Welcome to Makeacanoe.com which takes the place of canoesandskiffs.com and concentrates purely on the ever growing Selway Fisher Design range of canoes and kayaks for the home boatbuilder. Our range of skiffs can still be seen along with all our other designs at www.selway-fisher.com.

Building a stitch and tape canoe is a quick and low cost way to get afloat which requires only basic woodworking skills. Ordinary Exterior (WBP) ply and exterior household paints and varnishes are often used and along with some simple DIY tools and a garage or temporary shelter to build in, a canoe can be put together in as little as 2 weekends and the intervening evenings.

So, the outlay in terms of cost, finding suitable materials and time is relatively small allowing the builder to be on the water quickly in a boat that he/she has made for themselves.

Alternatively, someone looking for a longer and more involved project for the winter evenings may consider building one of our beautiful Cedar Strip canoes. Still not requiring more than reasonable woodworking skills and tools, the builder ends up with a very attractive craft which will turn heads wherever it is used.

For both types of canoe enthusiast, Makeacanoe.com has been set up to provide an inspiring shop window and a place of information and support for all matters to do with home canoe and kayak building. We hope you enjoy Makeacanoe.com and welcome any comments and suggestions you may have to help us provide what you, the home canoe builder needs.

On this site you will find a wide range of over 55 canoes and kayaks including :-

• 9 Kayaks (including one built using the strip plank method).

• 17 ply open canoes up to 15'.

• 10 ply open canoes 15' to 17'.

• 10 ply canoes over 17'.

• 5 strip planked open canoes.

• 6 motor canoes.

• 5 sailing canoes (plus another 8 of our other open canoes which come with sail plans).

What is on this site? - this is quite a large site with details of all of our canoe and kayak designs plus descriptions of our design catalogues and construction manuals.
You will see at the top of this page - links to the various different pages describing the designs etc. A brief description of the design packages & services can be found below along with ordering information plus a list of site updates. Please read the ordering information carefully as there are now several ways in which you can place an order.

The Design Packages - all designs are complete for amateur DIY construction (unless otherwise stated) and have details, notes and a building procedure - please note that we also run a full back-up service allowing you to contact us by phone/fax, post or e-mail with any queries you may have before, during or after construction - we also have several Construction Manuals as an aid for those unfamiliar with modern boat-building or who want to keep up with the latest techniques.
The 2 main construction techniques used for these designs are:-

• Stitch & Tape plywood using computer generated hull panel shapes.

• Cedar Strip Plank using computer generated and faired mould shapes.

Using our YachtCAD system, we can change from one construction method to another in a design and we can often  offer details for clinker ply construction for any of our designs too.

CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO VISIT EACH SECTION OF OUR CANOE & SKIFF PLAN RANGE 

The Designs
Kayaks	Open Ply Canoes up to15'
Open Ply Canoes 15' to 17'	Open Ply Canoes over 17'
Open Strip Plank Canoes	Motor Canoes
Sailing Canoes

Ordering Plans, Manuals & Catalogues - there are several ways in which you can place an order with us - these are separated into 2 mains methods :-

• Directly with your credit/debit card whilst you are on-line - we have added an Ordering Cart system which allows you to add the plans etc you wish to order to the Cart before going to the secure area to place your order. You will find a "Buy Plan Now" button under the description of each item.
  Please Note - for the moment, the On-Line Ordering Cart does not add the cost of Postage (Shipping) to your order - however postage & packing charges will be added - for a note of these P&P charges please go to the Postage (Shipping) Charges Table. All card transactions are in Sterling.

• By Post, Fax, E-mail or Phone - for those who do not wish to order on-line, we have retained our Order Form - go to our Post/Fax Order Form page (see also the Navigation bar at the top of this page for a link) and you will find an order form which you can print out, fill-in and send by post or fax with either your credit/debit card details or cheque/postal order.

• Note that there are 2 "Buy Plan Now" buttons for each set of plans - one for UK/EU customers which includes VAT and one for USA/Elsewhere customers which excludes VAT. Catalogues and Manuals do not incur VAT for UK/EU customers and these items therefore only have one "Buy Now Button".

• Please note that all credit/debit card transactions have to be done in Pounds Sterling - the US Dollar prices given in the price lists are estimated at an exchange rate of 1.6 USD = £1 Sterling and therefore our US clients may find the amount charged on their card statements will vary (up or down) from the US price given, if the exchange rate at the time is different - however, do remember that we are more than happy to accept payment by personal US Dollar cheque at the US Dollar price given in the price lists if you would prefer to order by Post - go to the  Post/Fax Order Form  page.

	Paying with PayPal
PayPal is an increasingly popular way to pay for purchases on-line. For those who want to pay using their PayPal account, Selway Fisher Design/Makeacanoe now has it's own PayPal account which you can pay into. Unfortunately, due to the complexities of setting up an efficient system of paying for postage and packing with PayPal which does not over-charge the customer for multiple purchases, we have not been able to use PayPal's simple buy-now set-up. This means that to use your PayPal account you simply need to transfer the total amount of your order including Postage & Packing into our PayPal account using the PayPal transfer system on your account.
To pay using your PayPal account :- Calculate the total amount of your order including P&P (see the Postage table below) - or contact us (either ring +44 1225 705074 or e-mail us at paul@selway-fisher.com) when we can confirm the total cost for you and give you our PayPal account paying-in details. Go to your PayPal account and transfer the amount to our Paypal account. E-mail us at paul@selway-fisher.com telling us that you have made the transfer and giving us the order details plus the address to send the order to. Postage Rates Item UK Airmail Europe Airmail US/Elsewhere Study Plans £1.00 £1.50 £2.50 Full Plans Canoes £1.00 £2.00 £4.00 Full Plans Others £2.00 £3.00 £6.00 Manuals £2.50 £3.50 £5.00 Catalogue/CD's Go to SFDesign Catalogues & Manuals. DVD's £1.99 £2.99 £3.99

List of Latest Site Updates

• 01/10/07 - Addition of 2 new designs - the Prospector 17 open canoe and Dragon 35 racing canoe.

• 11/10/07 - Katie and Mike's Canoe Building page, a page of canoe Bits and Pieces (rudders, sails etc) and a FAQ page added.

• 12/10/07 - More added to the Bits and Pieces and FAQ's pages.

• 29/10/07 - More on Katie and Mike's canoe building page and on the New design page.

• 12/12/07 - Boatbuilding DVD - although based on a SFDesign Coble, all the hints and tips are relevant to stitch and tape construction for a plywood canoe - go to Canoe Catalogues & Manuals.

• 26/01/08 - photo of Baby Kate added.

• 24/10/06 - New design added - the 19' Greenland Kayak with ply hull and strip planked deck plus several new photos for the Beaver, Dart 16, Prospector, Baby Kate, Waterman 16 and Raven canoes.

• 15/11/08 - A Quick Design Index page has been added so that you can have a quick overview of all our canoe designs - click on any particular thumbnail photograph and you will be taken directly to a description of that design - also, any new photos added to the site will be highlighted on this page.

• 24/01/09 - Several drawings added and others upgraded and spec' tables added to each design.

• 16/05/09 - A new design - the 17' Siton Kayak - go to Kayaks. Also several new photos added - to the Dart 14, Seafox, Waterman 12, Waterboy, Prospector 17 and 15' Outboard Motor canoe.

• 16/07/09 - A new design - the 14'6" Hazelnut 5 plank per side open canoe - go to Open Canoes up to 15'; also several new photos added to the Waterman 12, Christine, Adirondack and Prospector and a new Manual of Clinker Plywood Boat Construction.

• 21/09/09 - A new On-Line Manual of Stitch & Tape construction based on the building of our new Hazelnut design - you can get to it from the stitch and tape page or go to On-Line Manual of Stitch & Tape Construction. Also, new photos of the 14' Raven, 14' Peterborough, Waterman 13 and 15'8" Prospector have been added.

• 21/10/09 - A new design - the 10' Waterboy added - go to Open Canoes up to 15'

• 15/12/09 - The new version of the Ply/Epoxy Canoe Construction Manual which has more details on modern canoe construction and a large chapter on canoe extras - trolleys, outboard brackets/wells, rudders, sailing rigs etc will be available early in the New Year. Also, we have not raised our plan prices for over 6 years and have absorbed all the increases we have had in printing, admin etc as best we can, but we do now need to adjust our prices to reflect some of these increased costs and therefore plan prices will rise early in 2010.

• 01/01/10 - The New version of the Plywood Canoe Construction Manual and the Canoe Catalogue on CD are now available - go to Canoe Catalogues & Manuals.

• 14/01/10 - New photos added for the Esk 14, Peterborough, Hazelnut, Prospector and 12' Motor canoes.

• 25/02/10 - You may now pay by PayPal - go to the Ordering Plans, Catalogues & Manuals section on this page for details.

• 30/04/10 - New pictures of the Waterman 16 (built in 2 halves), Prospector, Wren and 15' Outboard canoe.

• 10/05/10 - Go to http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?24223-Away-with-the-Wayfarers-Tenby-Canoe-Saing for pictures and a video of Steve Cullis' Prospector with floats, sail and cuddy.

• 29/05/10 - new photos of the Hazelnut, Steve Cullis' Prospector, the Raven and Asymmetric Strip Planked Baby Raven added.

• 05/08/10 - new photos of the Esk 14 and 17 kayaks plus some canoes for sale on the SFDesign Canoes for Sale page.

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