| Title: | Powerboats |
| Notice: | Introductions 2 /Classifieds 3 / '97 Ski Season 1267 |
| Moderator: | KWLITY::SUTER |
| Created: | Thu May 12 1988 |
| Last Modified: | Wed Jun 04 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1275 |
| Total number of notes: | 18109 |
I'm reading a book by Tom Hill called "Ultralight Boatbuilding."
His method uses 4 mm marine mahogany plywood and epoxy to build
canoes and other small boats. Becasue there is no internal
frame, the boats are very light i.e. 44 lbs. for a 14 ft. canoe.
Anyone familiar with this method?
I'd appreciate a discussion of the pros and cons.
Thanks.
Lou
P.S. This note was also placed in the Woodworking notesfile (11.21).
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 857.1 | DNEAST::OKERHOLM_PAU | Wed Jun 19 1991 12:45 | 12 | ||
I am not familiar with that type of canoe but I would think that
it would be very difficult to get an esthetically pleasing and/or
hydrodynamically efficient hull shape with plywood. Does the process
use thin strips of the plywood like they do with strip canoes? That's
the only way I can think of to shape it. I think ash is used in
conventional strip canoe building.
I don't know much about either process because I don't care much
for the finished product. I suppose if your major use is in flat water
they would be okay but for all around canoeing the man made materials
win hands down. Kevlar will be at least as light as the figure
mentioned and Royalex will be in that ball park also. INMO both these
materials will result in a more versatile end product.
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| 857.2 | Wood vs. Plastic | PROXY::HART | Wed Jun 19 1991 13:49 | 31 | |
Cedar is usually used in the building of 'Strippers' as they are
called. I have an 18' stripper at home that my son built in high
school shop class. It is far and away the prettiest and fastest
canoe that I have ever come across. At 70 pounds, it is not a
featherweight, but not too bad for its size and it's rated to
hold one ton of cargo. We have had seven people aboard and the
canoe only draws about 3-4 inches of water. With two people
aboard, it virtually floats on top of the water due to the high
inherant floatation of the cedar. It is the favorite type of
canoe of the old white water guides all over Maine, and the
basic design goes back to the time of the indians. Modern
strippers are built on a buck and are covered in fiberglass
inside and out. One layer of cloth is used and sometimes the
resin is colored(usually green). With no coloring added to the
resin, the beauty of the cedar shows through. The canoe never
fails to draw attention before and after a race. People ooh and
ahh over its beauty before a race, and they want to know what
makes it so fast after the race(it has been outlawed at the Millers
River Rat race). Although many things contribute to a canoes speed,
such as width, shape, weight etc., natural bouancy in the hull over
the entire length of the water contact area is something you can't
get with all material. In my opinion, Kevlar and other man made
materials used in canoes don't even come close to the aesthetics
or performance of a properly designed and built stripper. Having
the beauty of cedar combined with the strength of epoxy fiberglass
in a laminated 'sandwich' construction is the best of the old and
new combined. The canoe that my son built cost $400.00 for materials
but is valued at several thousand dollars by experts. Kevlar may be
a lot cheaper, but as always, you get what you pay for.
Don
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