Free Canoe Plan – Modern Malecite St. John River Canoe
We may earn commissions if you shop through the links below.
This cedar canoe drawing is taken from Edwin Adney and Howard Chapelle’s The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. It appears on page 79. Adney surveyed the original in 1895. He notes that the boat shows moderate sheer and low ends.
For this set of free plans, I left the station shape and stem shape alone, and I modified the rocker and sheer. The original drawing shows the canoe with little to no rocker–I prefer a canoe that has some rocker–so I added a similar amount of rocker as seen in Prospector canoes. When I changed the rocker, I changed the sheerline, because I felt the additional rocker justified the appearance of a showy sheer. The end result looks classy.
Linesplan
Length: 17 feet
Width: 36 inches
Draft at 600 pounds: 5 inches
Optimum capacity: 300-700lbs
Elevator Pitch: The Modern Malecite St. John River canoe, originally built in birch bark in 1895, is a classic symmetrical canoe with moderate load capacity. Its rockered hull ensures easy turning without adversely affecting tracking. The tumblehome keeps the sides of the canoe close to the paddler for an easy reach into the water. Canoeists looking for a classic, cabin canoe or light-duty, symmetrical tripper will enjoy this design.
Builders
- Stefano Fasi’s builder’s log. Maybe the first one on the planet in over 100 years?
Video
Free Canoe Plan Downloads
I’m providing the free cedar canoe plans as a pdf (free Adobe Reader required to view) linesplan, which is printable on a letter-sized piece of paper; print this out for reference during the build. For building this wooden boat, I’m providing an A1-sized pdf of full-sized stations. This can be printed full-sized at many photocopy stores–no lofting required. I set the station intervals at one foot. For each station, I show lines to the outside of the canoe and for 3/16″ cedar strips. For builders who like a hardwood stem, I also included a 1.5-inch offset for the stem. For information on how to build a canoe from the free plans, see the book list below.
Free Canoe Plan Downloads and Package Downloads
Description of Available Plans
- Free Linseplans: The free linesplans are station and stem drawings overlaid on each other. They are drawn at full size.
- Drawing Package: The drawing package includes linesplans and each station and stem drawn separately on a PDF that prints full sized on when printed on the right paper size, usually ARCH D. You can cut these out and glue them to plywood to cut full-sized forms.
Recommended Canoe Building Books to Buy Before Building
The free canoe plans provided are the plan drawings of the canoe. If you want to build from the drawings, you will need instructions. The following books provide great instructions for building.
Canoecraft: An Illustrated Guide to Fine Woodstrip Construction The gold standard for cedar canoe builders. Use this book with the provided free plans and you’ll end up with a great canoe.
Building a Strip Canoe by Gil Gilpatrick A great cedar canoe building book that explains excellent shortcuts.
Strip Built Canoe: How to build a beautiful, lightweight, cedar strip canoe Well written and easy to follow. Every builder should own this.
Canoe Paddles: A Complete Guide to Making Your Own Paddle building techniques included with canoe and kayak building books are typically crude. Follow the directions in this book and end up with a beautiful and functional paddle to go along with your canoe or kayak.
Historical Pictures of Canoes Built on the St. John River
Or if you use a RSS Feed Reader subscribe via our RSS Feed.
12 Comments
lucidi fabio
thanks from Italy :-)
CKF Canoa Kayak Friuli
http://www.canoafriuli.com/2010/04/28/canoa-canadese-in-legno-al-ckf-canoa-kayak-friuli/
Bryan Hansel
I love the pictures! Especially the last one with the smiles on your faces. That’s what boat building and paddling is about. Thanks for building this canoe.
Bill Silvis
Bryan,
I liked this design and am about to build one, but I’m confused about the number of stations. There’s 8 stations, with a center station, which covers +/-7 feet from center or 14′ of boat, with 0.5 feet of stem past the last station that’s only 15′ of boat and it’s supposed to be 17′ long. Am I misreading something?
Bill
Bryan Hansel
Hey, Bill,
You’re not missing anything. When I revised the plan in April, I left off the center station. Probably a lesson in leaving good enough alone. I revised my revision and now the center station is back in the drawing. Check the revision date for 3/2011 for the current download. Sorry about that.
Bill Silvis
Bryan,
Got the 3/29/11 version with 9 stations now! Thanks!
Bill
Bill Silvis
Bryan,
Finally finished the modern Malecite and donation is in the mail. Had it out twice and it didn’t dump us! Fotos to follow.
Bill
Bryan Hansel
Thanks, Bill! I can’t wait to see the photos. I hope everything went well with the build.
Marcus
Do you think this boat can be build smaller?
I am thinking of 250-280cm.
Everything bigger won`t get out of my cellar in one piece.
I plan on building it short and without epoxy. Just paint the hull.
If it works out I want to build a bigger boat to split in 2 parts.
My son weights only 13kg and I am 70kg…we just want to go on a flat body of water.
Do you still have the original plans without that much rocker?
I got the gilpatrick book but there are only printed plans. I can import PDF into my CAD program and scale or modify them so a pdf would be great.
Any advice?
Bryan Hansel
I don’t have any advice or comment on your epoxy-free building method. As far as I know that doesn’t work with cedar strips.
Taking this boat down to 9 feet is pretty risky. I wouldn’t do it. If you want something that small, you’re much better off picking a pack canoe or hunting canoe. Usually boats that small are meant for solo paddlers. Maybe something like this would be better: Têtes de Boule Hunting Canoe or the Têtes de Boule Hunter’s Canoe.