Thread: Mould spacing for strip kayak?

The normal spacing is between a foot and 18 inches, though some go wider but at some risk of the strips starting to wave around a bit - though you can get away with it if you are careful and eyeball the strips carefully after they are nailed or stapled in place.

If the strips have sudden twist in the ends a closer spacing there is useful.

Best wishes
Michael.

Thanks.
I've used a 500mm inch spacing with 12mm kahikatea strips before so I'd personally be leery about 450mm (18 inch) spacing for 6mm cedar. Looks like about a foot is the go then. Cheers.

Btw, I plan on using a wide plank garboard to start with as the midship sections will be flat floored. I've done this before and found it worked well. I cut the outer edges of the garboard in a fair curve to start the rest of the strips from. This seems to me to be better than the way I've seen some canoes done in photos, were the hull is planked down from the sheer and then closed in below the bilge with a stack of sharp ended strips.