> If I were to build a night heron about how many feet of 5/8th inch strips
> would I need?

For any canoe or kayak: My general rule-of-thumb is to measure the circumference of kayaks, or the distance from gunwale to gunwale for canoes, at the widest point of the boat. Divide this by the width of the strips. and plan to have at least this many full length strips, or their equivalent.

For example, the beam (straight-line distance acros the widest part) on my canoe is 36 inches, but the distance around the hull from gunwale to gunwale is 48 inches. I would therefore need at least 48 strips if they were 1 inch wide strips. If I used 1/2 inch wide strips I'd need 96 and if they were 3/4 inch strips I'd need 72 of them.

If my canoe is 20 feet long I woould need 20 feet times 48 strips (for 1 inch strips) or 960 feet of strips. With 1/2 inch wide strips that length would be double.

For a 15 foot canoe with a 36 inch beam I'd use 15 times 48 strips or 720 feet of strips.

With a kayak with a 60 inch circumference you would want the equivalent of 60 full length strips if they were 1 inch wide, and 120 strips if they were 1/2 inch wide.

Usually I only have a few strips that really ARE full length. I make them by scarfing shorter strips, and use them for aligning things, and as starter strips. I fill in most of the boat with shorter strips, usually ones that are 8 or 10 feet long.

With 10 foot strips I would use about 72 to get that 15 foot canoe built.

The tapering of the boat at the ends means that if I have enough strips to go around the fattest part of the boat I will have some surplus, and some waste.

People who have made several copies of the same boat, and kit suppliers who market a given boat model, will have experience in knowing how much waste is common, and they may specify or supply more or less strips than what I estimate with this rule-of-thumb, but this works for me for a ''ballpark figure''

Best of luck on your project.

Paul G. Jacobson