Re: [Paddlewise] Wooden Boat (was Re: Foster Legend)

On 6 Aug 2004 at 22:41, Doug Lloyd wrote:

> My work mate and I got talking about wooden boats, and I got the usual
> question about why I hadn't built a wooden boat yet. It's probably
> because I can't handle imperfection in my woodworking, and I know my
> first boat probably will not come out absolutely perfect.

Grit your teeth and go at it.  You've never seen _my_ wooddorking 
[sic] and lots of folks think my homemade stuff is great.  All I see 
are flaws.

> I'm still not convinced a plywood or cedar strip kayak with
> epoxy/glass on both sides would not be difficult to repair if a direct
> and heavy hit were taken on the hull. I worry about delaminating and
> the broken cell structure of the inner wood and/or fracturing apart of
> the underlying plywood in the case of a plywood hull with heavy impact
> damage.

Since weight is not an issue with you, you've got little to fear.  Go 
with a top quality marine ply (okoume, not door skins) and use top 
end marine epoxy.  As far as glass goes - why bother?  Go with 
Kevlar.  You may as well spend some more bucks and get a tougher 
kayak.  You can put on layers of Kevlar and laugh at the rocks.  
Paint over the outside to hide the Kevlar colour and protect from UV. 
A S&G with Kevlar that weighs 60-70 lb will be a battleship compared 
to a production boat and you'll save 30-40 lb over what you've got 
now!

As far as designs go, you can consider test paddling as many existing 
designs as you can find.  You could also try using a program like 
Hulls to draft up a design that is similar to what you've paddled and 
like* and then generate the plywood template.  Rough it out in ply 
and try it out by wrapping the result in industrial plastic wrap (or 
the blue heat shrink that they protect boats with) and see how it 
handles. If the change is minor, change it and then finish.  If not, 
toss the ply (or sell it to another who will finish it) and then 
start over.  Only when you've got pretty much what you want do you 
then go on to finish it.

Another approach is to build skin on frame designs and experiment 
with the shape.  When you find the "perfect" shape, draft it into 
plywood and build that.  Here you could make the frame out of cheap 
wood and not worry about longevity.  The plastic wrap approach will 
allow you to do calm water, basic handling tests easily.  The frame 
is easier to modify than S&G and you can cover it with a paintable 
skin for real serious rough water testing only after you've satisfied 
yourself with earlier tests.

With the right amount of reading, searching the web, test paddling 
others' kayaks and some experimenting, I don't think it would take 
you that much to find a decent kayak design.

Go for it - it's only money :-)

Mike
*subject to copying restrictions as discussed recently.  Note that 
some designers do give permission to make single homemade copies of 
their kayaks.  I know of one guy who made a Nordkapp in cedar strip 
with VCP's blessing.

PS - I'm away for a week on Georgian Bay, so I won't be able to 
respond to this stuff.
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