Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

let your computer find these books for you :)
By:Paul G. Jacobson
Date: 6/14/2001, 12:22 am

: I bid on instructions for building a kayak on ebay. I lost the bid, but
: it sparked the interest to build my own kayak. Where do I find books or
: blueprints to build one? I can't seem to locate this info. Any
: suggestions would be very appreciated.

The list of books on the subject is a bit too large to repost each time the question is asked.

Since you can post a message on this board I assume you have use of a computer that has internet access. So:

Go to www.amazon.com and search for books on kayak and canoe building. A few good authors to look for are Kulczycki, Schade, Putz, and Hazen. A search with any of these names and the word kayak should find the books they've written. Amazon also lists similar books. Look for the entry that is something like "people who purchased this book also bought. . . "

Check the descriptions of the books carefully. Most of those I've mentioned have plans in the book that you can build from. Mostly they are reduced size and you have to squint to read them. Or, in other cases the shape of the boat is defined by a chart of numbers (called a table of offsets) that you plot out yourself on graph paper to produce working forms. The authors of the books frequently also sell full sized plans (no squinting or drawing) and sometimes precut wood parts. Contact information is included in each author's book.

Copy down the titles and ISBN numbers fo the books and check at your local library to see if they have them. If they do not, ask if they can be obtained through interlibrary loan from another library. If that turns out to be a dead end, ask if they might be interested in adding the book to their collection.

Hope this helps.

PGJ

Messages In This Thread

Where does one get construction instructions?
Kay -- 6/13/2001, 7:49 pm
Re: Where does one get construction instructions?
dick kirschbaum -- 6/14/2001, 11:31 am
Re: Where does one get construction instructions?
David Elles -- 6/14/2001, 7:56 am
let your computer find these books for you :)
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/14/2001, 12:22 am
Re: let your computer find these books for you :)
redhush -- 6/16/2001, 6:41 pm
New Investment Opportunity
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 6/17/2001, 7:30 pm
Re: Where does one get construction instructions?
Paul Lund -- 6/13/2001, 11:33 pm
Re: Where does one get construction instructions?
daren neufeld -- 6/13/2001, 8:56 pm