Eureka - Stupid question

[imafigureskater]

Hi all! I am quite taken with the look of the Eureka canoe! I was going to build a kayak and now think I should build this first! I have a question, and I will duck as soon as I ask.

As I have very limited woodworking skills, limited current budget, and limited buy-in from the SO, I was wondering if it is possible and/or desireable to build a "cheap" Eureka first - and then replace it with a quality one next year or so? I was thinking of using 1/4" (5.2mm) luan plywood and maybe polyester resin. (commencing the duck now ;-) How bad or stupid of an idea is this? It would seem to get me a functional, if not long lasting, boat with less time and money?

If you are still reading - thanks! ;-)

Danielle

[bitingmidge]

Danielle,

Your "cheap" boat will be fine (as long as your luan plywood is marine grade), but look at this objectively for a minute or two:

I don't know how much ply is there, but here, there may be a saving of something like $20.00 per sheet, or $60 maximum on the cost of the boat. Get a hold of some quality marine ply, preferably Okume, and maybe cut corners by building it in 4mm (no thinner).

Then there's the polyester. Lots of boats have been built with polyester, so it can be done quite satisfactorily, but the question is, what is the price difference really? The epoxy for my Eureka cost $100 more or less, if polyester is not quite half (and here it's more than that) you'd save $40.00.

So you'll save at best $100 to have a boat that you'll wish you had used better materials in. That's about how much extra your kayak would have cost in materials anyway.

How long will it take to save that $100? Do you think you can save $10 per week?

Why not buy the plywood, then by the time you've got all the bits cut, you'll have enough for the epoxy.

By the time you've sealed it and stitched it together, and maybe glassed, you'll be on your way to the ten weeks, so all you'll have to do is to buy the remaining timber and you're there!

Don't take shortcuts, you have a long time to regret them while you are building your next boat!

I always tend to buy the materials over a long period of time, several years in the case of my Eureka, and my rowboat, so that by the time it comes to build, they feel "free" nearly! :D

If you haven't already, you can check out PhilW's canoe on my Eureka Website (http://homepage.mac.com/peterhyndman/eureka) for some inspiration!

Cheers,

P

[b.o.a.t.]

As I have very limited woodworking skills, limited current budget, and limited buy-in from the SO, I was wondering if it is possible and/or desireable to build a "cheap" Eureka first - and then replace it with a quality one next year or so? I was thinking of using 1/4" (5.2mm) luan plywood and maybe polyester resin. (commencing the duck now ;-) How bad or stupid of an idea is this? It would seem to get me a functional, if not long lasting, boat with less time and money?

If you are still reading - thanks! ;-)

Danielle

G'day Danielle
Do some shopping around (if you haven't already done so). You may be surprised by how little money you would save over epoxy resin & marine ply. I don't know prices in your part of the world, nor what materials you already have on-hand. Here in Oz it would be the difference between a $500 & a $600 boat. In fact, I can buy a cheap imported BS1088 ply for same or less than an inferior grade exterior ply, so the difference would be less again - maybe <10%.

In any event, your polyester boat need not be a short-lived, throw-away hull. Polyester isn't actually bad, athough there can be long-term issues (20yrs+ long-term). Epoxy is simply so very, very, very superior when applied to wood. Far more so than the price difference might suggest.
cheers
AJ

[Boatmik]

Don't quite agree AJ,

I've had problems with polyester as soon as the day after - the week after and the fortnight after.

Once when I had reglassed a deck the owner came down after it was all painted - he noticed a little glass thread poking out from under some trim and gave it a tug in front of me. It pulled up a cuple of metres

And I have worked on many dinghies where the polyester resin/glass taping was having significant problems keeping water out of the boat after a year or three.

Raceboats certainly - actually - not just raceboats - utility boats like tenders and small fishing boats too.

I'm not talking about mixing/curing problems - I'm talking about adhesion with timber problems.

On the other hand I have known polyester resin glassed boats that keep for a long time with few problems.

And that is the problem.

MIK

[b.o.a.t.]

Don't quite agree AJ,

I've had problems with polyester as soon as the day after - the week after and the fortnight after.
<snip>
On the other hand I have known polyester resin glassed boats that keep for a long time with few problems.

And that is the problem.

MIK

OUCH !!! Never had problems with adhesion. Must have been lucky with my timber. I was thinking of the thousands of Mirrors & Herons out there which have given years of reliable service with modest care. The reports of failure seem to be the exception tather than the rule.

Even so, my main point was that epoxy is so superior a product for working with wood given its marginal price difference that it makes little sense to use something else.

cheers
AJ