Kombi Sailing Canoe

Product Description

The Kombi canoe is a classic 50/50 sail and paddle canoe that comes from three sheets of plywood. Part sailing canoe, part paddle canoe and 100% gorgeous. And of course, being a canoe, it is easy to transport and store.

Australian boat designer Michael Storer's Viola sailing canoe pushed the canoe-type hull towards the hull form of a good sailing dinghy, with flattened sections aft for increased sailing stability and higher speed potential. The Viola paddles well enough for long distance events, but many people want something truly dual purpose, as a sailing boat for one or two people and also a family paddling canoe.

The Kombi canoe design pushes the stability and sailing performance into more of a paddling-canoe format. It has more stability, for less stressful sailing performance and handling, but also more dinghy-style handling with less chance of stalling halfway through a manoeuvre.

The Kombi canoe will sail and paddle well with two adults with a couple of small children, or with camping gear for touring. With only one or two light adults, it will make a fun and exciting sailing boat.

Paddling canoes are often designed with a simple, open interior. Extra buoyancy is then added as needed for expeditions and different water conditions. There are three different interior layout options shown in the Kombi canoe plans, ranging from a completely open interior to large buoyant tanks at each end.

Probably the most common variant has small built-in tanks, which provide enough buoyancy for the hull to be bailed out, without adding too much weight or reducing available stowage space. With this version, two removable buoyancy cushions can be strapped to the gunwales on each side around the middle of the boat, to add more stability as needed and keep the gunwale well above water.

Kit

The kit includes:

• Pre-cut wooden panels with pre-cut joints
• Solid wood for gunwales, knees, spacers, frames and runners
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Copper ties
• Woven glass fabric
• Woven glass tape
• Mast step and partner
• Centreboard blank
• Centreboard case
• Rudder blank
• Tiller blank
• Comprehensive building manual
• Free technical support from a competent builder

The kit is for the version with the small built-in buoyancy tanks. Foam to make the removable side buoyancy cushions is not included.

The kit does not include the mast, spars, sail or warp although we can supply them.

What else do I need?

Plans

The 114-page A4 plans for the Kombi sailing canoe are more like a book or a boat building course. They contain detailed information on each building step, including how to join the plywood, mark the shapes of the panels and use the epoxy.

The plans are highly detailed and fully dimensioned. That means that there is no poring over them with your scale rule and getting scale conversions wrong: the measurements you need to know are written in clear type and in the area that you are looking at.

PDF Plans

An electronic version of the plans in PDF format that can be viewed using Adobe Reader. After credit card authorisation the file will be sent to the email address put on the order form.