Sport 325
Latest updated Monday, February 5, 2024, 9 comments
Images | Particulars | More about | Background and history
Plans, Sport 325 - 125 EUR
Purchase
Sport 325 is a shorter version of Sport 395, intended for a single person with gear.
It offers the same stability as Sport 395 - huge initial stability for moving around when you land a fish, for the fly fisherman to stand up comfortably and with no concern about capsizing or the photographer to use tele lenses. Comfortable seats, plenty of legroom and space for gear are other important features of the canoe.
Sport handles well. Being a tool for other activities, it is important that it can easily maneuver over shallows, follow a meandering small creek or adjust position for a photo opportunity. With flared bow, it is at home both on moderate whitewater and choppy lakes. Light weight and a comfortable carrying yoke are also significant factors since some sport activities demand portage to remote ponds, lakes and streams.
The trade-off is that a sport canoe will never be as fast and efficient as canoes designed for cruising, nor will it track as well. On the other hand, it is compact, dry, agile, extremely user-friendly and will be used primarily on small bodies of water where high speed is of no particular value.
Particulars
| Length |
325 cm * |
| Beam |
89 cm |
| Draft |
11 cm |
| Weight |
20 kg** |
| Displacement/volume⁶ |
240 kg |
| Stability |
Very high |
| Intended use |
Expeditions (fishing. hunting, game-watching, photography etc) for one person with gear in protected waters. |
* These dimensions can be adapted to suit personal needs or wishes.
** Depending on type of wood, equipment, care with epoxy usage, sanding etc. etc.
Plans
One sheet (DIN A1 size) contains the information needed to build the canoe. The station molds and stems are in full size – the lines and construction in metric scale 1:1.
The illustrated step-by-step building manual is in Swedish only, but it is available online in English: it covers all steps in detail and will guide first-time builders through the project.
Plans, Sport 325 - 125 EUR
Purchase
More about Sport 325
Sport 325 is a short and wide canoe for fishing , hunting, wildlife photography or painting. The specs for such a canoe is quite different from those for a touring or guide canoe. Prio one is stability – lots of stability to let you stand up fly-fishing or use a tele-lens without motion blur. Next is comfort, because most activities in a sport canoe involve waiting – waiting for the right light conditions, or waiting for the subject to appear on the scene or for the fish to bite.
A sport canoe is also lightweight and comfortable to carry in order to reach streams, rivers, lakes outside the beaten track. It maneuvers easily and with precision to get into position for a picture or effectively to cross shallow waters, through meandering streams or rivers to the favorite fishing grounds.
But a short, wide canoe will never be as fast or efficient to paddle as a touring or guide canoe. It will not handle rough seas as well as the high bow canoes, but such bows would have been in the way when fishing. The sheer height is just enough to handle the wake of passing boats and to let you paddle or pole through rapids in safety.
Sport 325 – background and history
After a number of phone calls and emails asking about a canoe for fly-fishing, I got intrigued by the concept and started sketching on what later became the Sport canoes. The type is quite common in the US but almost unheard of in Sweden. They are wide, short and easily handled ashore and in the water. But above all, they are stable enough ta stand up in.
To satisfy all wishes I drew two versions – 395 for twp paddlers with payload and 325 for one (but with room for a kid or a dog). I never got around to build one myself (not much for fishing or hunting) but the early builders reported that the canoes worked as advertised. The Sport canoes are well suited for the uses I specify in the presentation.
The one objection is that the wide quite flat bottom flexes in waves or when someone moves around in the canoe (oil-canning). This is hard to avoid without building a much heavier canoe, making portages almost impossible. In practice it is of no importance – the bottom is strong and durable. Those who wish can add a couple of rub strakes along the bottom – protecting and stabilizing the bottom as well as increasing the directivity at the expense of maneuverability (untreated teak or Oregon pine glued on top of the fiberglass). Might be worth a try – easily planed/sanded off if needed.
The problem is well known. In reviews of sport canoes, oil-canning is almost always commented upon – not if but how much the bottom flexes.
