Have you seen Platt's kayak design? It is along the lines of the decked canoes of the 1880's.....Macgregor, Herreschoffe and such. It would be a great boat for easy flatwater places. What are you planning to use for the skin? I've considered building a couple of Monfort canoes with my two daughters, but I have never acually seen a skin boat, so I'm a bit leary about the durability (there'd be precious cargo in those boats!!!!). There is a refuge here that has several small lakes where these small and LIGHT boats would really shine........just don't forget the duct tape and float bags! garland

Poplar is not particularly rot resistant, though it does not need to be with strip/sheathed construction. It would result in a heavier boat than one of cedar, but you could use thinner strips, which would offset the extra weight of the poplar, and still have a sufficiently tough hull. Thinner strips might be a bit easier to work with too. If seating the bead and cove poses a problem, you could use edge bevels. Some folks here have discussed this in the past, and have come up with methods that would result in very tight fits between the strips. The poplar I see around here (good ol' Home Depot)seems to vary in color......I've seen some that is sort of greenish with some of the grain displaying a nearly purplish hue..........is that normal????

: I have a couple of questions for the group a little bit about my background
: first. I have been researching building different canoe and kayak designs
: I currently design and build recumbent bicycles for fun. I figured boats
: were the next step in my home building projects. I looked hard for
: something cheap and easy to build. I almost bought a set of CLC plans till
: I came across the Plat Monfort AeroLITE canoe plans cheap and easy. If I
: have good success with the canoe I want to build a strip built sea kayak.
: With all of that said my questions are I have a ton rough sawn planks of
: poplar is it suitable for the type of frame for the Aerolite canoe and for
: a compleat strip buit kayak. All of the research I have done I have not
: seen the mention of poplar as a suitable building material. Thanks