

But also there is something … UP!

Three people and picnic gear and one fluffy dog doing a daytrip on an electric canoe

A Vietnam era river Patrol Boat (someone correct me in the comments if I am wrong)

Photography on the river with a blackberry phone. Vietnam era river patrol boat

Bigger Tugboat

big tugboat on river cruise in electric canoe - diy roofrackable utility boat

They stopped heading down the river here as there were no facilities for the ladies beyond.

A picnic in an electric boat - not all electric boats are expensive! Keep it simple and they are cheap.

And then home.  “Popcorn” might be considering the facilities available too … or testing his land legs. Light bouncing off the side of this cargo canoe.

Three people and a dog spend a day travelling around the Snohomish Estuary looking at boats and picnicing.

A nice day in a simple and cheap boat. A cargo canoe with happy cargo.

Plans information is here Quick Canoe Electric  There is also a similarly simple paddling version.

More articles on the Electric Quick Canoe.

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3 thoughts on “Electric Canoe – Joe’s family picnic on the Snohomish River”

  1. I am guessing this is in Everett WA, on steambout slough, you get there by taking the Hiway 2 exit from I-5 in Everett, then exiting on the island, have canoed there about 25 yrs ago.

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