After spending all of 2018 designing a new type of skin-on-frame canoe building system, it’s very cool to see the first on the water photos showing up.
My usual process for designing a class of boats is to work on it in my shop for about five years then release plans. It seems like somewhere around boat number 10 I can create something that’s not a total piece of crap, something decent around boat number 25, and I might even make something good by boat number 40.
For the new canoe system I decided to take a different approach and just get the basic system dialed in, and release a lower-priced beta version of the building course. This is giving me an army of prototypers to help evolve the designs and building system. I think it’s a fair trade, a half priced course for designs that are 90% solid and free course and plans to anyone who is willing to tackle a new variation.
So far it’s been working out pretty well. A few headaches and hassles but no major disasters. I would say the pack canoes are about 90% the solo canoes are about 75% good, and the tandems are in the high 60’s.
Thank you to everyone who has taken up the beta building challenge and is contributing to the evolution of these designs!
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