Design
17' Fire Star
Designed by Rob Macks
A 17 ft strip-built baidarka by Rob Macks of Laughing Loon, a reduced-scale version of his North Star, with kits from Newfound Woodworks. It is 21 in wide and about 32 lb, for intermediate to advanced paddlers of 120 to 220 lb. It carries the Aleut split bow, a truncated high-volume stern sweeping into a fixed rudder, and enough volume for week-long trips. A retractable skeg is an option.
The bow and stern pieces are built separately and are the demanding part; the designer has a step-by-step video on them. Best with some woodworking experience. As a rule of thumb, budget 250 to 350 hours. Measured medians from build logs appear below.
What building a 17' Fire Star 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 17' Fire Star 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17' Disko Bay | Newfound Woodworks | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 0 |
| 17' Lapstrake Canoe | Duck Trap Woodworking | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 0 |
| 17' Sea Wolf | Newfound Woodworks | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 0 |
| 17' Spirit | Newfound Woodworks | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 0 |
| 17' Traveler | Newfound Woodworks | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 0 |
| All Water Seventeen | Ashes Still Water Boats | 17′ 0″ (5.18 m) | 0 |