> In looking for a kayak my Varsity Scout team can build I came across one
> that consists of a canvas skin over a wood structure. Does anybody know
> where I can get information on these light yet delicate structures? I know
> I wouldn't surf a painting but these look interesting. If this is not a
> good idea, Are there plans in existance for a kayak that can be built by
> kids who think a bicycle can be repaired with a hammer?

> thank you

> Ran

> ramie@ctaz.com

Just about any company that sells skin on frame kayak plans has some that are reasonably easy to construct. Clark Craft ( www.clarkcraft.com ) has several several plans available for boats of various sizes.

There is one set of plans ( currently going for about $10) for a folding kayak made of canvas and plywood. It folds almost flat, and the web page says it can be made in 3 hours. The URl is below, but in case the links arent working: (http://www.sysop.com/kayak/)

Several books offer plans for building kayaks from canvas on a wood frame. My favorite is by George Putz. Search for his name, and canvas covered boats at amazon.com. The book is about $20. His boats are not fast to construct in a group, but after you make the forms you could knock off one boat after another. make two sets of forms and you could have two boats in progress at the same time. Since the forms can be easily reused, and represent a significant investment in time and money, it would not be economical to have each scout make their own set.

Boys Life magazine has had articles recently on a troop that built its own kayaks and took them on a trip. You might go through the past year's issues and look for these. If you contact the troop involved I'm sure the scoutmaster could give you information on where they got their plans. If you call the scout council from wherever that troop is I'm sure you'll be able to get the name and phone number of the scoutmaster. After showing up in Boy's Life he is probably a local celebrity. There are several skin-on-frame kayaks that are made with plywood frames connected by long strips of thin wood. If you stack several sheets of plywood you can cut the frames for 3 or 4 boats at the same time. If you are making boats for a group, you might divide the work so that smaller groups were working on similar tasks at the same time. For example, with a group of 24 scouts you could have 6 groups of 4. Each group could work on tracing and cutting 4 copies of a frame for the kayak ( assuming the kayak needs 6 frames). After the frames are cut, the groups of 4 work two on a side to attach the long strips.

Whatever you plan to do with he group -- I hope you strongly consider building one yourself first. In doing so you will see if there are areas where parents might be needed (what is your policy on power tools?) You wil also see areas where many hands can work together, and other areas where manyhands wil lead to confusion.

There is another book to look for at Amazon.com.I believe ti it titled `Building the 6 Hour Canoe'. A local cub scout pack leader was trying to drum up some support for using that as the center of a boat building project for his pack. Eventually they decided against it. There were problems with storing the materials between meetings and they did not know how to solve the teamwork issue, and who would actually get the boats when they were built. (the scouts? the pack?) Sometimes there are other problems besides carpentry ones to be solved.

Best of luck in this. Hope you can keep us informed about how this project goes. Paul Jacobson