: 2. They also had umiaks, a larger skin undecked boat for hauling people and
: gear.

: 4. The Putz Walrus can be built from the book. I don't know of any plans that
: are available elsewhere for purchase. The Putz frame is tressle work, it
: is not built with traditional ribs. It is actually a Norman Skene design
: from back in 1923. Putz appears to have modified it, because his drawings
: are different than Skene's.

Putz has a unique method for explaining the size and shape of the forms used for building his boats. he is a colorful author, and his book is a great read, but I'll put in a poor plug for a web page I posted a while back that had coordinate points (x,y) for drafting the forms for Putz's Walrus designs, actually two pages, one for the 17 foot and another for the 18.5 foot version. This is a poor plug as I can't remember offhand the webpage URL. (I have it bookmarked on another computer, I think) A search of the archives should turn it up, though.

: Skin on frame kayak building is definitely a fast, cheap, easy way to get a
: lightweight nice performing kayak.

And as Mike has failed to mention, ( probably from modesty) if you want a slightly heavier boat in wood, you can forget the trestle work, and simply cover the longitudinal members of the wood frame with lightweight plywood panels. Glue and screw them to those chines and trim off any excess. Seal the seams with a few dabs of epoxy or cover them with fiberglass tape and epoxy, and paint the boat with marine enamel, or varnish, for a very delightful looking, and fast to build craft.

I think Mike has some pictures of one of these, too.

PGJ