The DART 14 Mark2 and DART 16 kayaks have been designed for simple home construction. Both canoes use 3 or 4mm plywood for the hull and deck panels and the stitch and tape method of construction. Because both kayaks use simple tortured plywood, strength is inherent in the shape and therefore little framing is required unlike many older ply kayak designs.

The Dart 16 double kayak has a soft ‘U’ shaped bottom running into flared ‘V’ sections fore and aft with a chine, giving a very stable shape. She has a large 7’ long cockpit and with her 32’’ (0.84m) beam she is ideal for sea canoeing. We have had 2 adults and a young boy in the cockpit on a trip around the Exe and she has plenty of stowage space for camping gear.

Both kayaks have built-in buoyancy chambers fore and aft and in both cases full size shapes are given on the plans for the bulkheads and deck beams. The decks are heavily rounded to give adequate room inside and to easily shed water and the hull panel shapes are easily transferred from the plans to the plywood sheets. The 16 footer will take around 35 hours and uses 3 sheets of ply to build and both canoes are very light and can be carried by one person.