Never made a full sized one, but made some toy ones, out of wood, and the stems of the cabbage palm.
But you can google Seminole, and canoes of the Indians of the Mississippi valley. And you can get some ideas from there, or you can just design your own.
I would suggest that you draw out a design, and use that as a reference . Also of course you have to decide which side of the tree will be the top or bottom. Shape out the ends first, then start on the hollowing out process, after you have shaped the bottom. If you do not want to use ancient tools, I would suggest, a skill saw to make initial long cuts, then cross cuts to ease the taking out the material. But mark out the sides, and any cross members, or seats. An adz is an ancient tool, that is still used today. It is a good tool to look for in garage sales, flea markets, or on line. you can use a large gouge, a hatchet, etc. But an adz is ideal for this project. If you want seats, or cross supports, you can carve them out of the wood, or make projections, on the sides, and cut a slot in them, and place cross pieces in them, and if you want to use natural materials, you can drill a hole in the side projections, but just past the slot, not all the way through, you want them to be fairly stout, and then put a dowel with a fox wedge in it, and a wedge in the other end after hammering the peg home. A fox wedge is just a wedge that is in a slot cut into the dowel, and when it is hammered home it expands and locks the peg in place. But it is there permanently! Also placement of the wedge in the peg should be across the grain of the peg, and not with the grain of the projection, as you can split it. You can cut slots in each end of the peg, and put a wedge in the outside end also. Then just trim. I would also do as the Indians did, once you have the bottom side decided on, shape it first, and if you want a keel, even a small one will help in the dugout not being too tipsy. It can unload you in a hurry! Then once you have shaped the bottom, every few feet, drill a hole about an inch and a half deep. That is so that when you start hollowing out the the inside, and you reach a hole, you are deep enough, and you can keep your bottom fairly consistent in thickness. Just peg the holes afterwards, and trim the pegs off.
Anyway, that is how I would go about it, and like I said I have never made full sized one. So I may be all wrong. I would put cross members, or seats in it to help support the sides, and maybe keep it from warping.
You will have to shape the sided also, to get a good straight canoe, then start hollowing. But me personally I would carve a keel, in the bottom, and at the ends also. The Seminoles had a keel like projection on the front and back of their dugouts. Anyway, that is how "I" would go about it. It is a lot of work, even with modern tools. But it will make you appreciate, what our ancestors went through to make these crafts. If you can find a big tulip popular, that is the ideal canoe wood, other than cypress which unfortunately extremely few large ones exist, due to the logging in the early part of this and the preceding century. If you have any large cedars, they are also ideal for your project. But they also are hard to find, and if you find one, it may be protected. There is a huge grove of REALLY big cedars, here in Montana, near Troy, Mt. Called the Ross Cedars. These things are anywhere from six to 12 feet in diameter. Boy you could make a war canoe, and a trade canoe out out one tree! But you would be in prison before you were able to shape it. Any way, those are my suggestions, and like I said I may be completely wrong, so take them with so many grains of salt. But good luck with your project, and of course we need pictures!
Wayne
