The lazy Weekend Canoe is a designed to be cheap and easy to build using materials from your average big box store. It requires (3) sheets of 1/4" ply and (1) 16ft 2x8 ripped into (6) 16ft 1x2s, (1) 4' 2x2, and (2) 2' 2x3s

The hardest part of the build is cutting the 2x8 - Mr. Scheidiman, my shop teacher in junior high, would kick my ass if he saw me wrestling that effing board through the tablesaw. Of course, running floppy plywood through a tablesaw is no mean trick, either, but 'needs must' and all that.

Once the sides are cut, I stack them back to back and cut all the stems all at once. You are either going to save some time or make a whole lot of mistakes really fast, so think about it before you start.

Simple butt joints for making the sides - you could scarf them together, but that'd take an extra few minutes to cut the scarfs.

(note: the boat is upside down in this picture)

The sides are held apart and at a 20° angle by the yoke at the top and a temporary brace at the bottom. Since the yoke is permanent, I've rounded the edges and sanded it before installation.

Notice the temporary brace is 1 1/2" from the edge of the plywood - this is to accommodate the chines that'll be coming soon.

Held apart in the middle and attached at the stems, the canoe starts to take shape.

By now you might have noticed I have drawn lines on the boards. I'm calling this 'faux planking' because it kind of looks like the boat is made from planks instead of plywood. You'll see what I mean.

I've found it easiest to trim off the stem excess before I attach the chines and gunnels.

From building boats designed by Jim Michalak, I've grown to appreciate external chines.They make it a lot easier to turn your boat back upright after a capsize and they work like rubrails, too.

The chines extend above the plywood by about 1/4", then planed and sanded down to meet the ply - giving a nice, wide surface for gluing on the bottom.

Some people like to attach the gunnels before the bottom - they do this because the thin plywood is fragile, and attaching the gunnel will protect the edge while the boat is upside down, getting the chines planed and the bottom attached.

I forgot to take pictures of attaching the bottom, so here is the inside of the nearly finished boat. I finished it with Helmsman Spar Varnish, which gives the boat a very nice color and coating. See how cool the faux planking is? Not bad for a $1 fine point Sharpie from Wal-Mart.

The seats are a simple affair, 9 1/2" wide and braced with 1x2s. I attached 2x2s to the sides to hold the seats up, the seats are attached with 2" wood screws (stainless steel, of course.)

And finally: Notice the black caulking at the edges of the bottom. This is a DAP roofing product, applied with a caulking gun. It takes just over 1 tube to caulk the bottom, inside and out, plus the keel. I was trying to go for the 'tar' look, like in the days of old.

Here she is in the water. A friend needed help moving some gear from his whaleboat to the docks - giving me a perfect opportunity to test out my canoe.

See how high she rides? With just me in the canoe, it was a little . . . squirrelly - very light and skittery.

Here she is loaded with 200lbs of me and another 200-250lbs of crap.

The canoe weighs about 70lbs, so there is about 500lbs here all together. She's still riging pretty well.

When did I get fat lines on the back of my head?

Here's a shot of the load: Tools, parts, screws, and just plain crap.

I don't know why people tow tiny dinghies behind their sailboats - canoes tow just as easily and are much more versatile.

There she is sitting on the dock. It sure is a pretty boat. On the drive home, I had four cars honk and give me the 'thumbs up.'

No maiden voyage is complete without a mishap. For me, it was when I was loading up to go home. I'd set the canoe on top of the car, then realized I needed my tie-down straps, which were in the back. I opened the hatch, pulled out the straps, and turned to set them on the ground. The canoe is so light, the hatch just lifted up the back part of the canoe until it tipped enough to slide off the front of the car.

It makes a really neat rumbly sound when it does that. I'm calling myself lucky on this: That's one hell of a drop-off in front of the car - that canoe could have kept going 40 feet down to the water below. As it was: No damage!

The Lazy Weekend Canoe seems to be a success. It does everything I want it to do and is dead easy to build.

Bill of Materials:

• Three sheets of 1/4" or 5mm exterior grade plywood.
• One 16ft 2x8 ripped into six 16ft 1x2s, a 4' 2x2, and two 2' 2x3s
• ~ 20 oz of TiteBond II or III waterproof glue or (2-3) tubes of PL Premium.
• 100 (minimum) 3/4" flat or oval head screws, stainless or galvinized, for attaching the bottom. Another 150 or so if you want to leave screws in the chiens and gunnels.
• Two tubes of caulk
• ~ 3/4 gallon of exterior varnish to get three coats.