Skip to main content

Dave Gentry

Skin on Frame Boats

Combining Elegance and Simplicity with low cost and ultra quick building

It’s not just kayaks anymore

Modern, non-traditional skin-on-frame construction allows anyone to build sophisticated and efficient boats of all types for far less time, effort, and money than with any other building method.

Want to build a boat, but aren't sure you can? I’ve been there. Our designs moved on from the kayaks and baidarkas of our predecessors, and have resulted in a whole new genre of boat building. There’s no sawing out hundreds of cedar strips. There’s no steam bending. There is no fiberglass, no caulking, and no lofting!

Skin-on-frame boats are very tough, durable, light enough to carry around by yourself and they go together in just a few weeks, for just a few hundred dollars.

Plans

Our boat plans include comprehensive, well-illustrated, step by step instructions specific for each boat, and are designed with the complete novice in mind. The building guides contain sources for fabrics, lists of tools and necessaries, and all the information you need to know to build, skin, coat, rig and care for your boat. 

Plan sets also include full sized templates for all the frames and parts . . . just glue to your plywood and cut out along the lines – no lofting necessary!

Have a look!

!