strip Canoe

[John Rulfs]

I am interested in building a strip canoe, However all that I see on the internet so far are for sixteen foot or longer. Does anyone know od plans that are for a shorter canoe?
Thank you for any help. :confused:

[alteran]

Solo or tandem?

[John Rulfs]

I am not sure?
I am toying with the idea of building canoes for resale more then using them myself.

[alteran]

There are some here that can give you advice on making them for sale better than I can but I can tell you a little. A friend of mine built 175 or so and sold them. Beautiful works of art. Top quality. If he made more than $15 an hour I would be surprised. And that figures no overhead expense for the shop. I don't think he made many without an order in hand before starting.
Another guy who makes some said this, "If I hustle I can make 2 a month. The problem is SELLING 2 a month."

A neighbor is making a few but as he says, " I'm just making a little beer money".

I can think of some other things you should know before you do this but it depends on your intentions.

Can you be more specific in what you think you want to do? Have you researched the market for them in your area?

[Doug Canada]

Greeings,
check out the "Osprey" at http://www.greenval.com/
"Freedom 15" and "Bob Special" at http://www.bearmountainboats.com/
Not sure of the one here http://www.northwestcanoe.com/
"38 Special" http://users.pandora.be/kano-kayak/

Doug

[FG]

Gilpatrick's puddle duck at 14 feet as well. Do not skimp on the forms and strongback!!!! You could probably make more building paddles.

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

In paddleboats a longer waterline is a desirable feature. More glide for your effort,a bit more speed for those so inclined, better carrying capacity, stability, and way better tracking.
Short boats tend to be for solo use which most folks aren't interested in. Also, short boats cannot haul any of the many "supersized" Americans. Why limit your market to the skinney?
Charlie

[Sailman58]

Let's not forget Mac McCarthy's Wee Lassie and Wee Lassie II.

[Steve Lansdowne]

Iain Oughtred's Wee Rob and Ted Moores' Rob Roy (and several other designs that he sells) and Harry Bryan's Fiddlehead are all shorter double paddle canoes. Iain's and Ted's designs can be built cedar strip. Pygmy Boats and CLC make marine plywood kit boats that include both canoes and kayaks. There is interest, judging from the web, in building these for one's own use, but the much cheaper "plastic" canoes and kayaks are more readily affordable for many folks who aren't interested in building a boat themselves but are interested in being on the water. I'd be surprised if there is much of a market for making these to sell at a sufficient profit to make a living at it. Some of the "masters" such as Ted Moores do, but he does much more than build canoes. You might check out Ted's site's bulletin board, www.bearmountainboats.com, (http://www.bearmountainboats.com,) for more information on this topic.

[ 12-21-2004, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: Steve Lansdowne ]

[NormMessinger]

I got line drewings for several canoes from The Adarondak Museum from a 10 1/2 foot Wee Lassie, Rushton I think, on up. Made templates for the Wee Lassie and built the canoe using technique and fitting out form the appropraite books. I chose to make this canoe glued lapstrake but I could just have easily make a stripper on the same template. Close enough, no?

[Dan Miller]

Visit here http://www.wcha.org/tidbits/plans.htm for a large, yet incomplete, list of plans that are available.

I know several professional strip canoe builders, very few of them can build full time and make a go of it, most do significant numbers of restorations. If you are building for friends and family, you should have no problem, but if you want to do it at a commercial level and be successful, you will need to be at the very top with respect to quality of construction, appearance, glass work, etc. You will also need to be conversant in how your canoes perform with respect to other similar ones in the market (not just wood, but also aluminum, plastic, glass and kevlar). Strippers are the simplest, most accessible, and widely promoted form of canoe building, so you will be competing not only with commercial builders, but the vast majority of backyard canoe builders as well...

Where in upstate NY are you? I am near Troy - feel free to contact me if you want to discuss this further.

Cheers,
Dan Miller
Dragonfly Canoe Works (dragonflycanoe.com)