Canoes are a lot of fun. As a child, I can remember the imagination that a canoe would spark. We would pretend we were adventurers on the great frontier charting new territory. And, for us, it was all new and quite the adventure. The special part about the canoe is that it is native to North America. The Carib Indians would take large trees and dig them out. So, it's not a surprise that the etymology of the word canoe is "kenu" which means "dugout". The "Carib Indians" used the kenu around the Caribbean which made them sea going vessels! Later, the North American Indians developed the canoe out of ribs and bark. They preferred bark is birch bark as it is light weight and water proof.

Anyway, we love our history and we wanted to provide just a little bit of history on the canoe. Don't worry, the below plans won't have you out cleaning ribs and shaving bark. These boat plans are plywood boat plans so you can get all of your supplies locally or, in some models, you can actually buy the wooden boat kits. Although, the irony is that the design of the canoe really hasn't changed much over the years... but we're going to have you use marine grade plywood instead... and take some advantage of the inventions made through the industrial era! Check out some of the plans for canoes below. The plans for these boats range from $10-30 dollars. Furthermore, a canoe is one of the easiest boats to build so it's a good place to start for the first time boat builder.

Chenoa 14				Hiawatha 12
LOA:	14'	4.3 m		LOA:	12' 1"	3.7 m
Max. Beam:	35"	.9 m		Max. Beam:	30"	.76 m
Estimated Weight:	55 lbs	25 kg		Estimated Weight:	40 lbs	18 kg
Time to build hull:	30 hours			Time to build Hull:	25 hours
Material:	Stitch & Glue			Material:	Stitch & Glue

Nice Canoe 14				Chenoa 16
LOA:	16'	5.15 m		LOA:	15' 5"	4.7 m
Max. Beam:	40"	1 m		Max. Beam:	39"	1 m
Estimated Weight:	60 lbs	27 kg		Estimated Weight:	60 lbs	27 kg
Time to build Hull:	30 Hours			Time to Build Hull:	30 Hours
Material:	Stitch & Glue			Material:	Stitch & Glue