: I am working on a design for a strip double paddle canoe. Of course I have to
: finish my nieces/guest/freinds kayak first. Then my wife has made it clear
: that the Cherry TV console is NEXT! But if I built it stapleless.... I
: could work on both at once.

: Jeff
: Just a glutton for punishment

Since you are a glutton for punishment I'm sure you'll ignore this advice

Forget about designing a canoe from scratch. Start with an established design and, if you must, tweek it to suit your personal preferences. there are a lot of older designs which have a long history and commmentary based on proven use.

Designs by White and/or Rushton are in practically every book on canoes. Why? because they have worked well for decades. Nodern tank testing, and computer simulation can identify and verify the attributes of these designs.

If you decide to work in reverse, though, and try to get the computer to generate lines for your canoe you'll possibly get a good hull under the waterline, but you'll have to guess about how the part of the boat above water will need to be braced or handled. You'll just have to guess at how many thwarts or seats? Where do you put them? How dry does the boat get in rough water? etc.

And this is so unnecessary.

Copies of old plans are dirt cheap, and there are plenty of people who have measured old canoes and posted data for building forms on the internet, or in books. For example: for a small double-paddle canoe there are over a dozen versions of Rushton's Wee Lassie.

look at clarkcraft's take on this classic design at:

http://www.clarkcraft.com/cgi-local/shop.pl?cart_id=d764ed55c04eb00fb70065f8531afb2c&type=item&categ=003&item=933340719

Then take a look at Duckworks list of canoe plans: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/r/plansindex/canoe.cfm

The Adirondack Museum has a few books for sale on the older canoe styles. Check their site at: If you can find any of the titles also listed on Amazon or Barnesandnoble.com you see if any particular title contains plans, offsets or measurements.

http://www.adirondackmuseumstore.com/merchant/store/index.shtml

Just a thought

PGJ