As a boat builder I am starting number 17, the itch never seems to be satisfied. I was seriously looking at Jim Michalak's AF4 BREVE. I ordered the plans and started looking for materials. Discussing the build of a 16 foot motor boat with a fellow paddler I was forced to face reality when he mentioned a trailer and title plus registration and tag plus boat title, registration and numbers, along with an outboard motor and gas and oil. Did I want to really want to go through all that? Now I throw a boat in the back of my small pickup and go. Well maybe I should look at Jim's many other offerings of boat plans. I love Jim's TOTO with its sleek lines and beautiful profile.

This boat is a little long at 13 feet for a short bed pickup and its 30 inch width is a little hard on 70 year old bones getting in and out. But what if you short end the length to 9 feet and spread the width to 36 inches and used a 9 foot double paddle. You end up with a boat that resembles the builder, shorter and fatter, thus the name SHOFAT. I still love to torture plywood so I twisted a 9 foot by 3 foot piece of Luan plywood into a hull bottom and added 12 inch sides sculpted to a narrow front bow.

This went well with a short fat canoe as the result. My next decision was to add a front deck and a closed storage compartment at the stern. The gunnels were ripped from 2x4's as were the braces. The top of the rear compartment is 3/8" plywood to support a short fat skipper. The front deck is more Luan, curved slightly. A heavy duty cross member will help the old skipper up and down.

The rear deck is 3/8" plywood with top access panel of pine board.

The front deck is Luan plywood, taped and glassed.

This is a short fat 'TOTO'. The cockpit is four feet long and open to the bow. The floor is 1 x 2 strips to stiffen the sides and bottom.

Weight is now a concern so two small fins were set so "SHOFAT" can be dragged to launch.

Now we can paint and put "SHOFAT" in the water. The paint was 'DECK STAIN' from LOWES out of the mismatch bin, quite a bargain. I went with a brown deck and a green bottom with swirls on the sides. My first mate likes the paint job.

A nine foot boat is a good fit in a short bed pickup.

A nine foot boat is a good fit in a short bed pickup.

The first mate says 'SHOFAT' is stable.

The first mate says 'SHOFAT' is stable.

The back deck is solid for sitting.

The back deck is solid for sitting.

For a nine foot boat 'SHOFAT' tracks well.

For a nine foot boat 'SHOFAT' tracks well.

The short fat builder in short fat boat.

The short fat builder in short fat boat. Who could ask for anything more?