Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

derwood · Jul 15, 2002

How hard is it for a beginer to build a strip boat? They a sharp looking boats and are suppose to be pretty light. Just curious. Derwood.

Fishbusters · Jul 15, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

How handy are you with tools? If you can say build a table or some other piece of furniture that requires matched up parts your wife would like you can build a strip boat no problem. Canoes and yacks are diffrent and much harder.

ebbtide176 · Jul 15, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

i think you should take a week of vacation and fly to Delaware.... go out on a trip and chew the fat with Nissan power. take some skidmark specials with you, do the dog-on-fruitOloom

crab bait · Jul 16, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

pretty clever writin' there EBB, i must say.. it's the easiest boat to build ,DERWOOD.. the trick is in the router bits.. it takes a cheapo router table & these special router bits .. they are sold in pairs ..one's a 'bull nose' ( round over) the other , a matched opposite , concave.. first you build the boats frame .. an then 'skin-it ' with the strips that you ran thru the router.. one egde ,one bit .. the other edge the other bit.. the beauty of this is that the edges fit together smoothly & can be rockered at more the a 30 % angle ,cause they fit inside of each other , before a gap starts to show.. hence-forth,, the strips can contour any shape a boat can throw at ya.. without these router bits .. you'd have to custom sand each angle into each strip.. F O R G E T .. T H A T.. !!!! you glue the strips together & to the frame with regular elmers carpenter glue .. either shot to the frame with a brad gun.. ( ugly but effective ) or by a few bungee straps with hooks.. hook bungee to the other side of boat... glue & place strip.... take bungee & hook on .. glue next strip . unhook & hook on to next an so on & so forth... always leave strips long ( over hang ) to be trimmed later .. after everything is done .. sand good .. thats the purpose of the 'elmers' glue,, it sands globs off fast & easy.. then coat every thing with epoxy real good to seal & waterproof it .. an varnish.. heck , what could be easier !!! now that you know how to do it.. you can still take a week vacation & ride on with ' nissan power' or what ever the heck he said.. I GARANUTEE .. WE'D HAVE FUN ..!!

Boat_Boy! · Jul 16, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

I built my first cedar strip canoe from a Gil Gilpatrick book. It had some plans in it, and some instructions. There were no major dificulties, a bit of head scratching on occassion, but no major show stoppers. If you can rip some strips on a table saw, operate a handsaw, scraper, sander, and have some patients figuring out how to lay epoxy over fibregals, then go for it. The woodwork part (i.e. seats, gunwales, endcaps) was way more difficult than the actual boat, and even that wasn't really tough. There are very few places that you can make an uncorrectable mistake. I'd say go for it.

derwood · Jul 16, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

Howdy Gents, I have seen quite a few plans for them on the net. They have one that weighs only 17lbs....a far sight lighter that my last F.G. canoe. They have one (kyak) called the "northstar"....sweet...but it looks hard to build......think i'll start small. Realy i would like to have a flat back canoe for my 3hp johnson. The wooden boat and the 1952 light twin would complement each other nicly. I can make a router table...but why...the cheap ones are CHEAP...i already have the router. My dad said he built one a long time ago and that it was nice but when he glassed it he said he mixed it wroung and it made the wood real soft. I can probly get cypress wood strips real cheaply just down the road at the saw mill....heck, i could even cut one of mine down and have it cut up. Well see how i can work it before i try...best to get all my eggs together first. Thanks for the help and info guys...i appriceate it. derwood.

ebbtide176 · Jul 16, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

crab, i watch, listen & learn

maybe in 5yrs i can do a project like that. sounds like crab just gave some details people pay for books to find out.

man, i can only dream and plan to do something like that one day. it gets me to thinking about the smell of fresh cut wood... my wife & M-N-law have 'pie safes' i built from scratch incl plans... i got that same gene in me somewhere.. i hope you can gofer this project derwood, if you can pull all the goodies together. but then - i kno you can't give up your grasshopper training seminars for too long at a time.

mellowyellow · Jul 17, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

as for the wood part, just make sure it's good and dry.... would want any shrikage after she's put together.... sounds like fun though

crab bait · Jul 17, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

that's a good way to be ,EBB.. learnin'knowledge is a good thing .. probably , one-of-the-main reasons we exist .... thanks for the kind words.. i write sometimes ( we all do ) try to explain the best i can without bein' to confusin' .. an ya just don't know if others 'get-it' or appreciate it..but your rite .. somethings ,, ya would havta buy & dive into many books to get the info for free rite here IBOATS.. GOTTA LUV IT.. you got that rite again, EBB.. there's not much better aromas in this world then fresh worked cedar.... HOLY MOLY, DERWOOD... i give my eye teeth for cypress wood.. an you have it rite down the road..!! YOU HAVE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT... YOU GOT TO BUILD SOMETHIN' WITH THAT ..!!

derwood · Jul 17, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

OOOOOOHHH Crabby, You have no idea. I live on 30 acers that is surrounded by cypress heads. It used to be owned by my mother-in-law. One day she flipped out....lost it....flew into the koo koo's nest (head first). After she sold most of her stuff off for liquer money and did'nt have anything left...she...she..she (I almost can't say it

) she let some guy come in and start clearcutting the cypress head

...for pennys...beer money...hang out at the bar money

! She lived on 2 acers next door to us (we live on the 30 acers). Me and my wife walked outside one day and...and..and..a whole cypress head GONE! I acually went down there with my gun. I was pissed to say the least. Then we found out she had sold it to this guy (not the property, just the wood) for a couple of hundred bucks. He did'nt have a contract (suprise) so me and him and my Iron had a chat. (more like a one sided private conversation) He did not come back. Then another guy came in there and told her he was going to clean up The piles of limbs for free....ya right. My wife called me at work and told me i needed to come home...NOW! Sure as sh!t not only had this guy cut more trees down on our property, but he started on the neibors trees as well

....He's gone too! Before it was over she gave us the property (the first sane thing she had done in awhile). They had destroyed 30% of the cypress head on the east side of the property. There was one cypress tree that had been there since the civil war. You could drive a truck through it if it had a hole....GONE!

There are many trees left so i may select one or two out of a couple hundred. Baster#d's got the Persimmons and the cedars that were there. The saw mill (there are three near me) sells alot of cypress. Sumpter CO. has alot of cypress heads in it. I will go down there soon and get some prices. derwood.

crab bait · Jul 17, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

WOW, unbelievable... what people will/can do.. ya almost have to think WHY .. HOW COME they were bestowed the chance in life...at least now your are the owner & protector of the land now... bet that big BOBBY E. LEE tree was the first one those rat bast^rds sawed-on... 'hey ,hubert.. let's git the bigin' "... cypress is some cherished & rare wood , DERWOOD .. an one of the best boat buildin' wood there is..only one better an that's maybe osagee orange.. but that's arugable.. i'd leave your trees be for the time bein' an buy some nice well seasoned or kilm dry wood... green wood is good for nothin'..

derwood · Jul 20, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

Future project.....After a canoe or two. This is the "Firestar".....Almost the same as the "Northstar"...but about a foot smaller i think.....what a work of art. At about 35-40 lbs and 18 ft long they are very fast (according to the ad....they were clocked as the fastest yaks at the show by G.P.S.). They are sea yaks....ment to handle semi big seas (big for a yak i guess).......nice! What do yall think? Derwood.

derwood · Jul 23, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

I think i'm going to start with this one...Its small and looks fairly simple....Yea right. The plans cost bout 35$...not to bad. Derwood. P.S. This one weighs 17 lbs....Yea baby.

crab bait · Jul 24, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

P R E T T Y ..!!! now your talkin'..!! believe me , DERWOOD,, if you ever believed anythin' before... it'll be the coooolest thing you'll ever do.. you'll be the talk of the town... a hero to friends , family , & work mates.. a complete full circle 'guru of gung-foo'..an artful master.. got to check-out web page .. it's the biggin..

derwood · Jul 25, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

Great site Crabby! I did'nt know there were kit boats that were not strip boats. They look easy to build as well! You've got to leave out the spaces in the adress though.....It won't work with the spaces in it.

hppt://www.chesapeakelightcraft.com Derwood.

Bob_VT · Jul 25, 2002

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

Derwood, I had a friend who was involved in manufacturing Rowing Shells with an elaborate oar system. The seat moved on rollers (rollerblade wheels) and the oars were supported by an aluminum frame. When they were completed they were smoooooth to row. Best of luck with your venture! Bob

jamessloan · Mar 21, 2003

Re: Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

Derwood....you still around? How's the boat coming? I was waiting for your success story before I got started myself....

Strip boats (canoes/kyaks)...how hard?

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