Skin on Frame solo canoe build, Day 1

Skin on Frame solo canoe, Day 1) 4hrs.
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Turning my focus away from kayaks for a while, I started work today on a new full-size solo canoe. I’m using the building system that I invented a couple years ago to create pack canoes, which relies on math and measurements rather than building over a canoe mold as is commonly seen. The advantages of this system is that it’s much faster, much less expensive, and I think does a better job of resisting the hogging effect commonly seen in skin on frame canoes. The canoes can also be sailed, catamaraned, or nested like Russian dolls.
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The disadvantages are that it doesn’t work very well for deep canoes or canoes with a lot of tumblehome and it relies on having really good steam bending wood although one student did surprise me by doing a beautiful job with kiln dried white oak soaked in water and fabric softener.
.
The building system is interesting because it’s not any particular canoe but rather a predictable way to build any canoe you want within the aforementioned limitations.
.
In 2018 I built 13 double paddle canoes and felt like by the end of it I had a pretty solid understanding of pack canoe design before turning my sights to a building few larger canoes before my focus was needed elsewhere for a year.
.
Realizing that it was literally impossible for me to personally build every possible variation that could be produced with the system, I decided release the new building system as a beta version and since then we’ve put over a hundred of these on the water and I’ve gotten a lot of valuable feedback from students.
.
So now here in 2020 it’s time to incorporate that feedback into a new batch of boats and then update the building course and our canoe design recommendations.
.
I’m starting out with a 30 inch wide 14‘8“ long 12 inch deep solo canoe. Today I cut the various long pieces and laminated the gunwales.
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Skin on Frame solo canoe, Day 1. Build time: 4hrs.

Turning my focus away from kayaks for a while, I started work today on a new full-size solo canoe. I’m using the building system that I invented a couple years ago to create pack canoes, which relies on math and measurements rather than building over a canoe mold as is commonly seen. The advantages of this system is that it’s much faster, much less expensive, and I think does a better job of resisting the hogging effect commonly seen in skin on frame canoes. The canoes can also be sailed, catamaraned, or nested like Russian dolls.

The disadvantages are that it doesn’t work very well for deep canoes or canoes with a lot of tumblehome and it relies on having really good steam bending wood although one student did surprise me by doing a beautiful job with kiln dried white oak soaked in water and fabric softener.

The building system is interesting because it’s not any particular canoe but rather a predictable way to build any canoe you want within the aforementioned limitations.

In 2018 I built 13 double paddle canoes and felt like by the end of it I had a pretty solid understanding of pack canoe design before turning my sights to a building few larger canoes before my focus was needed elsewhere for a year.

Realizing that it was literally impossible for me to personally build every possible variation that could be produced with the system, I decided release the new building system as a beta version and since then we’ve put over a hundred of these on the water and I’ve gotten a lot of valuable feedback from students.

So now here in 2020 it’s time to incorporate that feedback into a new batch of boats and then update the building course and our canoe design recommendations.

I’m starting out with a 30 inch wide 14‘8“ long 12 inch deep solo canoe. Today I cut the various long pieces and laminated the gunwales.