Ya know, Paul, if you try this method and it's successful, you've got the perfect topic for a book on an ingenious strip/S&G hybrid boatbuilding technique. I'm not kidding! Get working, man, and see how it turns out!

Ross

> I've floated this idea before: make up a long, thin sheet from strips,
> cover both sides with thin fibergalss cloth, and then cut your parts for a
> stitch and glue from this. Assemble the boat in the usual fashion, just
> using fiberglass tape and wpoxy resin on the seams. The rest of the boat
> is already a resin-encapsulated, fiberglass-covered composite material.

> If you want to use another material (Kevlar, carbon, polyester, etc.) on
> these panels you can put these on the inside and have a clear wood
> exterior, or you can put them on either side and paint it. I've heard that
> structurally these reinforcements work better if they are on the inside,
> but consult some of the engineers around here for verification (or an
> argument on that concept.

> A few advantages:

> Since you are building a flat panel you can just lay up the strips on a
> sheet of plywood and use wedges as clamps until the glue sets.

> You can make the panels as long as you desire with no need for scarf
> joints -- just stagger the end joints of the strips. Need a part that is 4
> mm thick, 12 inches wide and 19 feet long? No problem. Lay up some strips
> that are a tad thicker than 1/8 inch. You can cut these from 2 x 8s or 1 x
> 6s, or almost any other common lumber, and get strips that range from 3/4
> to 1-1/2 inches wide. Use as many as you need to get the width and length.

> You can build these thing with short lengths of wood strips. It is
> possible to even make long panels from many 2 foot long strips laid in
> staggered rows like bricks. (Clear 2 foot long lumber is a lot easier and
> cheaper to buy or make than clear 16 foot lumber.)

> Once the panels are glued, and the glue sets up, you can sand these flat
> panels far faster and more smoothly than with curved boat surfaces. Nice
> surprise: They are flat on both sides, so grab the belt sander and be done
> with it in a hurry.

> The panels are probably going to be mostly long, narrow, regular
> rectangles. Laying a sheet of fiberglass fabric on this should be a
> breeze. Fewer sags and runs as it is flat when the resin is applied. No
> vertical surfaces. You could vacuum bag these rather easily if you were so
> inclined.

> If you are thinking of a design where the wood must be bent in sharp
> curves, you could just put a thin layer of lightweight glass cloth ( say 2
> or 3 ounce fabric) on one side of the panel before cutting it into shape.
> The preglassed side becomes the sealed interior of your boat. After the
> boat is assembled you can then complete the construction of the panel by
> glassing the outside, with no greater difficulty than in any other stitch
> and glue construction.

> You could use a sheet of 4 x 8 particle board or plywood as a bnech for
> constructing your panels. Rip the particle board into two pieces 8 feet
> long and a tad narrower than 2 feet. Use some scrap wood and screws from
> underneath to join the ends, making a 16 foot long work area. Using nails
> or screws attach a piece ( or several pieces) of 1x2 as a base line near
> one edge. Try to get this as straight as possible. If you are using stock
> that is 4 feet long, this 16 foot workspace will let you make boat panels
> that are well over 18 feet long. Just let the ends of the wood hang out
> over the end of this workspace. You can secure the overhang with bar
> clamps or something as simple as a few staples. If you need really long
> stuff, make a 14 to 16 foot panel with a ``ragged'' end. when the glue
> sets, shift thi panel along the workspace a bit, and add on to it, using
> strips that fill in the `ragged'' area to tie the new work into the old.
> Once you have the whole thing glued up you would sand and glass it as one
> piece.

> to clamp the strips evenly and cheaply, nail or screw another 1x2 a few
> inches away from where the finished edge of the panel will be, fill the
> gap with a block of wood and a pair of wedges. Tapping the wedges together
> with a light touch will supply plenty of edge pressure to hold the strips
> in place as the glue sets up. Alternately, you could drill holes into the
> particle board, drop in a dowel rod, and use wedges between the dowel and
> the wood strips.

> Since your work bench is only 24 inches wide it will fit nicely on a few
> sawhorses, and you can easily work from either side.

> lay a couple strips of Saran Wrap (R) neatly down the center of the work
> area so the glue you use doesn't glue your strips to the work area. The
> plastic wrap is 12 inches wide, so a you should get a slight overlap,
> which is desireable. buy the BIG roll of wrap. I doubt if it will be
> reuseable. Use fresh stuff for making each panel.

> Since there will be a lot of butt joints at the ends of all those short
> strips, I'd cut off, or sand off, about 1/8th inch from any rouggh ends to
> make those joints neater and less noticeable. Since the panels are flat,
> the edges of the strips will make a flat joint with each other, bead and
> cove edges are not needed.

> Something you might try is to put the strips in this framework without
> glue, and then roll or brush on a layer of epoxy. There should be enough
> soaking into the wood and joints to seal and glue things together. Sanding
> this would remove any high spot of resin, and leave a sealed wood surface
> that owuld be ideal for taking the glass cloth with a minmun of additional
> resin. That would keep things light.

> You asked about ramblings, now you know a bit about what goes on in my
> tortured mind.

> Hope this helps you, it is therapy for me. :)

> Paul G. Jacobson