Welcome to The home of the "Backyard Renegade"

Here is my newest design, I call it the "Warcanoe"
This model, a "Type 5" is the "Iona B". She is named of course after me mum....

This is a 36 pound boat, and when you add the steam-bent seats, adjustable foot rests, Voyageur* Flotation, bulkhead storage bags and all other pictured hardware she weighs in at a whopping 40 pounds. It has an asymmetrical hull if I am using the terminology properly, with most of her beam just aft of center and a turned up rear end she can be leaned back for a 6-7 foot waterline for playing in the waves, or leaning forward gives you a full waterline for cruising.

I have had her out on several watertests both single and tandem and she performs just as I expected. What I was looking for here was a Kayak that you did not need to slip into like a shoe. Below you will see some of the test hulls I've built during the development of this boat, in the end I did sacrifice a little speed as I wanted to build a boat that a new or intermediate paddler could be comfortable in and concentrate on the scenery instead of balance. She is 12'6" long , 29" wide at the cosmetic line just aft of center and 12" from floor to shear in the drivers seat. You sit on a 2" pad. She is a flatwater, protected water boat for sure but I must admit, I have had her out in a little tuft and got home safely. A little steering effort is required in a strong wind as she tends to sail, but after all, wind and weather is not what she is designed for.

Below are some photos of the interior of the boat. In the first shot you can see the ultra-light interior hardware including the low profile hull fastenings, the steam-bent seats, and the adjustable foot brace.

Below left you see the steam-bent seat along with its hardware. The pitch of the seat is adjustable as is the tension. Below right, you see how she looks stripped of her interior hardware, of course, everything clips in and out in seconds.

Below are two shots of the flotation bags which are carried fore and aft. In the second shot you can see the polyester Jersey bag I have incorporated into the flotation retaining bulkhead.

and a couple more photos just for good luck...

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the pictures below are of earlier versions of this vessel, before I tweaked the hull.

In the foreground above you have a Type 3 we call "The Rowdy Mouse" and in the rear shot, The "Iona B". Of course my 8 year old paddles the "Mouse" (below)....mostly cause the "Iona" is MY boat!

When I designed this boat I had several criteria in mind...
First off it had to look real cool...While building one of the test hulls I did speak with a local Sea-Kayak designer, at one point during our discussions he said, "in the end if it does not look cool all you have is just another canoe to get lost in the masses of plastic and fiberglass". Of course, any boat looks cool with the wife on board...

She tracks well and is stable enough for a first time paddler to feel comfortable in a few minutes. Getting the stability, I have lost a little speed but this boat is really designed for casual paddling and not necessarily long hauls. I will say, never having paddled before fooling with this design, so really not knowing I'm sure, all of the techniques, I am quite comfortable paddling 3-4 miles up and down the banks of the Connecticut River with the double paddle. I also remember the "J" stroke from scouts and found that I can handle this boat pretty well with a single paddle if necessary.. Like when the stepdaughter demands the only Kayak paddle or
"no more pictures..!"

Here are a few shots of me playing out on the Connecticut River in one of the test hulls last fall, school was back in session so we got our river back for a few months...as you can see, the traffic was light but I found a few wakes to play on...

Man this paddling stuff sure is cool....engine, what engine?

If you live in the CT area or plan on being in the area and would like to test this hull out, give me a buzz and we can arrange a meeting on the banks of the CT river. Bring your favorite cruising paddle! Thanks for your interest, Scotty

I would like to thank Eric Schade from shearwater-boats.com and Gregg Germain from the rbb steambending FAQ's for, whether knowingly or not, providing tremendous help while I was developing this vessel, Scotty

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This document maintained by The Backyard Renegade.
Do not copy this stuff for other than personal use. If you would like to use any of the photos, graphics, or text information for any other purpose, please contact me first. I can at times be pretty reasonable...

*Voyageur is a commercial brand name and I am sure it is copyrighted somewhere, I don't however have time to look it up so if you represent Voyageur and don't want me mentioning your stuff, let me know...