Decked Canoe
Project started 05/15/01
Completed 07/21/01
Free Canoe plans from Bateau.com

Overall
I started this canoe to get acquainted with stitch and glue boat building. My goal was to complete this boat and then begin the Vagabond.

Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome of the boat. I'm not sure if it is a canoe, kayak or pirogue. Friends of mine are calling it a "canak" because of the decking and the kayak-like appearance.

My reasons for decking the canoe came about because I quickly reconized the limitations of the boat or rather how I would push the limitations. When I sat in the boat while constructing it I saw that it would sit very low to the water since it was only about 12" high (maybe more, but I forgot the measurements by now). I also know that I "foolishly" would want to take the boat out into the bays along the Jersey shore. Therefore I wanted it to be very positive.

As it turned out, the boat handles very well in rough, 1-2 foot seas and a strong wind. I've swamped it, bailed it out and continued on my way, all the while with whitecaps crashing around me. By the way, I don't recommend this.

Decking
The rear half of the boat is completely decked. It is broken up into 2 chambers. The stern-most chamber is filled with foam insulation (the pink stuff), empty plastic baby formula bottles (the least my newborn son could offer) and some 1/2 gallon milk jugs. This is all held together with "Great Stuff" expanding foam.

Note: drawings not to scale

I made 3 bulkheads: A, B & C. All three of the bulkheads were slightly bent into place. The 1/4" ply did it nicely. Also the bulkhead had a 9/16" of a camber (?) to it. I don't know the proper term for it. All I know is that I wanted the water to run off the sides of the decking. At the bow & stern, I did nothing as far a camber. The plywood decking bent nicely over these bulkheads and slope away from the cockpit giving a very "molded" finish.

Once the decking was applied, I was able to give it a very large radius to give it a production kayak feel.

Because I put a 1"x2" interior gunwale for the decking to be glued to this allowed for a deep cut to get the proper radius. It took some filler to make it fair. Within the cockpit of the boat, I put the gunwale in the interior. This has caused some drainage problems when putting the boat away for the day, but it isn't a big deal.

Note: Bulkhead B is also tilted to allow for a comfortable backrest. I took the boat for a 4 hour tour of the Long Island Sound which was a long haul and the boat was pretty comfortable, especially the backrest. I only wish that I had some foot braces for really digging in when paddling.

Mistakes
I made 2 major mistakes with the boat.

1. I did not use a wide enough spreader for the top of the boat. As a result the sides are very straight, almost perpendicular to the bottom. This has made the boat a little unstable. It doesn't flip over easily, but it rocks alot on the chines when I paddle using the 2-bladed paddle.

2. I used Interlux Brightside paint. I planned on using it on the Vagabond and I wanted to hone my technique on this boat. Interlux is made a few miles away from my house and is based in Union, New Jersey (within my county) so the prices for it are very reasonable around here. Much cheaper than Petit. My other choice was S3, but I felt that I wanted to stick to a local company.

What a mistake!!! The stuff is very difficult to work with because of the denatured alcohol that needs to be mixed with it. But also the smell was horrible. I did it outside on a dry day with a fan nearby, a respirator and the fumes were potent. Their Hi-Build primer was okay as far as the build part of it was concerned, but it just isn't worth the fumes.

I waited 10 days, most of which were 75-80 degrees and dry, but the bottom was still soft. I really scraped up the bottom. It now needs another coat of paint. I'll be using something along the lines of the System 3.

Contruction

Near final fairing of decked canoe.
Deck area is filled with floatation foam, Great Stuff, soda bottles, etc.
Stern decked area is broken into two watertight compartments (I hope!).
The one closest to the cockpit is hollow and will have an access cover installed.
The stern compartment is filled with the floatation stuff.

Daddy's little helper. Needs one more coat of epoxy & final fairing.
Only the bottom & chines were fiberglassed since this is just a "practice boat."
I expect some checking in the future, but I don't think that the captain of this boat will mind!

View looking towards the bow.
Edges of the cockpit were filled and rounded to give a more polished feeling.

The future captain of this vessel sits towards the bow.

Next >>