> has anyone ever heard of this meathod of building?

> I got the idea to make a series of laminated beams like deck beams but
> they would form the hull instead of the deck. use them kind of like you
> would a form in building a stripper but the beams would be permenent. I
> would glue the beams to a 1/8th inch peice of plywood and the hull should
> form up nicley.... right? this seems kind of wierd. and how would I get
> rocker in? I know this sounds crazy but I'm trying to build a flatwater
> squirt boat. for myself and my friend. if anyone out there has a way of
> finding volume roughly I would love some advice. thanks for any help you
> can provide.

> Dave

I obviously do not know what your intended use of your squirt boat is. Ex. mystery moves or cartwheels, squrts, etc. At least that is what whitewater squirt's specialize in. Something you may want to consider if you are going for WW squirt style performance is the volume. Squirt boats today are custom made per the weight, inseam, and shoe size of the paddler and their desired use of the boat. All of the ones I have built (only of fiberglass) there is not much room in them. I am not familar with the method of building you have mentioned but it sounde like it will occupy some space inside the boat. In many of the glass boats out there today it necessary to squeeeeeze in the boat having the hull and deck both in contact with your legs. In the boats I have built I used established boat designs (molds) chop the deck and hull close to finished size, and then before seaming I tape the boat together and test float it with me in it for volume, balance etc until it is "just right". This will be trial and error in your case but it is not too hard just chop SLOWLY !! a 1/8" difference in hull or deck can make a big difference when you get near the right volume.

If you do decide to got this route you mentioned there are a couple of resources I would reccomend regarding squirt boats first is a squirt video by Jim Snyder (pretty much the inventor of the squirt boat) called "The Great White Charc" Not only a cool video demonstrating squirt boats but is has great sections on boat desigh evolution, paddle design evolution. The second is "The Boatbuilders Manuel" by Charlie Whalbridge It has an unbeleviable amount of info on building glass kayaks and squirt boats, heavy into composite layup info. It also has good info on volume and chopping!

One thing I think you might really be able to play around with is the hull. Many of the new squirt/play boats coming out today are utilizing a sharply chined planing hull. Go into any WW kayak shop and look at the hottest rodeo boats and you will see what I mean. This hull design is GREAT for surfing anything from ocean to ripples, holes and waves on a river, I think your method of construction might open up an easy way to construct that type of hull. Just make sure to reinforce the chines inside and out as they tend to take a lot of abuse. John Schreiner of New Wave Kayaks in PA is now selling some of Jim Snyders designs with the planing hull. A friend bought one and loves it. But it's design it is a larger, shorter boat designed for cartweels and surface moves rather than big down time (mystery moves) I think that type of design might fit your building method better than some of the super thin squirts out there today

Good luck let, us know how it goes Bart