11′ 9″ Otter

The Otter design was created for us by Hans Friedel of Sweden. He also designed our kayaks, the Osprey, Spirit, Sea Wolf, and Excursion. Like an Otter in the water, this canoe is meant to be a playboat. This is a lightweight (35 lbs), easily portaged solo canoe that can be paddled with a traditional canoe paddle or with a kayak paddle. It is deeper than a Wee Lassie canoe so the seat is attached to cleats that are epoxied to the inside of the hull. However, the bow and stern heights are such that you shouldn’t be pushed about by the wind.

A larger paddler will find that it has plenty of capacity. One could even take their Retriever or a small child and still feel very comfortable. We advise inclusion of a keel in it’s construction to improve tracking with lighter loads.

About Our Kits

All of our kits are created as we get orders. Please email us ([email protected]) with your name, address, telephone number, and shipping address (if different) and we will email a quote that includes packaging and shipping costs. A “kit” can include everything or just certain items. If you just want strips, email us with the pertinent name and address, the design you are building and we will email a quote. We mill all of our strips here at our facility in New Hampshire to the highest standards after air drying the cedar. If you pick up at our shop, of course there is no shipping charge. We will shrink wrap your materials so that they are impervious to the weather. A kit can be picked up with a vehicle that you would normally use to transport your canoe or kayak.

What is in a kit?

The Otter Kit Includes:

Plans, our Strip Building Construction Notes, CNC cut mold Forms that include Clamping Grooves for Stapleless Construction, a CD of Construction Pictures showing several canoes we have built, coved and Beaded 6′ to 10′ Northern White Cedar Strips, About 30% Full Length Western Red Cedar Strips, four aspen strips for accents, pre-milled Ash Outwales, Scuppered Ash Inwales, Ash Thwart or Yoke, Natural Cane/Ash Seat(s), Spanish cedar seat cleats, Seat Hardware, Ash Stem Laminations, Spanish cedar Deck Material, Fiberglass, Slow Cure, Low Viscosity, Non-Blushing Epoxy, Epoxy Application Supplies, and Varnish.

E-mail us with your complete address and the design you are interested in and we will quote shipping and packaging costs.

Pre-Kits

If you haven’t built a stripper before and aren’t sure about the process, you may want to get a Pre-Kit first. This includes “Cedar Strip Building” DVD, “Applying Fiberglassing” DVD, and Susan Van Leuven’s book, “The Illustrated Guide to Wood Strip Canoe Building“.

Canoe Pre-Kit