The Eureka 155 Canoe is a lightweight plywood canoe from plan half the weight of an average fibreglass canoe with much better handling.
It goes a long way with modest effort and tracks well when the waves and wind are up.
Eureka Classic Canoes:
- Simple to Build – Stitch and Glue
- Great Paddling Boats
- 1/2 the weight of most fibreglass Canoes
- Step by step instructions and many illustrations
- Beautiful
Eureka Canoe Specifications
Length – 15’6″ (4.73m)
Beam – 34″ (0.86m)
Weight – 44lbs (20kg) – Gaboon (Okoume) Ply
Weights of 34lbs are achievable (15.5kg)
Read this page for the Plan and boat Information
All our articles about the Eureka – building details, construction methods, making a paddle, Videos,
Design Process for the Eureka Canoes – an easy lightweight canoe kit for the Japanese Market
The Eureka Plywood Canoes are the result of a collaboration between Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Adelaide and Storer Boat Plans. A Japanese partner wanted a lightweight canoe that was not over 13ft long to sell as a boat kit in Japan.
The hopeful business idea didn’t work out because the Osaka earthquake wiped out our partner.
Duck Flat and I developed the smaller Eureka over several prototypes to produce the best mix of performance, light weight, good looks. And, most importantly for a kit to be exported to Japan, to be foolproof in assembly.
The 15.5 is built stitch and glue. The smaller boat 13ft was not sufficiently stable with adults. As a result we discontinued the smaller plywood canoe plans.
We developed the longer Eureka 155 (our stock classic canoe plan) from the of the smaller boat. So Stability is improved without creating a too blunt shape. This Produces a boat more suitable for long distance travelling or carrying a load.
The larger boat is well considered by experienced canoeists – review
We have several videos of the Eureka and Quick Canoes on youtube.
Click here to go to my Canoe comparison page
To help you choose the best boat for your needs
The building process for the Eureka Plywood Canoes
The EUREKA plywood canoe hullshapes are computer generated which allows much greater freedom in shape than traditional manual methods.
Video image can take a moment to load.
The Eureka canoes are built slightly differently from most stitch and glue canoe plan (though the method has become standard in the last 20 years or so :) )
First step is for Bilge panels fitted to the bottom panel. Then the topside panels set the correct width using temporary spreaders. Then the two assemblies are stitched together. Plastic cable ties in the low stress areas but change over to the traditional copper wire ties in the ends of the boat where the stresses are greater. Resulting in a lightweight canoe structure.
Then the hull is filleted and/or glass taped together. After this fit the Gunwales, inwales, end decks and buoyancy tanks, seats, and spreader bars.
Light Weight Plywood Canoe is half the weight of a fibreglass boat
The boat pictured below came in at 15.5kg (34lbs) finished with a lot of effort made to keep the weight down – 3mm (1/8″) ply instead of the 6mm specified. Additionally weight is stripped using lightweight fibreglass on the bottom, use of selected lightweight timbers for the trim and those really cool lightweight seats. A boat built to the normal specifications tends to come in a bit over the 43lb mark. Plywood canoe plans targeted at half the weight of a ‘glass boat. And with effort – 1/3.
Reports of the first Eureka wooden canoe show it to be much easier to paddle than the usual plywood canoe, and indeed much better than most production glass hulls. In effect greatly reducing the effort required from the paddlers when covering longer distance.
The other major bit of feedback is on the appearance – the EUREKA 155 is a very handsome lightweight canoe – quite unusual for the average plywood boatbuilding project.
Basic Materials – Eureka 155 stitch and glue plywood canoe plans
- 2 sheets plywood for hull
- an extra half sheet for enddecks and bulkheads is required if wanting to fit buoyancy tanks
- 3 Litres Epoxy
- Fibreglass Tape 50mm x 39m – 2″ x 128ft
LINKS for more Eureka Plywood Canoe Plans information
- Photos and review from experienced canoeists
- Timber List (metric) – PDF format
- The Boat that (almost) made us our fortunes
The Eureka is a nice classic canoe – For a simpler cheaper canoe look at our Quick Canoe
Instructions – a triple storage rack to build yourself
Hi,
I’m hoping to build this canoe and store it from the ceiling in my garage. I currently only have 15 inches of clearance between the garage door when it’s open and the ceiling. Is this enough space?
Thanks!
Hi Kelly,
It is not enough. You will need 21 to 22 inches.
Best Regards
MIK
Michael,
Thanks for the offer to e-mail the drawing. I haven’t received it, so kindly resend it and hopefully it will get through. Thanks.
Sent again. A weird email problem. If it doesn’t work contact me directly with an alternative email address. It could be being filtered out somewhere on the way to the first email address.
Do you have a midship cross section drawing for the Eureka 155? I find that with stitch and glue construction, a midship building jig simplifies the whole process of avoiding twist. Even if you can provide the top plank angle from vertical, I can work out the jig shape. Thanks.
I will send one to your email address George
MIK
Thank you for the new resources.
I am way better at visual things than at at reading text.
Cheers,
Ian
Happy to help Ian
If anything still seems unclear please get back to me
MIK
Hi, I just bought the Eureka 155 plan.
Perhaps you have a good video tutorial to suggest as the plan is not very beginner friendly.
Also, you could have put the drawings on top of the plan so we can understand what you are talking about.
37 pages for 2 plywood sheets and a few struts. :(
More like 37 pages with 15 photos, 29 illustrations by an artist friend. And those “two sheets of ply and a few struts” build one of the lightest and nicest to handle plywood canoe that it is possible to build. It isn’t something that many people can do – and that is the value of the plan.
To tell you the truth though, People do look in plans different ways – so sometimes a plan can work for most but be more difficult for some to follow. This doesn’t at all imply that those who don’t find it easy have any lack at all – just different ways of seeing and understanding. I try to cater for that by updating the plans when there are concerns.
Perhaps if you are more specific about your question I can help more accurately.
However there are some resources that may be useful.
This is a video of a different canoe but covers the marking out and some of the other processes very nicely – just recently put up by one of my clients/friends. I put it first because it is so clear.
Building the Quick Canoe.
And here is the Eureka build specifically by Daniel in Uruguay.
And a Eureka Canoe build in Hungary.
I hope these help.
Here are some other resources.
Building the eureka canoe slideshow
I have a good idea from you Ian – I will update the plan with these links included.
But if you continue to have a problem please reply with a description of your concern.
Best wishes
Michael