Quick canoe is a 16ft wooden canoe plan in three panels that can be built very fast – It looks like a classic canoe. It hs good stability with excellent weight carrying. It also paddles pretty well for a plywood canoe. The first one took 4.5 hours to build – but thats a Canadian woodworker. I took two weekends.
Assembly of the beautiful BETH Sailing Canoe. Photos of all the major stages.
Dennis, in Sydney, has been blitzing around in his beautifully built Beth sailing canoe for well over a decade. He now has to reluctantly let go of this lovely looking boat. It really is for experienced dinghy sailors, but is rewarding to sail and easier on the bod than a Laser!
A particularly beautiful BETH sailing Canoe Kanangra Launched in South Australia. Also some lug sail setup information
All our lug rig information on one page. We have seen the change from the balance lug being almost forgotten to becoming the predominant rig for small self built wooden boat. This was the situation a hundred years ago. We can still use the cheapness and effectiveness of this rig to create boats with very quick and pleasant sailing characteristic.
A collection of some of our fun projects. Often collaborations. Some turned into production designs and others gave us significant learning!
The AMAZING steam canoe project. I designed the hullshape and Roger Baker built it. Strip planked with American Oak trim. One of the most striking boats on the Lower Murray River – or anywhere!
By simplifying the design, you simplify the build. By eliminating or simplifying processes the build is further simplified. Examples that will make your boat simpler, lighter and better at what it is meant to do.
The story of how a financial success didn’t quite come off as a result of a natural disaster
How useful are Solar and Electric boats anyhow? The large Solar Electric Mundoo 3 was one of the more interesting projects I’ve been involved in. It was the brainchild of Robert Ayliffe, then at Duck Flat Wooden Boats and Ted Dexter. This liveaboard boat was featured on the cover of WoodenBoat magazine at the time and was a tremendous success for the owners who found it fitted their needs perfectly.
Peter McKenzie and his sons from Queensland Sunshine Coast built a standard Eureka paddling canoe.
Weight was the standard 44lbs. Peter’s email gives some nice tips.
They are very happy campers.
A 12lb canoe. The idea was to build a Rushton Wee Lassie in balsa strip with very light glass. The boat ended up being fairly durable despite not being interested in durability. As far as I was concerned I was going to be happy if it lasted a couple of years before being chucked into a dumpster somewhere. But five years later it was still beautiful despite good use.
Why are these plans FREE? Because I want people to know just how good correctly proportioned touring paddles can be. Most of the paddles sold commercially are based heavily on racing models, which are fine if you are in training and only want to go 500 metres.
Convert many Canoes, Kayaks and Small dinghies into sailboats with the addition of this one drop in rig. It supports both the mast and a leeboard. Everything can be removed except the mast step allowing the boat to remain uncluttered. I profile two owners who have had the same drop in rig on several different boats each. Sails are available too.
Buying plans in Australia has changed. Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Adelaide are no longer my plans agents. We have alternative arrangements for buying plans as books and plans as PDFs. Duck Flat are growing the Boat Restoration and Repair side of their business.
BETH sailing canoe is design #1. Light enough to cartop and at home in a club fleet of lasers. For mostly experienced dinghy sailors.
A whole bunch of strategies for lightweighting a plywood stitch and glue canoe. In this case a Storer Boat Plans Eureka Canoe. Standard build is around 44lbs. Ten lbs were saved to bring the weight down to 34 or 15k
Eureka Plywood Canoes are Light and very Pretty. They also paddle well. Standard build comes out around 45 to 50lbs. But weights of around 34lbs have been achieved with care. Stitch and glue method.
The finally famous Goat Island Skiff is the lightest and simplest 16ft sailing boat I could come up with. Simple to Build with Modern Performance. She will sail well and handle impeccably at all times with 4 adults and is fastest with one or two aboard. Plans are extremely detailed and there is an active community of builders on Facebook.
