kayak or small boat for a beginer

**anewhouse** · 25th May 2011, 06:27 PM

I wonder if you are thinking too much about ease of construction and not enough about performance.

Think about how much time you are going to spend building compared with how much time you will spend paddling (or cruising) in the kayak/canoe/craft/vessel. I think that Michael's Eureka is a superior canoe, and to my eye, a much better looking craft. I have reason to believe that Michael would agree with me.

You need to thinks about whether you are building a one or two person canoe that you will be easily able to lift onto your roof bars or a two person canoe that might be a real struggle for one person. I notice that the weight of the Electric Quick is listed as 28kg while the Eureka is 15 to 20kg. Trust me, there is a lot of difference between manhandling a 15kg canoe and a 28kg canoe. I suppose the the weight of the Quick could be reduced with the right materials and the weight of the Eureka could be greater with different materials.

There are some compromises that have been made to make the construction of the Quick Canoe very simple, but I believe that they create some handling problems that are not especially desirable. I believe the Eureka doesn't suffer from those problems. I am not trying to suggest that the problems with the Quick make it dangerous or anything like that. Clearly it is a successful design, but there are better designs in Michael's range.

I hope none of this is seen as attacking Michale's designs. I am really just repeating or rephrasing something that he said himself about the Eureka. His website says:

Reports of the first Eureka wooden canoe launched show it to be much easier to paddle than the usual plywood canoe, and indeed much better than most production glass hulls - this becomes important where distances are being covered - greatly reducing the effort required from the paddlers.

The other major bit of feedback is on the appearance - the EUREKA 155 is a very handsome boat - quite unusual for the average plywood boatbuilding project.

I would encourage you to think seriously about whether a few days saved in the construction is worth it to finish up with a canoe that will probably be heavier than it needs to be, and doesn't look as good or perform as well as another of Michael's designs.

**b.o.a.t.** · 25th May 2011, 11:35 PM

I'll second anewhouse's coments.
I have the Eureka & Outrigger plans (but not built yet).
Eureka is a very simple build from two sheets of ply plus sundries.
The outriggers are even simpler.
MIK's plans are a complete boat-building course.
You can add a tiny donk to the outrigger if you want.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/e...rigger-128887/

QC was designed around a particular brief - disposable boat touring.
Compromise for extreme quick & dirty build is some loss of performance & looks.
You could easily put in as much effort on a Quick Canoe as a Eureka & still finish
with an inferior boat.

Another possibility is Duck Flat's Traveller. A canoe with a transom.
Bolger also designed (at least one) motor canoe. Here's another thought-
provoking exerpt from BWAOM in which he discusses some of the issues
which saw their demise from popular usage.
cheers
AJ

**hazegry** · 26th May 2011, 07:36 AM

well I would love to go tot he class but as I am military its hard to get time off like that. I am leaning more and more to a skin on frame as I dont have a planer that will allow me to do a strip kayak or canoe.

**labr@** · 26th May 2011, 08:34 AM

Hazegry,

Your thread seems to have been hijacked somewhat but to get back to your situation I think any of stitch/glue, strip or SOF would be doable for you. I recently did a strip build and cut my own strips with a circular saw but I don't own an electric planer or thicknesser - just used a hand plane where needed.

You mentioned in your first post that you were worried about durability of SOFs but I doubt that this is really an issue for open water which is where I presume you will be. I am guessing you would be sailing on and around Chesapeake Bay? Have a look at the videos on the Kudzu craft site - Jeff shows just how tough a SOF can be and I must say I don't think either my S&G or strip built boats would take what he dishes out to his old SOF!

Kudzu Craft

Having said this I suspect that if you want to sail with a trimaran setup then a S&G kayak like the Jem Laker would be a good base and the outriggers/mast design from Mik would be a good combination. My Laker is the 13' but there are 2 longer versions. This is a very simple, easily built design that has relatively low initial stability but low drag so would suit an outrigger setup and I am investigating fitting something like this to mine at the moment.

**hazegry** · 28th May 2011, 11:54 PM

thanks Labr@ very cool site I think I am going to give the long shot a try. Kudzu Craft skin boats - Long Shot Plans just need to save up some money now and get the plans and builders kit so I can get started. I am going to use poly for skin so I can paint it.

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