Hudson’s Bay Company North Canoe Plans
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The voyagers of the Hudson’s Bay Company needed big canoes to transport trade goods into the American interior. The 30-foot Hudson’s Bay Company 4-1/2-Fathom North Canoe fit the bill. This 59-inch-wide canoe typically transported five bales of general trade good, one bale and two rolls of tobacco, one bale of kettles, one case of guns, one case of hardware, two bags of lead shot, one bag of flour, one keg of sugar, two kegs of gunpowder and 10 kegs of wine. In addition to the trade goods, each member of the crew brought one bale of private property, one bag of corn, a partial keg of grease, bedrolls and canoe gear. All this gear, plus the weight of the paddlers, added up, but even a long ton of goods only sunk the canoe to the 8-1/2-inch waterline, which left 18 inches of freeboard.
The Hudson’s Bay Company North Canoe appears as Figure 115 in the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. It’s the biggest size that was typically used in the interior. Crees posted near James Bay built it in the middle of the 19th century. This shape is rather simple and was easy to model in Delftship. The sides are vertical near the ends, but flare near the middle. If you build this model, it’s worth picking up a copy of Bark and Skin, because the gunwales extend past the top of the stem in a way that adds interest and grace to the high bows. I’d suggest copying the look. Underloaded, empty or with just a few paddlers, I can’t imagine the boat would feel stable, but it’d be interesting to see if this is the case. I’d consider building this with 1/4-inch or thicker strips and probably lots of extra fiberglass or other reinforcements.
Specifications
Length: 29 feet 11 inches
Width: 59 inches
Depth: 26 inches
Capacity at the 8-1/2-inch waterline: 2406 lbs.
Get the Drawing Package
The drawing package includes the full-sized study plan and each station and stem drawn separately on a PDF that prints full sized on ARCH D size paper (nestings). You can cut these out and glue them to plywood to cut full-sized forms. A pdf of the electronic drawing package. is available for this kayak. You can print the file on 24- by 36-inch paper on your own.
- Contact me to see if I have time to draw the package.
Download Plans
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.
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13 Comments
Ron
Good site. Has anyone built the HB North Canoe with wood strip and glass?
I’ve done four stip canoes. A 25′ North canoe is the next project I am thinking about. I would be interest in any preformance comments if anyone has built one to this design.
Bryan Hansel
@Ron — This plan is part of my Winter Free Canoe and Kayak Plan Project. I’ve posted a plan every Friday since October of last year. It ends on April 1. This one went up on Nov. 12, so I doubt that anyone has finished one or even started one. It’s finally ranking in search engines.
I’ve seen Voyager canoes built in cedar strip and glass. Most builders end up using 5/16-inch strips and extra glass. The curves won’t present too many difficulties. I think that the strips turning from the bilge to the stem might need boiling water poured over them or a heat gun to make the turn, but that’s pretty easy.
Victor Vipond
I aqm looking for a set ofplans for a 25 foot North or Voyageur stylecanoe, preferablt asymetrical.
Bryan Hansel
Hi, Victor. This in the only one that I plan to publish in the near term. Not sure who else offers plans of Voyageur canoes.
soffi runars
In the PDF I count 15 stations, to be placed at 1′ intervals.. am I missing something? How can I make it reach 30 feet? I’m just drawing it up on the computer, dreaming away
Bryan Hansel
The canoe is symmetrical, so the stations are mirrored bow and stern.
soffi runars
makes sense :-) thanks! I just haven’t caught the idea of boats being symmetrical, looking forward to hammer this into delftship :)
Max Watzke
Hi Ron, Dieter Späth in Germany has build two Fur-Tade-Canoes, redesigned from Figure 131 and Figure 132. That are very beautiful canoes and very fast with experienced paddlers. You can visite his webside “www. Treibholzreisen.de” Dieter Späth. There you can see pic’s, the canoes under construktion and on tour.
Max
Graham Mannix
I want to build a canoe for the middle Zambezi river between kariba and Cahora Basa. It needs to carry 5 pax and provisions for 10 days so probably about 2000Lb. It needs excellent strength and stability. The river is fast moving and Hippo and Crocodile attach is a real possibility. Any thoughts on design.
Bryan Hansel
This would carry it, but these old designs can be a little tender if not loaded with a lot of weight. I’m not sure it would be the right canoe. It might work great considering it worked well on the ocean that is Lake Superior to haul trade goods during the fur trading era. I might also consider Green Valley Boat Works plan.
Graham Mannix
Thanks for that link Bryan. I think we are on the right track with HB North. I just need to get some more feedback on stability with a lighter load.