Imagine a boat so light that you can put it on your shoulder and stroll casually down a wooded trail, carry it to a hidden lake or stream, or paddle it with almost no effort. That was the idea behind the original "trapper" or "pack" canoes. CLC's 26-pound Sassafras 12" carries on the tradition - but with CLC's modern LapStitch™ building methods.

Though she can be carried, or paddled, by a child, she'll hold a 250-pound load. She tracks well, turns easily, and is stable enough for fishing. For maximum efficiency you'll want to paddle the Sassafras12 with a double (kayak) paddle.

Here we have beautiful little kayaks designed for just about everyone to enjoy on the water. With big cockpits and ample stability, the emphasis is on comfort. But these boats really paddle well! Speed is excellent: you can really cover the miles in a day, while tracking is solid in stiff crosswinds.

Choose between the Wood Duck 10 and Wood Duck 12 to build in the class. Students will begin stitching their Wood Ducks together on the first day of class and have assembly finished by the time class wraps up on Saturday. The instructor will discuss outfitting the kayak with handles, rubrails, seat, backrest, and foot braces. Participants will learn the proper way to sand and paint or varnish the boat. If a student is interested in special features on his or her Wood Duck (typically a compass or hatches), the instructor will provide tips and techniques so the work can be completed at home.

At the end of the course each student will have a Wood Duck to take home. They'll have gained experience with wood/epoxy construction and the confidence to build a larger and more complex boats in the future.

Build your own Little Princess in this fast paced six day workshop. This fine 12 foot glued lapstrake canoe is light weight but will carry you on adventures large and small. At the end of the course you'll have a great canoe and head home with a good understanding of the glued lapstrake building process.

A dory is a lot of boat for the money, which explains the enduring popularity of the type going back 150 years or more. Relatively few planks means less construction work. The narrow waterline results in a fast hull under sail or oars, but the flared topsides provide ample reserve stability. Dories are great load-carriers, and the Northeaster Dory is no exception with 800 pounds being the maximum payload.

The Northeaster uses Chesapeake Light Craft's patented LapStitch process, in which pre-cut planking is assembled quickly with wire "stitches" and nothing more than a pair of ordinary sawhorses. It's small enough to be rowed by one person, but big enough for tandem rowing with two adults. Like all dories, the Northeaster tracks well, has a long glide, and stays dry in waves. Even four adults have comfortable seating. Under sail the Northeaster Dory is fast, stiff, and close-winded. As with all Chesapeake Light Craft sailing kits, the sailing rig can be added to the Dory at any time, either concurrently with construction or years after the rowing version is complete.

Build your own 14 foot 6 inch stitch and glue decked canoe Voyager. This fun and challenging six day workshop will include a method for cutting your own fiberglass tape and expanding your skills with the stitch and glue building technique. At the end of the class you and your fellow students will have a fine decked double paddle canoe and the confidence to build other stitch and glue boats.

In 2008, Sea Kayaker readers awarded the Chesapeake 17 "Best Kayak Kit." They are easy to build but handsome and fast. Chesapeakes are built to endure a lifetime of strenuous touring with 4mm-okoume plywood hulls and decks, both sheathed with fiberglass. Watertight bulkheads are standard, as are hatches, deck rigging, adjustable footbraces, and a comfortable seat. The Chesapeake 17TM is one of CLC's most popular kits, with over a thousand built. Its handling qualities and speed combined with a large cockpit and voluminous stowage make it one of the most capable touring boats around.

Builders have used half models for centuries to define hull shapes. They are a useful tool for visualizing a complex shape, and they look great on a wall! Using reproduced lines drawings we can make models of any hull. We will learn proper tool use, wood selection, carving techniques, and "tricks of the trade." Bring lines drawings of a boat you would like to model, or we have a limited selection of plans available.

In this two week long class students will build their own Wee Lassie while gaining the knowledge and skills to build other strip built boats.

Covering with fiberglass cloth, inner and outer stems, and fitting inwales and outwales are just a few of the skills that will be covered in detail. If you have always wanted to learn strip built construction then this is the class for you. You take home a beautiful little boat and a tremendous amount of knowledge.

Lofting of the boat is the first and most essential step in the construction of any boat. Simply defined, lofting is the process where the scale drawing of the boat is recreated full size. Lofting is essential if you want to accurately reproduce the designed boat, provide accurate and full size drawings of the structural parts, and provide accurate reduced molds. You will be lofting a small round bottom boat designed for this exercise. Once you have learned the fundamentals you will have the knowledge to loft any size boat.