Nymph

Product Description

A minimalist strip-planked open canoe that weighs less than ten kilograms.

“It is wonderful how few pounds of cedar, rightly modelled and properly put together, it takes to float a man.” So wrote J. Henry Rushton in the late 19th century. Rushton was a canoe builder who helped promote a class of ultra-light sporting canoes. In this way he might have done as much to invent our sport as Inuit seal hunters did. Rushton's most famous ‘pack canoe’ was called ‘Sairy Gamp’, and it weighed just 10 pounds. Nick Schade's interpretation, Nymph, is ten times easier to build and weighs less than 20 pounds (9 kg) built with 6mm bead-and-cove cedar strips. The ten-foot Nymph can only carry lightweight paddlers; for most people the twelve-foot version is more comfortable, although slightly heavier.

The Nymph will carry you to your favourite fishing spot, moving fast with a kayak paddle, and is stable enough to relax and eat lunch aboard while you slouch in the kayak-style seat.

Kit

The forms and strongback are pre-cut to the correct size to support the hull. The included wooden strips are milled with a ‘bead and cove’ joint so that one slides into the next for a perfect fit. While we offer suggested patterns, each builder can develop their own unique strip design as they assemble their kit. Run riot with your creativity!

We supply roughly one-third red cedar strips and two-thirds Paulownia strips as standard but if you have a particular pattern in mind, we can provide a different ratio if you contact us before ordering. We can also supply yellow cedar strips.

The kits include:

• Pre-cut forms and strongback
• A mixture of red cedar strips and paulownia strips with bead-and-cove joints
• Waterproof glue for the wooden strips
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Woven glass fabric
• Ash thwart blank (two for the Nymph 10)
• Ash breasthooks
• Gunwales: Sapele outwales and Ash inwales
• Fabric covered foam seat and backband
• Plans
• Construction manual
• Free technical support from a competent builder

What else do I need?

Plans and manual (not required by kit purchasers)

These plans and manual contain sufficient information to make it possible to build the boat from scratch rather than a kit. The plans include full size drawings.

PDF Study manual

The construction manual for the boat is also available as a PDF download. After credit card authorisation a download link will be sent to the email address put on the order form.

This is intended for pre-build study or to help with the decision to purchase. This is the comprehensive manual that accompanies the kit; reading it will help you decide whether or not you can build the boat. It describes all of the techniques that will be used during the build and also a step by step guide to construction. It contains a photograph or diagram of every step.

The manual does not contain the cutting instructions so it is not possible to build the boat from scratch using only this.

Forms and strongback

This option is for those wanting to obtain the other materials needed to build the boat from other sources. The option contains only the pre-cut forms and strongback: it does not include the wooden strips or the other items listed above as being in the full kit.

Wooden strips

As well as the forms and strongback, bead-and-cove cedar strips and/or paulownia strips will be needed to build the Nymph. As contained in the full kit, 172 m will be sufficient to build the Nymph 10 and 210 m to build the Nymph 12.