Hi Chris, The big dilemna--I faced it too-- Use doorskins and save money or use okoume and have a stronger boat

I compromised and built my hull from okoume and my deck with doorskins. I completely trust my hull and have no worries about the strength of my deck.

My brother and I each built a CLC Chesapeake 17 like this for $450. Total. For both boats. We did reach a small economy-of-scale, though, by building two boats at the same time rather than a single boat.

You won't find a lot of cost savings if you build with doorskins and have to add extra glass. If you use the George Roberts theory and use more glass/less wood, you may end up with a stronger boat at the same weight. However, the cedar/redwood/spruce he uses is bonded on both sides to epoxy/glass. With a doorskin, only the outer and inner ply would be bonded to its respective glass layer. You would be at the mercy of the plywood manufacturer as to the structural integrity between the plies of the doorskin.

I have to admit: doorskins (even the best ones I could find) are crappy. The wood is dry and prone to cracking. The middle ply is crumbly end-grain (which is great in compression, but has almost NO tensile strength.) Compressive strength is all that's needed with glass inside and out, but a typical S&G only has outer glass.

I have to agree with other posters on this thread: if this will be a first, experimental boat, and others are to come, then go for the doorskins, since you can't justify this being an end-all boat. If this will be your primary boat for the next 10 or 15 years, save up and buy okoume. I wanted a boat that I will have for a long time, but it won't be my only boat. I will build another, a stripper, this spring. The compromise worked for me; maybe it will for you. Using doorskins for the deck of a CLC boat worked fine. I don't see why you couldn't do it with a Pygmy boat, but the way (I understand) panels are cut from the plywood for Pygmy designs you cut the panels from full sheets, so you'd have all the okoume already; you might not be able to achieve the savings.

Shawn

As Paul Jacobson said,
>There have been numerous debates on this BBS about which method is better: >Single layer or multiple thin layers. Read them when you have the time. For now >let me just say that you can use fiberglass fabric to cover the inside and >outside of a hull made from 3 mm or 1/8 th inch plywood and build up as many >layers as you want to make the hull as strong, or stronger than
>one constructed using 4mm plywood. For myself, if I was trying to save money by >using doorskins I'd use a single layer of 6-ounce fabric on inside and out, and >I'd use the left over scraps to make a second layer under the center for >scratch resistance.