: Yeh, I mentioned that a 20' canoe would probably be a bit over sized, and he
: really doesn't know if the boys will take to this like he did when he
: built his many years ago.

I vaguely recall reading the load limit information on a Grumman aluminum canoe years ago. For a 17 footer it was something like 940 pounds. How big are this guy's kids? The picture below is of a Niagara 17 -- right off the Clarkcraft.com website. They list the capacity of this boat at 900 pounds, so maybe my memory is not too far gone.

Gil Gilpatrick has plans in his book for building a 20 foot guide boat -- a big canoe -- used for hunting guides, their patrons, and whatever game they were able to find. If this meant a moose or an elk, then the boat had to hold the people AND the moose or elk. The guide boats, besides being a few feet longer than most double canoes were also wider. Most canoes go to 36 inches wide. Gilpatrick's guide boat, as I recall had a beam of about 45 inches. the sidewall height was also greater. This gave the boat roughly the same proportions as a 16 to 17 foot canoe, but increased the carrying capacity considerably. A load over 2000 pounds was possible. You'ld sink a bit deeper as you loaded more stuff in, but you would still have plenty of freeboard. Gilpatrick suggested 5/16 strips for boats this size, which seems rather modest.

The Niagara is a plywood canoe with a V bottom, and it appears that it is built on a frame. I suppose you could wire the panels together and put in fillets of resin and chopped glass and build this as a S&G, but why bother. The ribs and chines add strength, and if you can avoid a lot of glass cloth and resin you'll save time and money.

hope this helps.

PGJ

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