“THE COST OF THE CURVE” Those who know me well have heard me say at one time or another that “nothing in life is free”. This is particularly true in some of the design decisions of boats. At the risk of getting myself ostracized from the boating community, I would rather be up front with a prospective builder and tell them the positives and negatives of a design even at the risk of loosing that customer. You will, at a minimum, give up a good number of weekends to build your boat, and depending on the boat you may spend hundreds of hours building. Although I stick by my philosophy that the building of the boat is an important and enjoyable part of the journey, you as the builder have every right to know where that journey will take you. Generally speaking, hulls that are full right to...

A LITTLE EXTRA WORK - A LOT OF EXTRA STRENGTH! Seat risers and plank seats are typical for boats like the freighter canoes and the Adirondack Guide Boat. Seat risers also have a good role to play in canoes with scuppered gunwales. If your boat plans call for scuppered gunwales or if you decided to add them on your own, they significanlty weaken the mounting points for the seats. The seat riser is a way to have your cake and eat it too. Even if your boat plans do not call for them you should consider if they are right for your situation. This is a much simpler operation than you may think however the steps are important. Installing seats in your boat accomplishes more than just giving you a place to sit. In most cases it also helps to pull the boat together from side to side. Basically...

If your boat plans call for a scarf joint, don't panic. Given the right tools, this is a simple job to do. the trick to getting past the anxiety of doing this is to simple get out the tools and do one. The concept of a scarf joint isn't complicated. It is a simple matter of of cutting a ramp on the wood which has a run of 8 times the rise. That is to say that if you are working with 3/4" plywood, you want to have a scarf which is 6" deep. The run can be as much as 12 times the rise and your boat plans may specify the ratio they want you to use. For this article we will focus on plywood scarfing. The concept is the same for dimensional lumber, however there are simpler methods for cutting scarfs in dimensional lumber than there are for plywood. Practicing on inexpensive lumber is a good way...