Measuring Your Canoe for a Custom Spray Deck

Preparation

Set the boat on sawhorses or stands in an open space where you can walk around it freely. Gather your tools before you start — the process moves quickly once you begin measuring.

All measurements in this guide are in inches, rounded to the nearest quarter-inch unless otherwise noted. The gunwale cross-section measurements (Step 7) are to the nearest ⅛ inch.

Overall Length

Measure from the tip of the bow deck to the tip of the stern deck. Let the tape rest on the thwarts — do not stretch it tight in a straight line. If your canoe has recurve in the bow or stern, do not include the recurve. Measure only between the deck tips.

Gunwale Widths at 1-Foot Intervals

Using the measuring tape secured to the boat, measure the gunwale width at every foot from bow to stern. This is the distance from the outermost edge of one gunwale to the outermost edge of the other — include the outwales in the measurement.

Always measure from the bow. Do not restart from the stern. The stern will rarely fall exactly on a foot mark — that's expected. Leave unused positions blank.

Record a width at every foot mark — 1-foot, 2-foot, 3-foot, and so on — all the way to the stern. The stern will rarely fall exactly on a foot mark, and that's fine. If your boat is shorter than a given position, just leave it blank on the form.

End Cap & Deck Measurements

Measure the end caps or decks at both bow and stern. For each, we need three measurements: the length of the end cap, the width at the narrow tip, and the width at the wide edge where it meets the gunwales.

You'll record these three measurements for both the bow and the stern end caps on the form.

Thwart & Carry Handle Locations

Using your reference tape, measure from the tip of the bow deck to the center of each carry handle, thwart, and yoke. Also record the gunwale width at each location. Not all canoes have all positions — leave unused rows blank on the form.

For each thwart or handle, you'll record two numbers: its distance from the bow, and the gunwale width at that location.

Seat Positions

We need the seat locations to position the cockpit openings. Measure from the tip of the bow deck to the back edge of each seat. On the form, you'll record one measurement for the bow seat (or C1 seat) and one for the stern seat.

Gunwale Cross-Section

The spray deck snaps onto your gunwales, so we need precise measurements of the gunwale cross-section. Measure these to the nearest ⅛ inch — tighter tolerance than the other measurements.

Gunwale Width

Measure from the top inner edge of the inwale to the outer edge of the outwale. If your canoe only has inwales (no outwales), this is the only measurement we need — skip the Wrap and Lip measurements below.