: I want to build a plywood chine kayak/covered canoe. I am not sure of the
: best way to proceed since the design that I want isn't readily available.
: Should I build the boat full scale out of cardboard sheet working out the
: design and then use the cardboard as templets for my plywood or should I
: pursue the lofting/design drawing route? The techniques employed in the
: technical drawing route are not familiar to me but I am confident that the
: full scale model route will work for me. Anyones input on this subject
: would be great. The boat design is for a long distance, expedition/high
: volume covered canoe/Baidarka type that will be paddled in protected
: waters and offshore. My current boat is a highly modified gruman aluminum
: 17' canoe with the gunnels pinched in at the center and a tubular aluminum
: frame work to support a full cover bow to stern. Also, what is the maximum
: length I should consider making my boat. I am 6'3 and weigh 265 lbs and
: will be carrying close to five hundred pounds of equipment and provisions
: when fully loaded. I was considering a max beam of 32" at the bilge
: and a length of 19-19.5', little to no rocker v bottom. The boat would be
: paddled both seated and in a kneeling postion. Thanks.

Okay, you have some idea on what specs you want, now pop those into a computer program for designing hulls and tweek the parameters to suit your needs. Then you can build a model from that, or go directly to a full-sized boat.

Consider the Bearboat design program which you can download from:

http://www.marinerkayaks.com/mkhtml/downloads.htm

There are design programs which will give you cross sections which are suitable for building a strip built kayak or canoe. Since you wish to build with plywood you will have to make some modifications. You could either find a program that lays out the plywood panels for you, or you can do your own modifications. I think it would be easier and more accurate to do the work by hand. Here is how:

First try to get a copy of "Ultralight Boatbuilding", by Thomas J. Hill, and look at the pictures of how he lays out his building forms. As you can see from the cover of the book (below) he builds lapstrake designs where the panels of plywood overlap. This is one possible way to build your hull. You can also but the edges of the panels together and secure them with stitch and glue methods.

Hill shapes the panels over "ribbands" or chine strips which are tacked onto building forms similar to those used for building strip-build canoes and kayaks. Another poster has mentioned the method for making your model and using cardstock and chines( ribbands) to define the shape of the panels you'll need.

Essentially you set up building forms as you would for a cedar strip canoe, but instead of covering these forms with strips, you just place a thicker strip (3/8 to 1/2 inch thick) every 3 or 4 inches apart, keeping these symetrical. Then you fill the gaps between these strips with plywood, tracing around the ribband to show the panel shape.

If you create the hull you want by a design program, you must reduce the size of the cross sections by the thickness of the skin material and the thickness of the ribband. If you want a 32 inch beam, and you are buildign with 1/4 inch plywood and 1/2 inch ribbands, then your widest form would be 30.5 inches wide, the ribbands stuck on would increase the left and right sides by 0.5 inches each, and the 1/4 inch skin would add the final 1/2 inch to the boat's beam.

Your deck can be any convenient arrangement you want to make from your plywood.

You might want to simply redesign a fabric cover. David Hazen shows how to attach a fabric deck to the underside of a canoe's gunwales in his book on cedar strip canoe making. No snaps or grommets, and it is quickly removable.

If you are looking for a canoe which is alreay designed for holding loads such as you propose, take a look at plans for a "guide" or "Maine guide" canoe. Gil Gilpatrick has these in his book on strip building canoes. He has copied the lines from an old White Canoe Company guide canoe. I believe the specs are something like 20 feet long and a 45 inch beam (which may be a lot wider than you asked for, but it works) It could comfortably hold you and your gear. YOu might modify the plans to make it narrower.

Hope this helps.

PGJ