Project Information
Feb 26, 2010
In 2005 I toyed with the idea of making skin-on-frame (SOF) boats. My objective was to make them inexpensive and light but durable and easy to maintain. I used wood and other materials that I was able to scrounge. The only thing that I had to buy was the brass screws, glue, spar varnish and contact cement for this project.
Since I'd never built a boat before I started out by borrowing a book from the library on how to make a wooden strip canoe. I got some basic shapes and basically winged it on building my first boat with really no plans.
I built the framework using 5 bulkheads cut from cabinet grade 3/4 inch plywood with lightening holes. The keel piece was made from some hardwood scraps. I then made a basket of steamed maple that was about 3/16 inch thick and 3/4 inch wide. All the intersections were glued together. The gunwales were made from laminated 1/4 inch thick oak. The breast hooks (or decks at either end) were made of laminated walnut, maple and cherry. Once the frame work was done it was given several coats of spar varnish.
The frame was then covered with 3 layers of Tyvek Homewrap. The first layer was attached with contact cement to the frame work with the printing facing out. The next two layers were applied with contact cement with the printing facing the previous layer. Due to the complex shape of the hull, each piece of tyvek was no wider than 18 inches and subsequent layers were overlapped by about 2 inches. The pieces were applied from the back of the canoe progressing towards the bow.
After all the Tyvek was applied, The outer gunwale was applied after being varnished. The floor boards were made to be removable so that the weight of the canoe to the water would be kept to a minimum.
The seat frames were made out of cherry and then hand caned when finished. The front seat is fixed and the rear seat is adjustable to be able to trim the canoe if 1 or 2 people were in the canoe.
The paddles were made from laminated maple, cherry and walnut. Several paddles were made as experiments. Two can be seen in one of the pictures. They were finished with spar varnish.
This effort took about 10 months of spare time. The result was a 12 foot canoe with a 32 inch beam that weighs only 48 pounds empty - without the floorboards or adjustable rear seat.
!
It is a great fishing boat. It tracks fairly straight. Because of it's weight, it's faster than a 15 foot aluminum canoe. I've caught several fish out of it. It will hold 2 adults but then it slows down a bit.
Hope you all enjoyed the description and the pictures and I welcome any and all comments.
In 2005 I toyed with the idea of making skin-on-frame (SOF) boats. My objective was to make them inexpensive and light but durable and easy to maintain. I used wood and other materials that I was able to scrounge. The only thing that I had to buy was the brass screws, glue, spar varnish and contact cement for this project.
Since I'd never built a boat before I started out by borrowing a book from the library on how to make a wooden strip canoe. I got some basic shapes and basically winged it on building my first boat with really no plans.
I built the framework using 5 bulkheads cut from cabinet grade 3/4 inch plywood with lightening holes. The keel piece was made from some hardwood scraps. I then made a basket of steamed maple that was about 3/16 inch thick and 3/4 inch wide. All the intersections were glued together. The gunwales were made from laminated 1/4 inch thick oak. The breast hooks (or decks at either end) were made of laminated walnut, maple and cherry. Once the frame work was done it was given several coats of spar varnish.
The frame was then covered with 3 layers of Tyvek Homewrap. The first layer was attached with contact cement to the frame work with the printing facing out. The next two layers were applied with contact cement with the printing facing the previous layer. Due to the complex shape of the hull, each piece of tyvek was no wider than 18 inches and subsequent layers were overlapped by about 2 inches. The pieces were applied from the back of the canoe progressing towards the bow.
After all the Tyvek was applied, The outer gunwale was applied after being varnished. The floor boards were made to be removable so that the weight of the canoe to the water would be kept to a minimum.
The seat frames were made out of cherry and then hand caned when finished. The front seat is fixed and the rear seat is adjustable to be able to trim the canoe if 1 or 2 people were in the canoe.
The paddles were made from laminated maple, cherry and walnut. Several paddles were made as experiments. Two can be seen in one of the pictures. They were finished with spar varnish.
This effort took about 10 months of spare time. The result was a 12 foot canoe with a 32 inch beam that weighs only 48 pounds empty - without the floorboards or adjustable rear seat.
!
It is a great fishing boat. It tracks fairly straight. Because of it's weight, it's faster than a 15 foot aluminum canoe. I've caught several fish out of it. It will hold 2 adults but then it slows down a bit.
Hope you all enjoyed the description and the pictures and I welcome any and all comments.