> I have built a stich and glue boat before so I am familiar with the
> glassing and finsihing times. I am seriously considering building a SB
> kayak. I can't seem to get an answer about project completion time. I
> undertand that every one works at a diferent pace, however i am hoping
> there might be some guidelines. I am also curious to hear about anyone who
> has built the Northstar by Laughing Loon. Thanks for any repiles!

Roughly, figure 50 to 100 hours more than it took you to build the stitch and glue. This can vary a lot, too. Here is where you can make things go easier, or spend more time:

Cutting the forms. If you have to redraw the forms to actual size because you are working from reduced size plans, tables of offsets, or designing it yourself, you will spend anywhere from two days to several weeks on htis task alone. On the other hand, some kits sell precut forms, and many plans are available lifesize, so you just tack or glue them to your plywood and start cutting.

Potential time saver: Find someone who has built this model before and borrow, rent or buy their forms from them. If they have a strongback that fits, so much the better. Buy, Beg or Barter for these. Additional advantage here is that when you find someone who has built this model you can pick their brains for tips, and maybe even beg them to let you paddle their boat.

It is possible that after you ride in a boat you may not want to build it after all. If so, swallow your pride, thank the boat's owner for an enlightening experience, and search for another design.

Strips can be purchased already milled to thickness and with bead and cove edges. Or, you can cut your own. If you cut your own you can leave them with square edges, or put on bead and cove edges.

If you choose to rip the strips yourself you are basically trading your dollars for your time. If you have no money, but plenty of time, go for making your own square edge strips. You'll save the cost of the router bits for making the bead/cove edges (and the cost of the router and router table, too, if you do not have those tools already) and you will save the time involved in cutting those shapes. On the other hand, the square edged strips might take a bit longer to fit, and later, a bit longer to sand.

The better you prepare your strips before building the less sanding time you'll have before applying the resin and glass.

Check your plans. If they call for forms spaced 12 inches apart you can work very nicely with square edged strips. If they call for forms space 18 to 24 inches apart then you'll find the interlocking action of the bead and cove to be an advantage, and it will take you less time to cut the forms as there will be fewer forms to cut.

The best time saving option is a design which has few, widely spaced forms, and uses storebought bead and cove strips. The most time consuming option is a design that uses closely spaced forms and home-made bead and cove strips. Mind you, for this discussion I'm not going to get into whether these designs actually make good kayaks. A boat designed to use a few widely spaced forms might be faster to build, but not handle well. I'm just saying it takes less time to cut 10 forms than to cut 15 forms. If your design calls for 15 forms, it will take a little longer to build than one that uses less.

The glue you choose can determine whether you put 5 strips on each day, or 25. A faster drying glue has some advantages if you are really trying to cut production time. At the other end of the spectrum, some people use a slow setting epoxy.

Choice of staple or stapleless construction can affect your time. For a first boat I'd suggest keeping things simple and wuick by using staples. If you are going to make several boats it makes sense to spend the time and money to construct the jigs and clamps for holding the strips in place without staples. Then you will save the time of pulling out the staples from each boat built. This will eventually save you on the average time to build one of these boats -- but for a single boat you can't play that averaging game.

The sanding will be more extensive than with a stitch and glue as you are attempting to make those flat strips turn into smooth curves. On the outside a belt sander does a faster job than an orbital sander. Careful. With a coarse belt it can really take off the wood.

From this point on the times for a strip built and a stitch and glue are similar, or identical.

The time you spent wiring together the deck and hull with your stitch and glue will be identical to what you spend with a strip built boat. Some people even use wire stitches to hold the deck and hull aligned while taping that seam. You don't need to make them so close together.

On your stitch and glue, if you put glass fabric on both inside and outside, then those times should be the same for a strip built boat. If you only glassed the outside, double your times.

Extra coats of resin, filling the weave, sanding, varnishing, and other finishing operations should be identical with a stitch and glue.

Making the cockpit coaming, installing bulkheads and hatches (if you choose to), fitting a seat, foot pegs, and sprayskirt are essentially identical operations, and will take the same time. In these areas, though, since you have some experience thay may actually go faster this time.

Hope this gives you some idea of where and how your extra time will be spent. Good luck with your new project.

Paul Jacobson