Hi Paul,

It kind of depends on what type of plywood canoe you are planning to build. There are several designs and different methods of building in ply. If you are open to suggestion, I'd say have a look at Tom Hill's "Ultralight Boatbuilding". He describes a very practicle method of glued-lapstrake plywood building that results in a beautiful boat that is very lightweight. Iain Oughtred has two different canoe designs that are glued lapstake. His preferred building methods are a tad different from Tom's and he has a very good building manual for his techniques; "Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual". The book is good and his small boat designs are the most beautiful I've seen, if you like the traditional looks of clinker built hulls. His canoes can be built with Mr. Hill's method, and the plans for setting up for sailing are included. His small one can be built with decks or without Using Oughtred's plans might be a good option, since Tom is difficult to locate at times, though Tom's building method seems easier to me (the building jig is more complex, but it makes planking easier in the long run). He (Tom Hill) and Iain Oughtred sometimes advertise in the back of WoodenBoat, if you find a copy in your neck of the woods. The magazine is not cheap here, so no telling what it'd cost you:just flip to the ad section if you see one on the shelf of you bookseller. Both Tom and Iain's canoes are for double paddle, though Tom has some designs that have gunnell mounted seats.
Selway Fisher www.selway-fisher.com has a few plywood canoe designs. They are located in the UK. They have a plywood canoe building manual too.
"Building Sweet Dream" or "Building the Six Hour Canoe" might be of interest as well.

A couple more books..... Devlins Boatbuilding by Samuel Devlin is a manual on stitch and glue construction. The boats are bigger, but the methods are the same. He has a web site too; devlin boat designs

John Welsford in New Zealand has a book too, called "Backyard Boatbuilding". I don't think he has any canoe designs, but he is a very good small boat designer, and I think that his book cover stitch and glue construction......I have not seen his book, but I looked at some of his plywood sailing boat designs and they are nice!

Any of Harold H Payson's books are good information on tack-and-tape. He has a canoe design on his web page: just do a search for hh payson or instant boats.

One other place to look: Walt Simmons at www.duck-trap.com has plans for 3 different lapstrake canoes, based on some Pete Culler designs. They can be bult glued lap ply too.

Hope this helps,
garland
: Hello all,

: I am considering building a canoe out of ply wood. I am wondering which books
: would be the most helpful?

: Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

: Thanks,
: Paul Jones