Eureka 155 Canoe Plans, Pretty and Lightweight Tourer

The Eureka 155 Canoe lightweight plywood canoe from plan on grass by the rive

The Eureka 155 Canoe is a lightweight plywood canoe from plan half the weight of an average fibreglass canoe with much better handling.

It goes a long way with modest effort and tracks well when the waves and wind are up.

Eureka Classic Canoes:

Eureka canoes: storerboatplans.com
  • Simple to Build – Stitch and Glue
  • Great Paddling Boats
  • 1/2 the weight of most fibreglass Canoes
  • Step by step instructions and many illustrations
  • Beautiful

Eureka Canoe Specifications

Eureka plywood canoe with two largish crew - storer boat plans

Length – 15’6″ (4.73m)
Beam – 34″ (0.86m)
Weight – 44lbs (20kg) – Gaboon (Okoume) Ply
Weights of 34lbs are achievable (15.5kg)

Read this page for the Plan and boat Information
All our articles about the Eureka – building details, construction methods, making a paddle, Videos
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Design Process for the Eureka Canoes – an easy lightweight canoe kit for the Japanese Market

Eureka lightweight easy to build plywood canoe: storerboatplans.com

The Eureka Plywood Canoes are the result of a collaboration between Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Adelaide and Storer Boat Plans. A Japanese partner wanted a lightweight canoe that was  not over 13ft long to sell as a boat kit in Japan.

The hopeful business idea didn’t work out because the Osaka earthquake wiped out our partner.

Duck Flat and I developed the smaller Eureka over several prototypes to produce the best mix of performance, light weight, good looks. And, most importantly for a kit to be exported to Japan, to be foolproof in assembly.

The 15.5 is built stitch and glue. The smaller boat 13ft was not sufficiently stable with adults. As a result we discontinued the smaller plywood canoe plans.

We developed the longer Eureka 155 (our stock classic canoe plan) from the of the smaller boat. So Stability is improved without creating a too blunt shape. This Produces a boat more suitable for long distance travelling or carrying a load.

The larger boat is well considered by experienced canoeists – review

Eureka lightweight easy to build plywood canoe: storerboatplans.com

We have several videos of the Eureka and Quick Canoes on youtube.

Two canoes. Simple and Classic. How to choose. storerboatplans.com

Click here to go to my Canoe comparison page

To help you choose the best boat for your needs

Eureka lightweight easy to build plywood canoe: storerboatplans.com

The building process for the Eureka Plywood Canoes

The EUREKA plywood canoe hullshapes are computer generated which allows much greater freedom in shape than traditional manual methods.

KödSárkány /Eureka 155/

Video image can take a moment to load.

The Eureka canoes are built slightly differently from most stitch and glue canoe plan (though the method has become standard in the last 20 years or so :) )

The two assemblies for the Eureka plywood canoe stitched and ready to be joined up - storer boat plans

First step is for Bilge panels fitted to the bottom panel. Then the topside panels set the correct width using temporary spreaders. Then the two assemblies are stitched together. Plastic cable ties in the low stress areas but change over to the traditional copper wire ties in the ends of the boat where the stresses are greater. Resulting in a lightweight canoe structure.

The two assemblies for the Eureka plywood canoe stitchedand now joining up - storer boat plans
Eureka Canoe assembly of bottom and top components. stitch and glue canoe. storerboatplans.com

Then the hull is filleted and/or glass taped together. After this fit the Gunwales, inwales, end decks and buoyancy tanks, seats, and spreader bars.

classic beautiful Eureka canoe with full load on cruise - storer boat plywood canoe plan

Light Weight Plywood Canoe is half the weight of a fibreglass boat

The boat pictured below came in at 15.5kg (34lbs) finished with a lot of effort made to keep the weight down – 3mm (1/8″) ply instead of the 6mm specified. Additionally weight is stripped using lightweight fibreglass on the bottom, use of selected lightweight timbers for the trim and those really cool lightweight seats.  A boat built to the normal specifications tends to come in a bit over the 43lb mark.  Plywood canoe plans targeted at half the weight of a ‘glass boat. And with effort – 1/3.

How to lightweight a canoe: Eureka lightweight easy to build plywood canoe: storerboatplans.com

Reports of the first Eureka wooden canoe show it to be much easier to paddle than the usual plywood canoe, and indeed much better than most production glass hulls. In effect greatly reducing the effort required from the paddlers when covering longer distance.

Filleting bulkhead - detail from Eureka lightweight plywood canoe plans: storerboatplans.com


The other major bit of feedback is on the appearance – the EUREKA 155 is a very handsome lightweight canoe – quite unusual for the average plywood boatbuilding project.

White Eureka stitch and glue lightweight canoe. plywood canoe plans storerboatplans.com

Basic Materials – Eureka 155 stitch and glue plywood canoe plans

  • 2 sheets plywood for hull
  • an extra half sheet for enddecks and bulkheads is required if wanting to fit buoyancy tanks
  • 3 Litres Epoxy
  • Fibreglass Tape 50mm x 39m – 2″ x  128ft

LINKS for  more Eureka Plywood Canoe Plans information

The Eureka is a nice classic canoe – For a simpler cheaper canoe look at our Quick Canoe

10 thoughts on “Eureka 155 Canoe Plans, Pretty and Lightweight Tourer”

  1. Hi,
    I’m hoping to build this canoe and store it from the ceiling in my garage. I currently only have 15 inches of clearance between the garage door when it’s open and the ceiling. Is this enough space?

    Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Michael,
    Thanks for the offer to e-mail the drawing. I haven’t received it, so kindly resend it and hopefully it will get through. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Sent again. A weird email problem. If it doesn’t work contact me directly with an alternative email address. It could be being filtered out somewhere on the way to the first email address.

      Reply
  3. Do you have a midship cross section drawing for the Eureka 155? I find that with stitch and glue construction, a midship building jig simplifies the whole process of avoiding twist. Even if you can provide the top plank angle from vertical, I can work out the jig shape. Thanks.

    Reply
  4. Hi, I just bought the Eureka 155 plan.
    Perhaps you have a good video tutorial to suggest as the plan is not very beginner friendly.
    Also, you could have put the drawings on top of the plan so we can understand what you are talking about.
    37 pages for 2 plywood sheets and a few struts. :(

    Reply
    • More like 37 pages with 15 photos, 29 illustrations by an artist friend. And those “two sheets of ply and a few struts” build one of the lightest and nicest to handle plywood canoe that it is possible to build. It isn’t something that many people can do – and that is the value of the plan.

      To tell you the truth though, People do look in plans different ways – so sometimes a plan can work for most but be more difficult for some to follow. This doesn’t at all imply that those who don’t find it easy have any lack at all – just different ways of seeing and understanding. I try to cater for that by updating the plans when there are concerns.

      Perhaps if you are more specific about your question I can help more accurately.

      However there are some resources that may be useful.

      This is a video of a different canoe but covers the marking out and some of the other processes very nicely – just recently put up by one of my clients/friends. I put it first because it is so clear.
      Building the Quick Canoe.

      And here is the Eureka build specifically by Daniel in Uruguay.

      And a Eureka Canoe build in Hungary.

      I hope these help.

      Here are some other resources.

      Building the eureka canoe slideshow

      I have a good idea from you Ian – I will update the plan with these links included.

      But if you continue to have a problem please reply with a description of your concern.

      Best wishes
      Michael

      Reply

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