Design
Car Top Boat
Designed by Grandpa's Archive
A light pram meant to ride on a car roof so that a lake fisherman can try new water whenever he likes. The vintage article calls it a two-person boat that will take a third without swamping, thanks to the semi-V bottom and pram ends, and the photograph shows one man rowing with plenty of room to spare.
Building starts with lofting: the lines are drawn full size on the floor or a big sheet of plywood, and the true lengths and angles of the frames at seven stations are taken from that loft pattern. A jig cut from a 1 x 12 in board, slotted at each station, holds the frames and sets the inner keel curve. The article stresses careful layout over speed. It is a free scan of a magazine piece rather than a modern plan, and builders should be comfortable lofting.
What building a Car Top Boat actually takes
Medians from the build logs kept on this site, not the designer’s estimate. Nobody has logged this boat here yet, so they are empty until the first builder does.
Those medians firm up as more people log this boat.
Builds of this boat
Nobody has logged a Car Top Boat here yet.
If you are building one, yours becomes the reference: the page the next person building this boat finds when they search for it. One photo and one line is a valid first entry.
Start the first log of this boatBoats like this one
Same type, closest in length.
| Design | Plans from | LOA | Logs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeaster Dory | Chesapeake Light Craft | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 3 |
| 15' Rangeley Lake Boat | Newfound Woodworks | 15′ 0″ (4.57 m) | 1 |
| Passagemaker Take-Apart | Chesapeake Light Craft | 11′ 7″ (3.53 m) | 1 |
| Polliwog 8 | Devlin | 7′ 6″ (2.29 m) | 1 |
| The Guider | Chesapeake Light Craft | 18′ 7″ (5.66 m) | 1 |
| Ultralight Dinghy | Chesapeake Light Craft | 6′ 0″ (1.83 m) | 1 |