I like skin on frame construction because it’s the only type of boat building where it’s practical to be an experimental designer. I can build something, try it, and then build another one the next week and try that, and then build another one two weeks later, until eventually I build some thing that I actually like to paddle.
While trying to figure out how much tumblehome I could safely add to this latest canoe we took it down to the water and I squeezed the boat into different shapes with cam straps (more than a little nervous I was going to break the ribs with the cam strap!) to judge the different effects on performance.
When I found what seemed like the right balance for me I measured the width of the canoe and marked the seat location, and then Liz leaned over the edge of the dock to take the water line widths with a tape measure at various points along the hull.
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