Reddit reviews Building the Six-Hour Canoe

This may not be quite what you have in mind, but I have made two of these boats and they are cool. They take more than six hours though.

http://www.amazon.ca/Building-Six-Hour-Canoe-Richard-Butz/dp/0961039671

It takes longer than 6 hours,
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Six-Hour-Canoe-Richard-Butz/dp/0961039671

It takes longer than a weekend.
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Weekend-Skiff-Richard-Butz/dp/1888671106

They're not free, unless you can get then from the library, but the boat isn't going to be free either. As an intro to boat building it doesn't come much simpler.

>Will that be enough?

Not far off.

If you want an good first project that incorporates several building techniques that are used in boat-building but not-so-common in traditional construction, check out either the 6 hour canoe (amazon) of the Bevin's Skiff (asf.org). Both boats are great in the water, use very similar build techniques, and don't require many tools.

BTW, what is your current tool inventory? The Bevin's Skiff can be bought as a kit that requires only basic tools, yet provides more boat-building techniques than a stitch and glue boat.

If you've never built a boat before I would recommend getting "Building the Six-Hour Canoe".

$100 and 20 hours of work (never trust a designers building estimate) will give you a surprisingly able little boat and a pretty good feel for what you're letting yourself in for before you write a check for $1300.

Which, incidentally, seems a lot of money to pay for the materials necessary to build a plywood canoe.

try the six-hour canoe. It's a stable little vessel, easy to understand the construction, and very little spiling needed to lay it out. Built one when I was 13 for my first boat, and I still have it (31 now)