Thread: Quick Canoe - "Disposable" Canoeing - very simple ply canoe - building pics

Originally Posted by Boatmik

And what do you do at the end of your trip? Just give it away or see if someone will store it for you until the next part of the trip.

MIK

Hi Mick

Hence the Storer name

You’re talking about a canoe here but keep in mind a similar concept for a “disposable” kayak/sea kayak as well...maybe J

Your canoe has all the elements for a quick and simple build. My only suggestion is to consider metric ply plans as well. Here in Oz, imperial sizes generally mean more cost and less availability as you are buying imported stuff, which is an extra complication for local builders. Lots of merchants like the Mr Ply and Woods only sell metric, ie. Hoop and Meranti marine plys, so builders here are forced to go to more expensive specialist outlets. Just a thought.

Another thought is get yourself one of these old Merc diesels, otherwise known as a Beirut Taxi because its mechanicals are bullet proof and engineered in another era. For not much money for the car nowadays, your fuel bills can then be a thing of the past as you can get all the fuel you need for free from fish and chip shops.J


Details from my blog here: OZTayls-Converting a W123 Mercedes to to run on vegetable oil

However, I've since sold this one and acquired a later model W124 diesel which does the same thing but with even less complication because clever Mercedes engineers must have thought that somebody like me in the future would want to run the thing on unmodified cottonseed cooking oil and had some of the bits designed in already. Parts are cheap as chips too.

I'm glad you can still get oil from shops, there are far too many people trying that on nowdays up here, you don't get a look in.

Originally Posted by damian

I'm glad you can still get oil from shops, there are far too many people trying that on nowdays up here, you don't get a look in.

I've heard that in some places it's like that. Here in Newie I get phone calls from restaurants all over town, but I have to knock them back. I only need 80 litres a week!

Nice concept.

The sailing canoes of the 1870's were very firm bilged, as are Solway Dory sailing canoes today. So perhaps she might carry a nice little sprit rig as we. Make the sail at home, bring it with you, make simple spars and steer with a paddle. Kept down to around 30 sq ft would be a nice aid and easily dropped for "windward" work.

It would be great also to somehow keep epoxy costs out of it. Far more expensive than the ply. Need to search industrial building tapes, gaffer tapes and such.

Tie together with fishing line and leave in place?

Leave untreated in any way I guess. Perhaps a garden fence treatment?

Re - your other thread of a different Raid. How much more fun to turn up with no boat, make a boat, paddle down a river / lake whatever and then donate to local Scout / youth group or something.

You know, not that much different from the Duck Punts.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zk_1k6hInM"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]

Brian

Hi Mik, disposable canoing doesn't go with maxims like "leave nothing but your footprints behind" and probably collides with some environmental laws. And if I had to rely on my boat - lets imagine some rapids or some wake at the beach - I prefer the well engineered and constructed one. In a play setting or - other end of the street - in a survival situation some quick and dirty is o.k. or needed. But for a planned trip I would go with a proved folding canoe or kayak. Simple and clever boatbuilding - thats completely different. And a simplified Wee Lassie with comparable performance would be great. But's hard to beat some SOF constructions there. My2ct - Jörn

Howdy Jörn,

That's why I put the "" around the disposable. The idea is that a boat that works will be used in the right hands and will have some value to them.

If someone wants something nice they can build the Eureka after all. But I had the idea about traditional boats having a "fin at the front and a fin at the back" are realised that there was a way of doing this with a very simple box boat.

It was something I spent a lot of time trying to make happen with the Eureka too when I originally drew it up.

I think it is an interesting idea.

I doubt the box version will have similar performance to the original Wee Lassie - it is an absolutely astounding boat. There is a carbon one on the net too - and it has all the hollow in the picture above filled in - people are not really good at studying boats and why they work.

Best wishes
MIK

Just added the black fibre wee lassie that loses the hollow for quite a boxy entry/exit.

G'day Michael,

I really like the idea of the 'disposable' canoe. I have an itch for one last solo adventure (my family keeps saying that they'll come too ) and a trip down a river somewhere in Asia is one possibility. I was thinking of an inflatable but that might cause problems with overweight luggage. Being able to make a boat simply out of local materials (assuming exterior grade plywood is available) is an attractive concept as is the idea of giving it away at the end of the trip.

I can attest to the effectiveness of the hollows in the ends of the Wee Lassie. The tupperware sit-on-top in my avatar has similar shapes and tracks as though it's on rails despite having considerable rocker. I apologise for lowering the tone of the forum by mentioning a plastic boat but I hope the fact that the Greenland paddle is carved from a beautiful piece of straight-grained WRC and finished with pure Tung oil will restore my credibility .

cheers,
clay

Sitting all day waiting for the Sheffield Shield cricket match between NSW and Vic to start (unfortunately it was rained out), I got to thinking about this "disposable" concept of Mick's. (Oh dear, thinking can be dangerous in my case, )

It might be easier when travelling to acquire cheap framing timber and use a fabric or some other skin. However, I'm not thinking in terms of a doped fabric, although this need not necessarily be ruled out. What I'm thinking about is that strong, clear flexible plastic sheeting like the one I used for the windows of my daughter's cubby house many years ago. It's kind of like a thicker X-Ray film. Those clear windows are still as good today as they were when built, so it has good external stability, even though this is not important for Mick's concept. Many hardware stores and some like Clark Rubber have it and it's not expensive.

The beauty about the plastic film skin is that it will easily mold to a shape and gaffa tape sticks to it like crazy, so I imagine that a nice, strong and waterproof skin could be made from it. I mentioned X-Ray film. As a second choice, and certainly cheaper if they can be procured, old X-Ray films could be overlapped and taped together, even double skinned on the bottom? I wonder if old ones are available at hospitals? I have a radiologist friend so I could ask. How funky would that look!

This thread is very close to Tom Yosts work in some ways.

Yostwerks Kayak Building Manuals - Homebuilt kayaks by Thomas Yost

wood frame clear film, inflatable, and a new hybrid inflatable-mininal frame design. Perhaps some ideas might be gleaned?



Brian

Could I ask MIK,

what the technical choices on this design are between:

1) flat bottom, vertical sides

2) narrow bottom, sloping sides

Brian

Originally Posted by Boatmik

So this is the idea ...

Recently I've seen a similar a bit idea there:



JEM Watercraft - Canoe Plans, Kayak Plans, other Boat Plans

JEM Watercraft • View topic - Prototyping a Sit On Top Canoe

Canoes similar each other are...

Howdy Robert,

I think if you look carefully you will find that the fin at the bow and the fin at the stern is either a new idea or one that has been forgotten for a while or nobody has publicised it well

(I think that covers all the explanations about why I haven't seen it!)

The Jem is also a multi panel boat - five like the Eureka, so will be as much effort to make and its appearance is nothing special.

Here I am looking at how to make a really simple box boat less bad. I am making no apologies for the crude shape and the compromises it makes in paddling, but I think the fins are a start toward making such a boat better.

I am looking to improving the paddling characteristics by refining it once I have a handle on how it goes and feels in the water.

Rick Landreville in Canada will be building the first of the big ones - and then breaking some ice to go for a paddle! If the stability is fine then I will play with the hull some more. I can see some interesting possibilities to improve the general paddling - particularly reducing drag of the boxy hull.

Best wishes
MIK

Originally Posted by keyhavenpotter

Could I ask MIK,

what the technical choices on this design are between:

1) flat bottom, vertical sides

2) narrow bottom, sloping sides

Brian

Howdy Brian,

1/ gives you simpler construction, but probably too much wetted surface because the width of the bottom is closely defined by the dimensions of the upper part of the canoe that has to match people and their ergonomics. I think a narrow bottom could work for a boat you sit down inside, but with a canoe a very narrow overall hull width would feel a bit weird I think. I did think about that option.

It is a bit easier to build with wood in the corners because no bevels are required. But bevels I guess are pretty easy the way they happen in storer boats. Just plane everything flat to accept the bottom. More like the Goat or PDR than the Eureka.

2/ The big advantage of decoupling the sheer shape from the bottom is that you can make a whole lot of aesthetic choices. For example I have almost stolen the sheer widths and curves of the Eureka for the ezCanoe15 (?) so from some angles it will look pretty sweet. I think it will have a finer entry than the carbon wee lassie above!

Also allows much more playing with the entry, wetted surface and prismatic coefficient.

While I do like box boats I think a box canoe would be nondescript in appearance and handling. I am still flipping between epoxy filleting and putting wood in the corners. Maybe I will leave it up to individual builders after making some suggestions.

Best wishes
MIK

Mik,

Cool idea.

What size individual could this canoe safely accommodate?

While I realize big people canoe and kayak, when I weighed 260 pounds, I was always concerned about stability - and, me being me, convinced myself I was "too big" to canoe.

Fast forward to today - I'm now under 200 pounds and wondering about a canoe design. Something quick and easy would suit - I saw 1/4" "Sanded one side hardwood ply" for $20 a sheet today. A canoe coming out of $60 worth of ply would be a bargain - but only if it can accommodate my bulk. ( I know there would be other costs but it wouldn't drive the cost up by much.)

So is this design something I ought to be considering? Thanks.