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Skin on frame canoe

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Feb 14, 2020
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Location
Goshen CT
The idea behind this canoe was something light enough to single carry solo on some trips, but enough capacity to carry two and stability to fish and deer hunt from on lakes. I was lucky enough to source green clear ash and pine locally. This is my first attempt at this style of building. No plans or forms- built to my eye and rough estimated dimensions- 15’ long and a 34” beam. 4”s of shear and 13”s of depth in the middle with little rocker or tumblehome. My plan is a flexible seating system that will accommodate oars like a guideboat, tandem paddling, and hopefully solo paddling, but I don’t think I will have a good idea of what possible/feasible till it’s in the water.
I am trying to avoid thwarts, but again we will see what happens.

Bob
 

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Pretty neat. I messed around with SOF a little bit quite a few years back. It's a neat way to build but it's not for me. Looks like you're doing nice work. I successfully built one kayak and unsuccessfully almost built one canoe.

I don't think you'll be able to get away without at least one thwart.

I'm also a little worried about the stability. That looks like a very round bottom. Maybe it's just the perspective.

Looking forward to seeing it with some skin on!

Alan
 
Very cool - I am just now cutting out the templates to put together a fuselage frame SOF kayak in my toasty warm basement (-27 Celsius in my garage last night so not much gonna happen on strip building there). Different beast than what you are building Bob, but always liked the idea of a SOF canoe and will follow any updates that you get a chance to post, especially on the skinning. Thanks.

Tony
 
Hi Tony- yes that’s chilly.... looking forward to seeing your project. I would love to have one of those in my collection. Thanks.

Bob
 
I agree- Brian Shultz knows his stuff. I was able to pick his brain a bit before I started- really nice guy. He gave me some good guidelines on size vs load and capacity. His system is impressive that it is so scalable and repeatable.

I really liked the idea of creating something of my own design- l compared lots of plans and what other folks have done. Hopefully mine floats...:)

It has been an enjoyable process. I hope you find time for yours.

Bob
 
I always wanted to make one and I really like what Brian Shultz did and how they look, Maybe one day!!
 
I’ve been toying with the idea of a SOF guideboat with carbon fiber over foam frames but haven’t pulled the trigger yet
 
That would be a very neat build, but mucho $$$$ I would think Stripperguy? Since following dogbrain's awesome decked canoe build I have been toying with a SOF variation, based on something called the Chuckanut, designed by Dave Gentry. Bought the plans, printed a 10% scaled down version to get the beam to about 28 inches, and if I find I like the whole SOF thing after my current kayak project I might give it a whirl next winter.

imagejpeg
 

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The frame reminds me of the canvas kayak, a local doctor would paddle our reservoir in.

It served him well. As I remember , it was just painted canvas.

Yours looks much nicer ! Looking forward to the finished product !


Jim
 
Hi Tony- more than I hoped for... I am a consummate over-builder. I can easily move it around with one hand, but I don't have a number. I would guess 30lbs? I am hoping to get some time to work out the seating this weekend and then waiting for some warmer weather to skin. Thanks for the support guys.

Bob
 
Fitting the seat. 9CE39030-F110-434F-BE04-24361BCC9710.jpegA04B7AC1-2FFE-4CCA-AD3F-2D954722C06E.jpeg
 

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The stems are whittled down. I ordered the skin and urethane a few days ago so hopefully skinning soon.
 

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It's moving right along Bob, and looking good. What type of skin are you going to use, polyester or nylon? I am a bit behind on my SOF build, but hope to have the frame done this week, and also waiting on the skin to arrive. Never done this before, so very interested in any insights you might have once you get to that point. Keep the posts coming.

Tony
 
Thanks guys. You and me both Tony! I hope it goes well. I went with 850 denier (9.0 oz) X-TRA Tuff Ballistic Nylon from a recommendation by the owner of skinboat.com, Corey. He answered a bunch of questions and gave me some tips. I imagine there will be some lessons learned after that I will pass along. The ice is off the lake near me so I am getting anxious to get it done.

Bob
 
Canoe is ready to skin. The materials are taking a while to get here from across the country, but no big deal. Had a helper in the shop.
 

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