JEM Watercraft

Are there any pictures of this finished boat? Has anyone built this and have comments on how it paddles both solo and tandem? I have searched the net over and I figure this will probably suit my needs and be a relatively easy build. I have seen other plans/kits with many panels that don't have that hard chine look. What are the advantages/disadvantages of more panels ie pygmy Taiga. I'm not considering this boat (to big) just using the type as an example. Are there seats in the plans? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

There's a Boy Scout Troop in WI that is building 4 of them. But no photos from them yet. I think they are not starting assembly until March or so. Pretty chilly up in northern WI this time of year! I used to live there.

No other photos that I'm aware of.

Paddling as a solo might be kind of tough if you don't have a good stroke. It's a little wide to sit in the middle and paddle but should be ok if you sit aft and counter weight the front. It's really made to be a tandem.

One issue that may arrise with a canoe the style of the Merrimac is that waves coming from the side might have a tendency to rock the boat because the tumble home starts close to the waterline. But it would have to be some pretty choppy soup on open water. Generally it'll roll over any wake. On a river it could be an issue if you run it hard through Class II (It'll do ok on the occassional Class II if you just try to run through it and not get fancy) or above. But this one not designed for whitewater. Some white water kayaks have hard chines so you can carve the waves and do turns and spins. But those boats are only 5-8 feet long at most.

More panels let you refine the look and performance (if designed properly). But harder to build. Mutli panels are generally a more rounded shape and will roll over waves and current better because there is less edge for the water to "grab".

I have 2 multi panel designs in the works: The redesign of the Zephryus and a 50/50 (sail and paddle) canoe.

No seat plans yet. Easiest way to go is building the canoe, then taking it out with out seats and some buckets to try different heights to see where it's most comfortable. Then construct seats from there. I have a few suggestions in this post: viewtopic.php?t=35

I'm working on a tractor style seat made from fiberglass. But that's still in develoment.

Matt
Where can I get cane seats shown on your link. I need some seats like that for the canoe I am building.

Let me look into this. Maybe I carry them in my store for a decent price. They would be drop-shipped from the manufacturer I think.

I'll post an update.

We now offer canoe seats in our online store:

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/products.php?cat=17

Matt,

Seats look great good price too! What king of wood is frame and what is a mounting kit?

Frames are ash. The mounting kit is hardware to attach it to the gunnels if you don't want to glue them into place.

Matt,

Are the seat sizes for the webbed seats the same as the cane seats i.e. 12" wide for the 34" and 16" wide for the 40"?

You get a little more "webbed" area because the webbing goes over the frame instead of routered into a groove.

But the frames are the same for the cane and web versions.