Canoe

Chuck,

I never considered sending this in, but it makes sense that I do. The following project is a direct result of Duckworksmagazine.com. I was browsing the site one day when I came across an article submitted by Milton "Skip" Johnson.

I participated in the 2001 Texas Water Safari. I didn't finish with a stellar time, but my partner and I did finish which was our goal. I have always been a project oriented person and decided that one day I would finish the Texas Water Safari in a boat that I made. I contacted Skip to see about having him design me a boat. We are currently making some design changes, but the design is nearly complete. He sent me a surface file per my request and I machined out a scale model of the boat. I didn't scale it to any particular size other than scaling it down to 20 inches long. The life size overall length is 23 feet.

My plan for the boat is to use 3/8" thick Klegecell foam for the core of the boat and lay it up just as I would using woodstrip construction. I will skin the inside with Kevlar and the outside with Kevlar and s-glass. This should result in a lightweight and very strong canoe. I currently don't have a place to construct this project, but I'm working on some possibilities. The canoe will be 2-person with sliding seats in the bow and stern. I plan to deck in the bow and stern. I may not add them initially, but I plan to put 2 full height bulkheads in the center section of the canoe. I will add a nylon spray skirt over this section to keep water out. I am enclosing some pictures of the project.

Sincerely,

Jeff Jouett

(click to enlarge)