Classic One Of A Kind Skin-On-Frame Kayak / Canoe

“Happiness” (my name for the craft) is now for sale! It will be a gracious addition to any summer cottage on a lake and is light so can be car topped. I built this one-off skin-on-frame kayak-canoe from lumber cut from a Eastern Hemlock log I took to a sawmill in 1985. I intended to build a boat in the following year then 30 years went by. In 2016 I discovered a photo taken in 1950 of my brother and me in a similar craft, so I found some plans from a 1950’s boat building magazine, and began building “Happiness”.

I’ve done restoration work on many canoes and the plans, which I modified, were pretty straightforward. The boat is a traditional skin-on-frame, 13’6” in length, 38’ in beam, 12” deep, weighs about 80# and has an estimated load capacity of 500#. The frame was finished with two coats of tung oil before the tough waterproof polyester skin was attached. It can be paddled with kayak paddles or rowed with oars. The oarlock mounting brackets have four positions and the craft can be rowed from either the middle or rear seat.

It has a keel and is a dream to row, and has been rowed several times in a nearby lake, but is in near new condition. The middle seat can handle two kids or one adult and the rear seat is for one person. The floor boards and combing trim are made of catalpa, a tough light weight rot-resistant wood, the seats from northern white cedar and the name tag is easily reversible so that the boat may be easily renamed. A home-made video and a collection of photos of the build process will go with the boat. I’m now into building lightweight recreational wooden rowing shells and need the storage space so it is time to find a new home for “Happiness.” The starting price given doesn’t even cover the cost of materials not to mention the hundreds of build hours.

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