The Canoe Shop: Three Elegant Wooden Canoes Anyone Can Build (INTERNATIONAL MARINE-RMP)

This book is for people interested in building their own wooden canadian-style canoes. It is not a general purpose introduction, but gives plans for 3 variations on one classic, elegant, yet light-weight design. The author has produced a revolutionary method for construction of lapstrake canoes which is based on the stitch and glue method applied to chine boats. The three variations are a 12' solo canoe, a 14' solo explorer / 2 person day-tripper and a 16' two person design. All the necessary techniques are clearly explained and plans for lofting dimensions provided with lists of building materials.The canoes can be built totally from scratch, or pre-cut kits can be obtained from CLC in the States or Fyne Boats in the UK.I certainly intend to attempt to build the Sasafras 14' from this book.

An easy to read book with clearly explained content. It looses one star because (in common with pretty much every other similar sort of book published in the USA) the photographs, of which there are many, are low quality black and white images and while that might be understandable in a book from the 1970s there is really no excuse in the 21st century. The other star goes because the it is stretching things a bit to say the book describes 3 canoes to build. It actually describes building 1 design of canoe in 3 sizes.

interesting enough

This book is great. Very inspiring and the moment I picked it up I just wanted to start building. I think the layout of the book is very logical and well written from a builders point of view with lots of hints and tips and what appears to be very good guidance. Of course the proof is in the pudding and I will have to get on and start building to actually tell if it is any good or not. You would easily spend the same money shopping for just one of the plans of any of the three canoes included in this book.Cost of the build is not really covered, I guess it will change from year to year and from supplier to supplier. A new fiberglass or plastic canoe for the family will start around £450+. Using this book you will get something far more durable and (depending on how you finish it) classy for less than £300. Be warned, good Marine ply is not cheap.

A great book for the first time boat builder with all the information you need from buying the wood and tools through to finishing the canoe. There are detailed instructions and tips on each stage of the build. I have Chris Kulczycki's other book on building kayaks which is equally as good. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to build their own canoe even if you are buying the plans elsewhere. The plans in this book are obviously not full size, so you will have to re draw them to get the full size workable plan, you could measure out the planks strait from the book if you wanted. The plans are for the same canoe shown on the front in three different sizes, 12, 14 and 16ft. 10/10 for this book and an interesting read even if you don't go ahead with a build.

The book has all the information I required.It was delivered promptly within the stated time frame (I think it would have been even quicker had it not been Christmas time).