Canoes and Kayaks for the Backyard Builder by Skip Snaith (1988, Paperback)

I bought the book back in the late 1980's when I was living in Alaska and wanting to build a kayak. The book lays everything out very well. It starts with explaining the principles of design, then moves on to explain how to set up your shop, what tools you will need, and then provides very detailed plans for both the 16 foot Kayak and the 11 foot canoe. It also gives tips for extending the Kayak out to 18 feet for those people wanting additional room.

Unlike many other books that show everything done through diagrams, the book has diagrams and a complete picture journal of the step by step process for building your stitch and tape kayak.

The one thing to remember, the instructions are for building a sea kayak. This is different than your white water kayak that you'd take through rapids and over falls.