Best Family Canoe?

[Nigel]

G'day, can I ask for advice on choosing a plywood canoe to build please?

I am a moderately competant woodworker who has never built a boat before.

What I am looking for is a canoe that can carry two adults and 2 small children (ages 5 and for use in sheltered waters such as lakes and the edges of a harbour. It needs to be capable o fbeing transported on car roof-racks.

So far the Townsend 15.5 or 16 look suitable to me - would you agree or recommend another design?

Thanks

[hairymick]

G'day Nigel and Welcome aboard mate!

Either Townsend should fit the bill nicely for you.

You might also like to have a look at this one,

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail ... d=Iroquois

or this one

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail ... d=Merrimac

By the way, Congrats mate. You are the first new member I have had the privelige of approving.

[Tor]

Hi Nigel, welcome aboard.

I built the free DK canoe which takes 5 of us, however...

It's fairly basic, it's a bit heavy and although it's a very serviceable canoe it doesn't quite make it.

the wood working part of these craft is fairly basic, if you can use a measuring stick, a pencil and a saw you have it sorted.

The harder part is the resin, the filling, the filleting, the glassing and if you don't quite get it right the sanding, lots of sanding.

If you're a patient man and have a long car (this is relevant) I'd suggest the 18 foot Sasquatch

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail ... od=Sas18-5

maybe the 16.5 one may work as the 18 foot dk is quite cosy with my kids as they are are 8 (twins) and 10, but it's a great picnicing boat

I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice just remeber to just take the advice you agree with

Tor

[hairymick]

Also,

Have a look at this one,

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail ... d=Trap1538

A little more complec (but not much) and the added stability will help a lot with the little ones.

Or for something really simple,

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail ... d=Trap1538

these pirogues are way better boats than their simple build would seem to imply. I just can't imagine my shed without at least one pirogue in it.

Sasquatch 16.5 is a superb canoe solo or with two but might be a little cramped with two extra little ones on board. Sas 18 is a very big canoe and will out perform any of the others, but the build is more complex and might be a litte ambitious as a first build (just my thoughts)

Matt will be along shortly and of course, I defer to his greater wisdom but I think Townsend is a very good choice. Immense load capacity, stable and a relatively simple build (not too many panels) I very nearly did one of these for my first build.

[jem]

-Townsend
-Trapper
-Iroquois
-Merrimac

All would fit nicely. Trapper, in my opinion, looks the best and would perform very well.

[Derek Bowen]

Hello Nigel, I am in the final stages of building the DK Touring Canoe. I'm not much good at computer stuff but I am an imaginative woodworker. If you look at photobucket, user name derenaz, album name derenazcanoestuff, you will see what I'm up to. I am sanding (yummy-yummy) and painting at the moment and I will put the next batch of photo's in a couple of days.
Matt, Jack, Tor, I would really like to hear your opinion. What I am building does not looklike a DK, even a little bit.

[jem]

link to album

http://s579.photobucket.com/albums/ss23 ... ?start=all

Wow! You're adding quite a bit of extras/ Nice job!

[Jimmy W]

...but I am an imaginative woodworker.

You certainly are. I like it. It will be interesting to see it when you finish.

[Nigel]

Thank you for your comments.

I notice the other canoes you have mentioned have more panels and thus a lot more complexity. Is there anything other than aesthetics (like safety, performance etc) to justify what seems like a lot more work?

Also, with the Trapper I notice the maximum weight capacity is shown as 272 kg whereas the 15.5 Townsend is 397kg. Since I estimate that we weigh about 240kg in passengers not including luggage, the Trapper seems a little too small.

And looking at the Townsend's specs I'm confused by the Townsend coming in 3 sizes that are only 6 inches apart? Is 6 inches a big deal? Is it hard to fit the 16 footer into/onto just 3 sheets of 8 foot (2440mm) ply or is the 15.5 a "safer" bet?

Thanks everyone!

[rhutchinson]

Beautiful woodwork... But I don't think it can be called a canoe anymore... I think it fits more in the 'paddled yatch' class

RHutchinson