Thread: Help/advice please with cedarstrip canoe

I built a strip plank Cedar Canoe about 15 years ago ( Christ, has it been that long ) I purchased the kit from Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Adelaide. The kit cost me about $1000 then

Paulownia seems to be a popular choice for strip building now - pale in colour, but this would make a good background for a few darker strips to add feature. It's ligher than cedar and about as strong, is plantation grown and rot resistant. There is a member on this forum called Whitewood who is associate with a plantation, the website is
http://www.paulownia-timber-sales.com.au/index.htm

As for plans there are supposedly many around but I only found a few references to strip built canoes - someone else will probably be able to point you to heaps. Laughing Loon have a range from 10'6" (17lb) up to 18' (55lb).
http://www.laughingloon.com/canoes.html

No time to reply now as I have to mill today. I'll post a reply later in the day and direct you to some one who is building one at the moment and should be able to help.

John

I'd also recommend paulownia which I used for my guideboat. In addition to the qualities already mentioned it has a much lower risk of allergy than cedar.

Kelvin

Your right about the toxicity of Cedar, I ended up with Sequoicious, a disease that can kill you. It's like pleurisy, and a lot of the Cedar Foresters used to get it. The boney areas around my Sinuses got inflamed and swelled up. I had to put drops in and hang my head over the bed for 10 min 4 times a day for a month . It wasn't pleasant, be careful

Originally Posted by whitewood

No time to reply now as I have to mill today. I'll post a reply later in the day and direct you to some one who is building one at the moment and should be able to help.

John

Sorry Im late had a bigger day than planned yesterday and fell asleep watching the end of the news. I was woken up to watch Origin and went to bed aftre that a happy man.

I'm recommendig Paulownia as it is used buy the professionals, it is lighter than WRC but just as strong, it is easy to work with, it is plantation grown in Australia and it is a renewable resource as the tree regrows from the stump after it is cut down. It is not deemed toxic.

Getting a professionally made kit will be outside your budget. Capeboat Works charge $1,470 for an 11' up to $1,902 for an 18'. I have sold paulownia to 2 guys recently who are DIY builders and should be able to give you some current costings.

[email protected] has built 2 recently. He buys planks and srips them himself. He does not bede & cove them. He should be able to give you an idea of the other costs involved. The RS timber for each of his craft was approx $140.00. He'll also know what tools are needed.

[email protected] is building one now. He bought strips from me and is going to bede &cove them himself. The strips for his craft cost $480.00

Striping involves dressing the broard side of a RS plank to 19 mm then running the plank through a band saw to cut strips approx. 10 mm wide. These are then dressed on both sides back to 6 mm to produce strips 19 x 6 mm DAR.

I tried to add some photos of Allans craft but buggered it up and only managed to attach 1. Sorry as they look really great.


Hope this helps
John

There are several different methods of strip planking (including one I've invented). You should select a design, then working off the materials list, procure materials.

There are also a number of ways you can jack up the costs of a strip planked build.

For example you can buy a kit, which has most everything you need, but you pay dearly for this. You can have a shop mill out the stock you need to the proper dimensions, but again you'll pay dearly.

In the end the cheapest way to get planking stock is to stop at the local home improvement store or lumber yard and pick through a stack (or two or three) of regular dimensional building lumber. Most of the time you can find a handful of roof rafter sticks, then mill them yourself into suitable strips.


Another example is a boat to my RYD-21.7 design is under construction. It needs 48 strips per side, each 1.5"x.75". This stock was purchased as 16' - 2"x10" and 12" framing stock. These boards (just a handful) where shoved through a table saw, set at .75". The total board count was 14 - 2x12's. The whole 26' long, deep bellied hull (see attached) was built from $200 worth of conventional building lumber (just like used in a house).

Don't want to stray too far from the topic but I have to ask - John what is the darker wood in Allan's kayak? Is it cedar or some heavier hardwood?

Chris, As far as tools go I don't think you need anything too special, although a Japanese saw, while not essential, is supposed to be very handy for this kind of thing.

The tricky bit could be the fibreglassing. If this is completely new for Pete then he may need some assistance with the first one. The problem I found was that you get most of your experience in the first piece of glassing you do and unfortunately this happens to be the hull exterior. This is a large area and is seen by everyone. Have a look at the tutorials on One Ocean Kayaks web site (there are also articles on the Jem and Laughing Loon sites).

The darker timber on Allans boat is WRC. He is currently finishing off a great looking paulownia/WRC TK1. if you visit www.blueheronkayaks.com , go to the forums and do a search for TK1, you will see some more images of his work.