Vendia Woods’ wooden canoe building course offers a unique opportunity to learn modern wooden boatbuilding skills. Under expert guidance, you will build your own Finnia Canoe step by step. The 2025 course took place in Pälkäne, Finland – we are now planning the courses for 2026. Pre-registrations are already open, and early bird discounts are available!”
We invite you to Luopioinen for a canoe building course. In addition to building a canoe, we offer participants the opportunity to get to know the people and environment of Luopioinen. With CNC milled parts, canoe building is possible even for less experienced craftsmen.
The course will be held in "Ämmätsän Kartano" in Luopioinen.
The canoe will be built in ten days. The canoe is completed in a short course together with a partner. As the canoe to be built is a two-seater, the course is suitable for mother/father and son/daughter, couples or even as a joint project with a good friend. Togetherness is again an important part of this course. We offer different kinds of accomodation, it is also possible to spend the nights in a caravan or tent in the yard of the Farm "Ämmätsän Kartano"
If you are interested in building your own Finnia canoe during the course, please call Jouka on +358(0)45 787 59452 or send an email to jouka [dot] dehm [at] vendia [dot] fi (jouka[dot]dehm[at]vendia[dot]fi)
The canoe
The canoe we offer in the course is a new construction by our customer and partner Thomas Vochezer from the German region Allgäu. It is a two-seater that is ideal for water hiking. The canoe has been specially developed taking into account the material properties of our Vendia marine plywood. It is a clinker construction made of 5 and 6 mm thick boards. The clinker construction method makes it possible to build without the use of fibreglass mats.
The surface treatment will be done on site with a mixture of linseed oil, pine tar and wood turpentine, which makes it possible to finish the treatment within a short time and to use the canoe immediately afterwards. Of course, it would also be possible to give the finished canoe a varnish, but this cannot be done within a short time. Of course, we leave it up to each course participant to carry out the surface treatment according to his or her own taste.
Finnia - Clinker Canoe
Technical data:
- Length: 4,56m
- Width: 0,8m
- Weight: 30kg
- Seats: 2
- Payload: 200kg
- Material: Vendia Boatplanks
- Surface Treatment: Linseed oil - Tar - Terpentine mix
Varnishing the Canoe is a viable option, but it takes more time and is not possible to be finished during the Course.
Luopioinen
In the picture you can see Lake Kukkia. Characterised by many small islands, beautiful bays and countless places to linger, this lake offers a very beautiful paddling area. Due to the shallow depth and many dangerous stones, the lake is a difficult body of water for motor boaters, all the better for us paddlers! The region around Luopioinen is characterised by old forests and many small and medium-sized lakes. The village of Luopioinen is situated on the western shore of Lake Kukkia and offers many opportunities for visitors. Sports and cultural activities are varied during the summer months. At a distance of about 60 kilometres you will find the somewhat larger cities of Tampere and Hämeenlinna, which are certainly worth a trip
We can help you finding ways to travel to Finland.
Course content
The ten-day course is an instructor-led introduction to the necessary tools and their use, and provides hands-on instruction in the construction of a Finnia canoe through all stages: building the keel, joining the pre-milled boards, fixing the boards in place and finishing and surface treatment of the canoe. The course is best suited to working in pairs, allowing even inexperienced builders to progress in their construction work.
There will be one course in the summer of 2026: 22nd of June to 1st of July 2026.
The course fee includes the necessary materials: boards, wood materials, glues, finishers and tools. Participants can also order ready-made paddles and floating pads for their canoe through Vendia.
Course price:
The course price per pair is EUR 3400 (incl. VAT 25,5%). When registering for the course, participants will be charged 60% of the course price as a pre-registration fee. If Vendia has to cancel the course for any reason, the course participant will receive a full refund of the advance payment. If a participant has to cancel before 1 April, the advance payment will be refunded in full; before 1 May, 50% of the advance payment will be refunded.
Articles about the course
YLE (fin)
Finnia Kanootti Valmis (fin)
Kanootin Veistoa tervaus istuimet (fin)
Canoe building blog post (eng)
