Like every boatbuilding medium, skin on frame has advantages and disadvantages, but the ability to build rapidly and cheaply without forms or molds is a potent evolutionary force. When designing a new boat I start with a random stab at my goal, try it out, and then start chipping away anything extraneous.
It usually takes a half dozen or so prototypes to decide if an idea is worth pursuing, and a full dozen to really commit to a direction.
I’m always looking for the most direct route between the empty workshop and the experience I want to be having on the water. Simplicity in the build process is just as important to me as a utilitarian finished boat.
My F1 design shown here is the result of 15 years and over a thousand builds of steady development. The canoe I’m chasing it in is quite a bit younger, 3 years and maybe 150 boats total between me and my students.
Right now I’m working on a way to make this simple sail interchangeable between the kayak and the canoe and after that it’s back to slowly expanding the canoe building system into an ever widening array of shapes, sizes, and modifications. I’m still far from really understanding the most elegant interface between skin on frame construction and canoe design, but we’ll get there, eventually….
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