Thread: Lightwight wood for GIS necessary?

It sounds lika a plan to me. Larch is (as far as I know) quite varied in density. The siberian larch can be quite dense (strong, but heavy) since it grows slowly, if so, I would have used it for gunwales and inwales (things marked as "Oregon" in the plan), and used some lighter wood for framing and spacers. Personally I use spruce instead of WRC as it is the standard housebuilding wood in Sweden and as such very cheap (and quite light since it grows so fast), I suppose it could be the same in Germany? Go to Hornbach or the equivalent and sort through the piles of wood for boards that are straight and with as few knots as possible. The pieces you need is quite short, so it's relatively easy to cut out the parts with bigger knots. I don't think that a boat built with larch and spruce will be that much heavier than a oregon/WRC boat and it definitely won't be much more stable. My advice would be to build the boat as light as possible, light is good. If you for some reason finds you need ballast you can add it, it's very difficult to take weight out of the boat one built..

Good luck!

Pontus

Originally Posted by scooterpontus

My advice would be to build the boat as light as possible, light is good. If you for some reason finds you need ballast you can add it, it's very difficult to take weight out of the boat one built.

^^This is what I was going to say. I haven't measured my hull's weight, but it takes two strong people to lift and move around. I would not want to add to that burden if I could avoid it. Yes, the GIS is best suited to two crew by design, but those are dynamic (athletic?) masses to be applied where and when required by the conditions. Building with heavier wood won't replicate this effect, it will only make those crew work harder to get the boat into and out of the water. Whether you want to use ballast when solo will only come to you with experience and depending on the conditions. Some have, and some have not.

After 20 years, your English is great. Far better than the three words in German I can speak... (Einmal Bier bitte!)

Thank you both for your advice!
To use spruce ore fir for the shorter pieces is a good idea.
Easy carrying to and from the water is an good argument for lightweight building.
I consider to get a little cart for it like the canoeists have to get the boat from the road(trailer) to the water.
Or perhaps i will mount a fixing-system from wheelchairs to the hull like this Boatbuilder in Finland has done.
This wheelchair wheels are easy removeable with one pushbutton:
Puuvenepiste Expedition Sinne His other boats are beautifull too!

I can not go directly to the beach with the trailer. I have to pass a 300-400 meter from the parking lot to the water.

Originally Posted by davlafont

...After 20 years, your English is great. Far better than the three words in German I can speak... (Einmal Bier bitte!)

Thank you very much! Auf Dein Wohl! Prost! ;-)
best regards
Sönke

As long as you stick with the gabon/okoume plywood the wood you select for the solid bits is not going to have a big effect on the weight and performance. Use whatever is local, as clear as possible and affordable. We can't get good quality cedar where I live so I just carefully selected from the standard construction grade lumber (some sort of white wood) at the Big Box stores.

I got lucky when I built my next boat, though, and found a good deal on some beautiful clear cypress which is probably as good or better than cedar.

Good luck with the project.

Originally Posted by schwattwitt

Hello,
i purchased the Gis Plans almost two years ago. But to many things happened in life so i had no time to start building it.
Know i want to make a new attempt.
I live in northern Germany nearby the estuary of the river Elbe. I fond a good shop dealing with Gabun Plywood.
But my problem is the western red cedar. It is very very expensive here.

Yes .. that is the problem. One timber that is starting to appear in different places is Paulownia which is superior to cedar.

So my Question is, if the stability of the GIS is much better with 2 Persons or one Person and some Sandbags,
is it really necessary to build wit WRC? I will sail her almost singlehanded and have Planks of sibirian larch which i could cut for the Gunwales, inwales and other timber need for builing her.

The stability is not greatle affected by timber density, but the difficulty of moving the boat on land is significantly increased with more weight.

So when builing with gabun(okume) and Larch, i think i will still need some ballast for singlehanded sailing?
I am 2 metres tall and weighing 100 Kg
What is your opinion?

I agree with the others above. I would strongly suggest you do the best you can finding light timber. The timber to replace the cedar can be very light and still be strong enough.

The Paulownia is in Germany. I have no idea of the price. But it looks like there are several possible sources. The wonderful thing about Paulownia is as it is lighter than cedar your boat will be light overall. You can use it to substitute for cedar in any of the items. Searching on Google might find more.

Paulownia Deutschland
Paulownia Holz, Top-Liste der Paulownia Holz Produkte und Lieferanten für Deutschland Käufer
Verwendung Paulowniaholz - Paulownia Baumschule Schröder - Paulownia Bäume für Wert- und Energieholzplantagen
Paulownia Holz, Alaia Surfboards & Blanks
Paulownia/kiri/blauglocken holz - Seite 2

My General advice is to go for the lightest boat possible. The boats that are light have weight considered at every point in the process.

This is a strategy that adjusts to the reality of what you can find in Germany.

Do your best

I learned english 20 years ago in school
So i hope you understand my english which are just fragments of my long a go schooltime.
thank you for your comments
best regards
S.

I did some German in High School and it is very much worse than your English!

Mein bruder ist arm, mein onkel ist reich.
And "fahrkarte bitte"

You are very welcome!

Best wishes
Michael

Hi Michael,
that is a very interesting information!
Never heard before that Paulownia stuff.
I will start googling for dealers with that timber in the required measurements.
thank you very much for the links.
all the best
Sönke

P.S. i will keep you informed about my researchings for that wood.
perhaps there are more German forum members that are interested in that wood...