After a fruitless search for a cheap,used canoe I decided to build my own.I used luan plywood and lumber bought at Lowes.I studied designs I saw in articles in WoodenBoat magazine.After making a few adjustments to make it fit me better I ended up with a light weight boat I am able to carry on my truck rack.I also covered the bottom with fiberglass in epoxy.Makes for a rugged bottom.I also made a folding seat from cedar wood salvaged from a bed headboard.My double blade paddle started out life as a whitewater kayak paddle.I streched it to 8 feet 6 inches with narrower blades.Works like a charm.Anyone looking for that just right boat should consider building it.There are numerous plans available,many free.It's not that difficult and the joy of paddling a boat that you built is a feeling that can't be beat.My next project is a jonboat.

You should have included a picture and congratulations on a succesful project.

Great ingenuity in building your own boat Mr. Wolfie. How high does it sit in the water with you in it? I occasionally take a 9ft two man out myself with two of us it sits about a foot out of the water with all the gear. It isn’t a homemade one it is store bought but it is all fiberglass very rugged canoe. I’ve accidentally his logs, stumps, and numerous other objects that were from when my uncle owned them. No leaks no dents even as hard as they have been used.

NE Indiana member since 2/17/09

I've been involved in building a couple of canoes, but they were big ones. We followed the directions from a Smithsonian book on Voyager canoe construction. The first one was thirty feet lonf by five feet across the gunnels. Not something your likely to fish out of, but sure a lot of fun if you have a dozen guys that want to paddle. I have been thinking about building a smaller one for fishing. Currently, I use my Grummin 17 standard and have caught a lot of fish all over the country for the last forty years. The one I would like to build would be a twenty foot  layed up. That uses 1/4 inch by 1 1/2 lumber (Cedar is the lightest) and it is put on a frame, then fiberglass cloth and resin is put on the outside and in. The cloth and resin is transparent and it makes a beatiful canoe and quite sound. A 20 ft. would be big enough for three or four guys to fish out of and would only draft two or three inches.