The Swift is an outboard powered square stern canoe. The fine hull will travel fast with little HP. In displacement mode, the Swift will go much faster than a wider boat. She moves with less fuss and creates only a small wake.

All specifications are approximate and subject to changes in function of the mood of the designer and the skills of the builder . . .

Rigged with a 6 HP outboard, the Swift will plane with 2 people (350 lbs) on board. Heavier loads will require more HP. We know that most owners of square stern canoes use larger engines but 6 HP is the limit calculated with the USCG formula. See this capacity tag of the famous Gheenoe©, it shows 5 HP:

Compared to other square stern canoes, the Swift has the advantage of a wider stern. This makes starting the engine much easier. The Swift hull also also more lift than a regular canoe with a cutoff stern.

Being light and long, like all square stern canoes, she is sensitive to longitudinal weight distribution. Handled by one person, the weights must be kept in the center. This means that the single hander must sit in the middle of the boat and use a tiller extension to steer. A tiller extension is a simple PVC pipe.

This boats transom is designed for a standard 15" shaft. The transom can easily be modified to accept other shaft lengths.

Building method:
The Swift is built from marine or exterior plywood, with a completely fiberglassed bottom, insides and out to well above the waterline. This produces a very stiff and strong composite bottom. Lighter but stronger than single skin fiberglass. All other parts are epoxy saturated in and outside, for easy maintenance and long life.
The assembly method is "stitch and glue": the 1/4" (6mm) plywood core panels, cut from our full size patterns, are bent around the mid frame, fastened to the transom and joined at the bow with stitches. No scarfing is needed: the sides and bottom are cut from standard 4x8 plywood (122x244cm), joined with a simple fiberglass tape splice.
All seams are taped with fiberglass and epoxy, see our technical support webiste bateau2.com for details. No beveling is required. These epoxy seams are much stronger than the plywood itself. The keel is very strong: with all the fiberglass taping and fabric overlaps, it is around 3/4" ( 20mm) thick! More framing is installed after hull completion, including the seat tops and decks which participate to the structure. They are also tapped with epoxy-fiberglass to the bottom and transom.

Required Skills:
The drawings show all construction details with dimensions for the expanded hull panels, frames and seat tops. While the assembled hull shows nice curves, most of the hull panels edges are straight: easy and fast. Nobody needs a pattern to draw a straight line and that is why we do not supply them.
As all our stitch and glue boats, the Swift is very easy to build. No woodworking skills or special tools are required. The plans include all dimensions to cut all the hull parts flat on the shop floor. No scarfing required. This boat can be build by a first time builder.

.

Options:
The plans show our suggested layout but this boat can be customized to fit your requirements. As long as the spacing of the framing is respected, the builder can change the interior layout. For major changes, please post questions on our technical support message board.
While we show access under the seats through opening in the frames, if the builder prefers, he can cut hatches in the seat tops.
Swivel seats can be fitted to the decks with appropriate plywood backing plates.
The Swift can be made unsinkable with a 2 gallon kit of our expandable foam.
Another option is to build all frames, decks and seat tops from foam sandwich. This will make the boat around 50 lbs lighter but will require the purchase of foam sheets and extra fiberglass. That foam and fiberglass are sold at BoatBuilderCentral.com.
Budget minded builders can use blue styrofoam for those panels. It will not be as strong or durable than Divinycell but is adequate in this case. The plans specify the foam type and fiberglass for that option.

Bill Of Materials:
(Excerpts from our BOM)
The BOM list materials based on our standard layout and includes a 15% waste factor for resin and fiberglass. For plywood, we use standard sheets 4' x 8' (122 x 244 cm). Please read the building notes and see the plans for detailed specifications. We sell high quality marine plywood at BoatBuilderCentral.com but good quality exterior is acceptable if it has no voids.

Cost:
Estimate 2004: US $600.00

Labor:
The average amateur should be able to assemble this hull in less than 20 hours, 50 hours of labor being a maximum for a boat show type finish.

More:
Visit our message board, help pages, tutorial pages and read our FAQ: most questions are answered there.

Plans Packing List: