> Iwould be like to hear any pro's and con's anyone has about using clear
> pine for strip building . THANK YOU J.D.

The only strip boat I have seen that was made of pine is now about 21 years old, and on it's second fiberglassing.

It was made from 3/16th inch strips instead of the usual 1/4 inch strips, and originally covered with polyester resin, which, after 20 years of use was getting a bit ratty looking, so the owner sanded it off and recovered with 4 ounce cloth and epoxy.

As for durability: If a 20 year service life is not long enough to suit you, what is?

Using thinner strips (George goes down to 1/8 inch, and some use 3/16 inch instead of the usual 1/4 inch strips) means a lighter weight to the boat. the difference between species of wood when you are dealing with 1/8th inch thick strips is not a lot. It will be a light boat whether you use mahogany or balsa, but cedar, redwood and pine are cheap, easily available in the US and easily worked, so they are most commonly used.

The catalog for We-No-Nah canoes a few years ago had a picture of one of their canoe designers and a story of how he made the (full scale) models that were used as molds for their fiberglas canoes. He made them as strip canoes, using white pine strips.

If pine is what you have, then use it.

Paul Jacobson