azucha

Great work -- fine lines. Now the canvas fun part, lol.

Great work! I always enjoy the frame on grass (FROG) pics. The lines really pop! Congratulations on progress.

Hey guys: My brother wants tandem canoe that he and my 5 YO nephew can use on a lake. I'm interested in Jeff's tangerine but don't seem to find any pics. I have read the one thread on here about Tangerine. Any comments, pics, etc. would be most welcome. Al

Nice patterns and intellectual property respect! Well done. Keep up the progress.

A 2x8x8 @ $29 is more viable than an 1x8x8 fir @ $35. WRC would be much preferred to Douglas fir (IMHO). The cost of stringers is minimal as part of total construction cost, so I would get the best, strongest, straightest, tightest boards possible.

Look forward to progress reports Action Tiger! I'm almost finished skinning my Castaway. Build has gone well. Cutting frames and stringers took the most time for me. Lashing and skinning went faster than I thought it would. Keep us posted.

Hey Piston Head -- I cannot give you much insight as yet. I've just finished lashing my Castaway and have tested getting in and out with it sitting on pillow and bumpers in living room. My brother, who also has damaged knees, has a SOT plastic boat and he struggles to get on and off it. Castaway does have a larger, open cockpit. I cannot see much difference between it and SOT one as far as getting in and out. Perhaps others with more experience will respond. However, it really is a question that only you can answer.

Thanks Jeff. One less question you may have to address in the future. I shortened the tab and filled with epoxy, cellulite mix to take care of any voids. Frames and bow and stern assemblies are cut, sanded, rounded over, and have 3 coats of boiled linseed oil and varnish and mineral sprits mix. I even rough spaced frames on strong back. Tested a keel strip and am getting a real sense of how the framing will come along. One thing that surprised me was the 0,0 point was the stern. I figured it to be the bow. Checked manual and yes, stern is 0,0. Are all designs laid out stern to stem?

Question on the stern assembly of the Castaway. The plans labeled stern top have a 1/2" x 4.5" cut out for mating with the stern. However, the tab on the top of the stern is marked to be cut with a 5" tab. Any others run into this discrepancy? I think I would prefer to cut the stern 5" tab down to 4.5" and have it mate with stern top. Any reason why enlarging the stern top female slot to 5" would be a better option? castway stern top.pdf castaway stern assembly2.pdf

The idea of boat building class is intriguing, Jeff. Is your estimated cost of $1100 to $1200 for tuition only and materials would be in addition? The great part about of class is the exchange of ideas and the time to get the boat built in a compressed schedule. I've looked at several boat building school options: location and price and time of year are determining factors. Just some thoughts. Al

You can look at the box stores and find WRC in wider widths 6" or 8" and rip and scarf. In Houston, I went to the hardwoods speciality store and priced WRC -- 4/4 x 6" clear (almost zero knots) x 10' was priced at $36. It was a full 4-quarter (1" thick) not the 3/4" you find in dimensioned lumber. Information supplied as reference only. I'm scarfing my stringers out of recycled redwood from a neighbor's backyard playstation.

As a novice, I'm doubt I have any credibility but for me the criteria rank 1. Ease and speed of construction Weight of the boat. 2. Stability 3 Resistance/ ease of paddling 4. Speed potential.

+1 on Action Tiger's comments -- punctuation missing after "come in" -- I prefer dash to ellipse.

Good start. "ship to come in" could be "boat to berth -- "

Look forward to getting input from you on setting up a rudder on a Castaway -- fishing. I want to include option for rudder in build phase. Keep up the good work.

Great work -- a head turner! Congratulations.

FROG looks grand. I may build one without the skin because I so admire the frames!

Hey Aimless, how's the castaway build coming along? I just finished a CLC Passagemaker (stitch & glue) and am thinning about making the fishing castaway my next project. Don't despair on time, I spent 2.5 years building mine. I want this one to go faster. I'm debating about the cost of materials vs cost of kit. Looking for a complete materials list to get a firm price. What are you using for frame pieces? 1/2 in or 4 mm Baltic Birch? Any insights would be appreciated.