15'6" Beaver Canoe/Skiff Plans

The BEAVER is an ultra modern open canoe skiff using the latest methods of construction to make building time as short as possible. She has the same shape at both ends and each half of the boat is made in one piece of ply with simple darts cut into it at the chines. This means that the sides actually blend into the bottom as one unit at the fore and aft ends. Each half of the boat is stitched together along the fore/aft part of the centre seam and the part of the chine towards the centre of the canoe. The shape produced has a gentle curve to the bottom at the middle of the boat which runs into a ‘U’ shape as it goes towards the bow/stern. The single chine at the middle of the hull eventually disappears towards the ends with the bottom blending into the topsides in one continuous curve.

This makes an easy riding shape with plenty of stability but low wetted surface area. Marking out, cutting, stitching together, taping the seams and fitting out takes only 35 hours and the canoe uses just 3 sheets of 4mm Exterior grade ply plus some Pine or Douglas Fir for the gunwales. She can be made in 2 halves and bolted together or in 1 piece and the length can be reduced easily by a couple of feet to meet your individual needs. Being able to build her in 2 halves means that your building space can be very small although you must still check that you can get the 2 halves out of the door and up the passage - one client didn’t whilst building in his lounge and ended up having to make major surgical alterations to our design leaving him with 2 very useful motor skiffs but not the canoe that he had wanted ! As drawn she is 15’6’’ (4.7m) long with a beam of 37’’ (0.94m) and a depth amidships of 13’’ (0,33m) and a very light weight of 60 lbs. The drawings come with details of a simple gunter sail plan and yoked rudder with detachable leeboards.