> Thanks,

> The book is a great idea, but before that point, Id want to have an idea
> of comparitive costs before Id buy it.

> Best,

> Pete

I think you can find that information on this bbs. Work off of the ome page. Nick has writeups on the three main building styles: Skin on frame, stitch-and-glue plywood, and woodstrip.

Stitch-and-glue plywood and skin on frame are the fastest to build. Workshops regularly assemble skin on frame boats in weekend. Woodstrip construction gives you the most freedom of design, and the simplest way to implement your own designs.

Most (single) kayaks can be made from 4 or fewer sheets of plywood. Some can be made from 2 or 3 sheets. A few take 5. If you figure on 4 you'll be able to get a ballpark estimate on your costs. Are you planning to use lauan at $8 a sheet from the local homecenter, or certified marine grade mahogany or okume shipped from a specialty dealer at $80+ a sheet?

Most stripbuilt kayaks will use 40 to 50 full length strips. If you use 8 foot or 10 foot strips you'll need about 60 to 80. I get about 15 strips from a 1x8 board, so figure on ripping 4 to 6 1x8 boards into a stack of thin strips and a big pile of sawdust. You can do this with almost any kind of saw (hand, band, circular, radial arm, table, sabre, jig, etc.) There are a few tricks depending on which tool you use which will make your work easier. I like using a radial arm saw because I get a long table to work on. Others like using a table saw, and still others prefer a bandsaw for the quick cutting, and thin kerf.

You can leave the edges square or you can shape them into interlocking cove and bead shapes. If you leave the edges square you can use a hand-held block plane to make adjacent strips fit beautifully in the tightly curved areas. Even if you have bead and cove you still have to do some hand fitting on some strips. If you make bead and cove moldings on your strips you'll spend about $40 for the bits. I'll assume you already have a router and shaper table.

Skin on frame construction may use 2 to 3 ounces of epoxy glue for the entire boat. You can buy 3 or 4 tubes of the stuff at any hardware store at a reasonable price. George Putz estimates you can build an entire boat (including paint) in this style for $250. That seems accurate.

Stitch and glue will use fiberglass tape and epoxy or polyester resin on the seams. Depending on the design, you may also cover the outside of the hull with a layer of glass cloth and plastic resin. That adds to the price. If you cover the interior of the hull and one or both sides of the deck you keep adding cost and weight.

Woodstrip construction requires glass cloth and resin on both the interior and exterior of hull and deck.

For any of these, figure on the cost of the cloth and resin. If you have a 17 to 18 foot boat you'll need 6 yards for the outside of the hull, 6 more for the interior, 6 more for the outside deck and a final 6 for the interior deck. That adds up to 24 yards. If you buy wide fabric, or plan carefully and use leftover scraps and pieces economically, you'll need less. Budget $6 a yard for fabric and $65 a gallon for epoxy resin with hardener. You can buy it cheaper after you shop a bit, but use this as a ballpark figure. That's $124 for the fabric (full boat, both sides) and $189 (almost $200) for fabric and resin. Tack on another $25 for disposable mixing cups, brushes, rollers and other tools for working with the fiberglass.

Yes, you CAN go broke buying enough sandpaper to finish a stripper, but I never heard of anyone who complained about this cost. They just keep loving the boat more and more, the more they sand it.

Add on wood for a strongback and frames and you are getting into the $350 to $400 range for materials for a stripper.

OK. With this info you should be able to estimate the cost of almost any design and/or building method. For more details on any of these methods, invest in a book or two. Nick has one on strip building. David Hazen's book on strip built canoes includes full size plans for some canoes and 2 kayaks, which i nice, but it is an older book and you'll need to get more up-to-daye information on fiberglassing materials from another source, which is not really a big deal. Chris Kulczycki has one ("The Kayak Shop") on stitch and glue and George Putz has one on canvas covered boats. All are in the $20 range. Buy two or three of these. Consider it an investment. You should learn enough to save the cost of the books when you get to building.

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson