I love small boats. I love the justness of their shapes formed by the requirements of their uses, the laws of water flow, and the eye of their designers. And so I collect boat books. My newest, found through biblio.com, is Edson I. Schock's How to Build Small Boats. Well worth the few dollars it cost, just in the enjoyment I've had looking over the very well printed plans of the 12 boats he details. The power boats are old fashioned but wholesome. The sailboats look great -- these are small, shallow vee bottom plywood catboats and sloops. But the boat that I'm currently obsessing about is the 11'3" duckboat.
Here it is: http://www.dngoodchild.com/7849.htm
I don't hunt ducks. I don't hunt. But I like this boat. It's a flat-bottomed double ender. Probably meant for sheltered water only, though it looks like it could be pretty safe -- decked and with a high coaming, but too flat and wide to handle waves well. As designed it would be pretty heavy, probably over 100 lbs, but could be lightened considerably using modern construction and thinner plywood. I do think it needs to be durable for its original use. The oarlocks are on the coaming and don't have much spread -- you might be rowing cross handed even with 6-foot oars. I can live with that and such a short boat is not going to be very fast anyway.
So, this boat, but without all the oak pieces, and with plywood reduced to 1/4", fiberglass the bottom for abrasion resistance. Maybe cut down the coaming a bit? Foam floatation bow and stern, and a little under the side decks. Aim for 75 lbs and a rooftop load for the truck. We'll see.
