Free Boat Plans

Building the Bateau 14 canoe

This is the first boatbuilding project I tackled (several years ago). But I thought sharing the process with you. The plans for this canoe can be found here. These plans have all the information you need to build this canoe. As you will see if you compare the plans with the pictures I have done several modifications to the canoe. If you want to see enlarge the picture just click over it. To see pictures of the canoe on the lake, go to Galleries section.

This canoe can be built with 2 8x4 plywood sheets. I didn't use any fancy plywood. I just used 1/4 AB plywood (the construction type you can by in any harware store). The pannels of this canoe are longer than the standard plywood sheet, so I laid both sheets in the floor and mark them for cut. Scribbing the pannels is not a difficult operation, you just need a ruler, and a long batten to scribe the curves.

To cut the pannels I used a small circular saw. Even in the plans it says you don't need to be very precise in your cuts (Stitch and glue technique allows for gaps up to 10mm according to the plans) be aware that you will have to sand more later if your cuts are not very precise. After cutting the pieces,I numbered all of them (including the butt blocks). This was pretty straight forward operation.

Here I am assembling all the pieces together with butt blocks. Numbering the pieces will help you to keep everything straight. Make sure you use a good amount of epoxy to prevent bubbles. TIP: to prevent the pannels from gluing to the floor, put plastic bags (the kind you get at the super market) under the pannels. Epoxy does not sticks to plastic.