Brian Chandler's Skin-on-Frame Canoe

I'm not much of a wood worker, somehow that gene missed me as everyone else in my family for generations has done fabulous work with wood.  Not sure what happened with this project maybe it is because I am a little older and I have more patience, or maybe it is because this design is so simple even I couldn't mess it up.  Hmmm... maybe I shouldn't say that yet.

I met Brian at the Vancouver Boat Show and I really liked the canoes (his company is called the Dreamcatcher Boats) he had in his booth.  He told me I could build one which made me laugh but I thought I would pick up his DVD anyway.  To my surprise the DVD came with scaled down plans and his DVD showed how simple it was so I thought I would give it a try.

I would like to mention that I am building this on my 3rd floor, 12'x5' balcony, and I did my milling down in the underground parking lot.  This project doesn't require a lot of room.

The first step to this project is to build my station mold which will allow me to tie down my stringers and help give it all shape.  The station mold is cut out of standard melamine board.

I cut out the individual pieces and then assembled them together.  On the bottom of the station back I attached two lengths of 2x2's to give it some strength and rigidness.

The end pieces require a slit cut down from the top so that the stems can sit in them off either end.  Holes will need to be cut into the melamine pieces so that the stringers can be strapped down to them.