The St. Lawrence River Skiff is a traditional double-ended rowing boat, developed in the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River, which divides northern New York state from southern Canada. Starting in the mid-1800s, these boats were originally used for work and transport by the local residents, and later became popular as guide boats, carrying visiting sportsmen on hunting and fishing trips. The dimensions of the skiffs were generally between 40 and 44 inches wide and 15 to 22 feet long. Swift under oar and surprisingly seaworthy, St. Lawrence Skiffs were often raced and sometimes fitted with sails.

The Sheldon Skiff

Cape Falcon Kayak’s skiff design is based on a boat built by second-generation Massachusetts boat builder Oren Sheldon in the late 1800s. Although he was not a St. Lawrence region builder, he built many St. Lawrence River Skiffs. The lines I used in developing our design are from a Sheldon skiff that is part of the Mystic Seaport collection. At 14′-10″ long and 38 inches wide, it’s one of the smallest known St. Lawrence Skiffs. Interestingly, the original size of this boat is nearly identical in volume and performance to one of my all-time favorite boats, a modified Adirondack Guideboat of similar dimensions that I built many years ago.

The Cape Falcon Kayak version:

I chose the Sheldon Skiff as the starting point for our skin-on-frame design because the lessened dead rise and fuller section in the center allow this boat to operate in shallower water, increasing its usefulness without sacrificing performance, while also making it compatible with our Pedal Drive Adapter System. Additionally, the small size is easily scalable, stretchable, and “squishable”, which allows us to offer this boat in a wide variety of sizes and configurations to meet the needs of various users. Depending on size and materials used, our skiffs typically weigh between 60 and 80 pounds.