Custom Designs

 

Over the years we have designed and built many different wooden sailing canoes. With the help of computer aided design and the experience of many hours sailing, both racing and cruising, our sailing canoes have evolved and improved. This gave us the confidence to invest in a range of fibreglass sailing canoes. These are good all round sailing canoes and are the boats that we use, whether racing on Rutland Water or cruising on the West Coast of Scotland.

However, we also offer wooden sailing canoes for the discerning customer. All sailing canoes are a compromise of several factors; length, beam, freeboard, shape, weight, speed, stability, load carrying, sail area, sail style, construction method, seaworthiness, ease of paddling, aesthetics, maintenance, etc. Building with wood allows us to try new and varied designs as each boat is built as a one off. This means that we can design and build a sailing canoe that will exactly suit your needs.

Seaworthiness comes from having a wide enough beam for stability and decks which keep the water out and allow you to recover from a capsize easily. Such a boat might be suitable for an experienced sailor to sail on inland water in strong winds or on the sea.

Decks and a wide beam inevitably add weight to a canoe. Where light weight is more important, for example if you want to more easily carry your canoe on top of your car, a small undecked wooden sailing canoe would be more suitable. It can weigh as little as 45lbs and would be easy to load onto you car. This boat would only be suitable for sailing in good conditions and on sheltered waters. These are extremes but there is a continuum between these designs.

We can also custom build one of our fibreglass hulls with a wooden deck. This hybrid has the superb round bilged hull shape with a super smooth finish that we get from GRP but with the aesthetics of a wooden deck. This method can produce a superior sailing canoe with a weight saving over our standard fibreglass canoes.

Below are a few examples of one off boats that we have made

2 Person Cruising Trimaran

solway dory trimaran

Fibreglass-wood hybrid

sailing canoe with wooden deck

Seen below with a ketch rig

Plywood decked sailing canoe

Custom built clinker ply construction

Custom Built Clinker Ply sailing canoe

Wooden spars, traditional fittings & launching trolley

clinker ply sailing canoe

Cedar strip hull - the original Avocet

strip planked sailing canoe

Cedar strip hull with small lugsail ketch rig

Cedar Strip sailing canoe with Small Lugsail Ketch Rig

Hawaiian-style outrigger canoe, Gary Dierking design

Hawaiian style outrigger canoe (Gary Dierking design)

With 2 outriggers and a bermudan ketch

gary dierking outrigger canoe by solway dory

Plywood 14ft by 30in sailing and paddling canoe

Plywood 14ft by 30in Sailing and Paddling Canoe

So, if you think that our stock fibreglass designs do not quite suit your needs or aspirations please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your requirements.

  Just use the contact form to get in touch..