Building a Cedar Strip Canoe

[Paddlefish]

Great decision!

I used most of the techniques of author David Hazen's "Stripper's Guide to Canoe Building," although I haven't checked recently to see if it's still in print.

He had full-size plans in his book when I bought mine (in the early 70s.) His Micmac is a wonderful design. A buddy and I raced one, fished in it, and cruised with our families. We used an 18-footer, but the 17 is very nice as well.

Using the guidelines in that book, I actually designed my own stripper, as I was doing a bit of marathon racing in those days, wanted a faster canoe, and building one myself was by far the cheapest way to acquire one.

I used Western Red Cedar, bought from a friend-of-a-friend, who brought a bunch of 1 X 4s down from B.C. I ripped the strips myself on my table saw, but you can readily buy finished strips these days, often milled with cupped and domed edges, which nest nicely together. Flounder Bay Boat Company, in Port Townsend, sold strips, (the last time I looked.)

I also built mine with polyester resin -- 26 years ago. It's fallen out of favor recently, with everybody choosing epoxy because it bonds better to woods like cedar. Polyester is less hazardous to work with and, I think, much easier for a beginner to get a good looking job with. (Too many amateur-built epoxy boats seem to have a "lumpy" finish, like the resin was troweled on.) :depressed:

Mine is still beautiful, though, after all those years, though I've been abusing it lately by leaving it in the garage and not getting it on the water enough.

Good luck!

[Cohodependent]

Thanks for the info! Like I said, I have been doing a lot of reading. I know the actuall process is not all that hard, but deciding which design to go with is the tough thing.

[Cohodependent]

I am wanting to build a Cedar Strip Canoe and am now looking for any and all information. I am hopeing that some of my fellow Ifishers have done this and can give me some advice. What was your expierience? Where did you get your plans, lumber ect. I have been doing quite a bit of research on line and have narrowed my list of dream boats. I am currently looking at the 17' Freedom.

Thanks,

Andrew

[edsr]

Hey Andrew - There are a number of sights that can help. WWW.Wooden Boat.com would be a very good start. Many of the people posting there do strip plank canoes. There are also many links from that site.
I have built one small strip plank boat of mahogany, Sitka Spruce, Red Cedar, and pine. Most of the materials are available locally here in the NW. We have a number of really good wood merchants and there are some local, within driving distance, mills also. Hope this helps.

edsr

[James in Idaho]

Gotta disagree with Paddlefish on one point, epoxy is far more safe to work with. It is also a lot more expensive. I've been researching a stitch and glue drifter, nobody is recommending poly anymore. Oh yeah the best prices I have found are at US Composites, Inc. They are on the web. Raki is also pretty good as far as prices.

[fox]

sounds like a fun prodject
just some info on resins.
polyesters and vinelesters are easy to work with because they are thinner and saturate the glass cloth or chopped mat faster and with less working,the glass also has binders in it that are dissolved by the styreen in the resin and allows the glas to drape and take the shape better.
epoxy are normily much thicker but can be formulated to be some what thinner than the normal epoxy. Epoxy contains no styreen and takes a long time to dissolve the binders. Epoxy lay-ups can look as good as any other lay-up but require more working with a good squege not a spreder that the auto part stores sell. Epoxy will provide a much stronger and harder finish it will allso be clearer than other resins.
anyway I hope some of this helps rather than making it more complicated. [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]
Fox

[Snapset]

Glad to hear I am not the only stripper out here. I am in the middle of my first boat, a 14' "Puddleduck" from Gil Gilpatricks's book. I also bought the book "Canoecraft by Ted Moores" Both are excellent books, and I am using techniques from each. I found the router bits for the edge molding after a quite a bit of searching for 15 bucks each from a place called Magnate. They work fantastic. Now I am trying to decide between white oak (Strong) and Spruce (Light) for the gunwales. I have come up with some cheap useful methods for getting a nice tight fit between the planks if you are interested. I also am turning 8' planks into 16 foot bookmatched planks. This project has been one of the most satisfying wood projects I have ever done. I have the boat about 2/3 of the way stripped out and I would guess I have 30 hours invested. I expect to have about $350 into it by the time I have done.

Once "Jemimah" is done, I have already begun plans for building 2 18 footers, with a removable sail frame to turn them into a sail cat.

If you want to know some mistakes to avoid, I have already made quite a few. (Mistakes)

[ 08-31-2003, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: Snapset ]