McGowan 
            Marine    Design
 

Outrigger Canoe  

- a 24’ (7.32m) One-person ocean racing outrigger for a (big) client in California.  When a small canoe just won’t do!

Human Powered

Wee Willy B. - 10' (3.05m) Strip Built Pack Canoe

This canoe design is inspired by the lovely pack canoes built by J.Henry Rushton over 130 years ago, especially the Wee Lassie models. Rushton built boats that met the needs of the likes of George Washington Sears, or "Nessmuk" as he was known in his outdoor adventure articles in Forest and Stream Magazine. Sears championed a minimalist "go-light brotherhood" style of camping and wilderness travel, and his boats and gear were indeed amazingly light.

Wee Willy B was named for a neighbour's son, and does not adhere to Nessmuk's "go-light brotherhood" weight restrictions, though the canoe should finish out at less than 28 lbs. (13 kg). Willy B's dad is a hunter and is a fairly big man, so he wanted a larger boat that could handle a good amount of gear. It would be fair to say the boat was designed to a "pretty-light brotherhood" standard, and would be suitable for many of us Westerner/Northerners who really belong to the "eat-ourselves-into-an-early-grave brotherhood". This would also be a great canoe for a couple of kids to play around in all summer.

Wood/epoxy construction will be of 1/4" (6 mm) strips, and is 'glassed inside and out. Local woods may be used for the planking (white pine would be fine). Plans with full-size patterns are available.  A 12’ (3.66m) version is also available.

Wee Willy B was designed using TouchCAD, which has a neat unfolding feature.  It is a natural for laying out lapstrake or 'clinker' planks, or plywood panels for stitch-and-glue construction. I'm playing with a building method tentatively called "StripLap Construction" (explained in the above picture). I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that this is a common building technique somewhere, and that it has another name as it seems very practical. Combined with software like TouchCAD this could be a great way to build boats. Add the ‘glass keel/stem/lower transom feature of the Fundy Sharpies, and you have the makings of a great kit boat.  Sorry no full-size lapstrake plans... yet.

Copyright 2001-2021 inclusive    McGowan Marine Design, Inc.

Designed using TouchCadhttp://touchcad.com/

Sailing Canoe 

- 18’ (4.5m) Sailing Canoe for an experience canoe sailer and woodworker in New Jersey.