- I don’t know what your costs (royalties) are in doing this, but that has to be front and center
- if some one can’t afford a few bucks for the plans, then they should not get started in this venture because building a boat is not free, and $ 30 or $ 100 is a very small part of the total cost (experience speaking here)
- offer the lofting tables and minimal info only in pdf format for free but with a time limited shelf life, no print option and no copy option – this encourages a deeper examination of the material at no cost; keep the donation idea if you want, but it does not sound like it is working.
- offer more extensive tables, instructions and some sort of scaled plans for a fee, or graduated set of fees. $ 30 is very reasonable
- the market rate for full size plans and instruction is about $ 100 for the initial set of plans, and a royalty for successive builds. if your materials are as good as the competition, then that is your market price
- is it a possibility to go one step further and have some one create a complete “kit” for these boats? I have built a few cedar strip boats, and many people don’t want to start with rough sawn lumber
- at the very least perhaps provide links to material suppliers where you can derive some benefit while saving the shopper some time searching for suppliers
- it sounds like you have a fair bit of boat building knowledge and experience squirelled away, so perhaps follow the model of Microsoft or IBM and offer a paid for service to access your knowledge base, or get the benefit of direct one-to-one Q&A or discussion.

just some thoughts. email me directly, and if i have more comment i will be happy to provide them.

mike

Thanks,

Dave

Nice site, btw! can one also get the DelftShip files?

Take care, Sebastian

The stations are set up for strip-built construction, but you could also use them to construct the mold for a cedar and canvas canoe if desired.

By nestings, I mean each station is shown individually, so you can print (or purchase prints) cut out the station, glue it to the plywood and build. You don’t need to loft anything.

I built a cedar strip canoe with my daughter when she was fourteen
(as well as small Bolger boats with my boys)
and it was a magical, gratifying experience.
She is thirty now, and still enjoys her canoe with her husband.
I encourage anyone who is thinking of such a project
to make the commitment and go for it.
You’ll never be sorry!

I have two questions, Bryan-
The presence of station moulds for your Old Model Ottawa River Algonkin Canoe
leads me to think the construction is strip-built,
am I correct?

And secondly, the term “nestings” is new to me-
what does it mean?

Thanks very much.

Shas