Today we often think of wooden canoes as being strip-built, but lapstrake canoes have an even longer history. The legendary Rushton lapstrake canoes are considered the pinnacle of the canoe builder's art. Unfortunately, the required skills of this costly method faded away in the early 20th century. Simpler strip building, and later aluminum and fiberglass, took over. But CLC's revolutionary LapStitch building method allows lapstrake canoes to be built by someone with no previous woodworking experience. All the planks and other parts are pre-cut. No strongback, molds, frames, or steam bending are required; building a LapStitch canoe is basically a matter of gluing all the pre-cut parts together. 

The Sassafras 16's hull is 6mm okoume with 'glass cloth on the bottom. As on all the canoes, watertight flotation compartments are fitted at the bow and stern.

Please note: The Denman Marine kit includes Solid Timber seats rather than the ash-cane seat (see below). Please let us know if you would prefer the ash-cane seat as these need to be brought in from CLC and may increase lead times and costs depending on availability.

Solid Timber Seats