Canvasback: A Light Canvas-Covered Boat Built on Bricks
A one-person canvas-covered boat with plywood frames and spruce stringers, set up on a jig made from two blocks and a few bricks.
Canvasback is the kind of project that fits in a garage corner and a handful of weekends. It is a small, canvas-skinned boat sized for one adult or a youngster, with exterior plywood frames tied together by spruce or fir stringers. The building jig is wonderfully low-tech: two blocks and some bricks. If you like the idea of a light, quiet craft for slipping along a pond edge, this one keeps things refreshingly simple.
Canvasback at a glance
| Detail | Canvasback |
|---|---|
| Type | Canvas-covered boat |
| Capacity | 1 adult or youngster |
| Construction | Exterior plywood frames, spruce or fir stringers, canvas covered; jig of two blocks and bricks |
| Designer | S. Calhoun Smith |
| First published | p. 456 |
| Plan sheets | 7 |
Light, simple and cheap to set up
Canvas over a skeleton of frames and stringers is one of the oldest ways to get a boat that is light for its size. The plywood frames give the shape, the spruce or fir stringers carry it from end to end, and the canvas skin closes it in. Because the jig is just two blocks and bricks, you skip the strongback and molds that bigger plans demand.
Sized for a single person, adult or young, it suits a family project where a teenager does much of the hands-on work. Seven plan sheets leave plenty of room for the frame shapes and covering details a skin-on-frame build depends on. A short, light boat like this is also easy to lift onto a roof rack or carry to the water's edge without help.
The original plan sheets
These are the 7 original sheets, scanned from the magazine. For building, use the full-size PDF in the download section below.
Who designed it
S. Calhoun Smith drew Canvasback, and the plans first appeared on page 456 of the original publication. The seven sheets preserved here cover the frames, stringers and canvas covering, plus the brick-and-block jig that holds everything true while you build.
Before you build
- Pick straight-grained spruce or fir for the stringers and reject lengths with knots near the bends, since they carry the boat's shape.
- Level the blocks and bricks of the jig before mounting the frames, because any twist there ends up locked into the finished hull.
- Stretch and tack the canvas from the middle outward, seal it thoroughly, and make the first outing in calm, shallow water.
Download the plan
All seven original Canvasback sheets in one file, ready to print at full size or keep on a tablet beside the jig.
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