> ...I want to mix stich & tape and strip building to make an 8 foot squirt
> boat that is primarily made for flat water. I will make a set of forms (1
> every 12 inches) over these forms I would staple 6 inch wide peaces of 1/8
> inche marine playwood. After the wood is all on I would put on a layer of
> 6 ounce fibreglass cloth. (just the regular unidirectional stuff) I would
> fibreglass the inside, outside and the top of the hull....
> ...the ends would be
> flat not pointed and the bottom of the hull would be mostly flat. I have a
> design all drawn up ...
> If you notice anything wrong with this plan I would really appreciate a
> little advice from people with more expierience on the subjuct.

I would not limit my panels to 6 inch width, If you can go wider over the flat areas, asn do so with a single panel, then do so. On the other hand, there may be a few spots where you are filling in half inch wide gaps -- and using half inch wide strips.

Staples to hold the panels to your forms are good, but, are you going to edge glue the panels or are you planning to cover the outside edge with piece of fiberglass tape and resin to hole things together? If so, keep your staples away from the edges so they dont get covered by the glass tape. 1 inch brads may work better.

Fiberglass cloth should be on both sides of the wood for the hull and the deck. You may want to get some lighter weight cloth, say 1 ounce, and cut it into strips. You can use these as bands, running around the boat, and located between the stations forms so they dont cover the staples. These should hold things together, much in the manner of duct tape, but in this case you can just lay your final glass cloth over this. This should hold the panels in place even if the edge gluing is weak.

A single layer of 6 ounce cloth should be pretty strong, but consider this a prototype and if it falls apart then go to more glass on the next attempt.

This is going to be pretty flexible. If you want it to be more rigid, put in chines on your forms, and use them as mating surfaces for the panels. You can glue the panel to the chines, hold them in place with screws ( far cheaper than clamps) and back the screws out, or leave them in. Your chines can be 1/2 inch square stock, or a bit bigger. You can rip them from a 8 or 10 foot piece of common pine 1x6 or 1x8. These don't have to be clear wood, they are screwing and joining surfaces. Set our saw to make 1/2 inch strips, run the board through and you get 1/2 by 3/4 strips. Use those if you can, otherwise, flip the strip on its side and run it thrugh the saw to reduce it to 1/2 by 1/2 inch. The bigger they are the stiffer the boat, and the less interior space you have. But that is not a big loss of space.

If you use chines you will have to notch your building forms so that the top edge of the chine sits flush with the edge of the forms. A few minutes with a handsaw is all it takes. Lay the strips of wood on your forms. Start with a center one. Use a couple of brads to hole the ends in place and walk along it, eith a pencil, marking the forms for where they should be cut. Cut a chunk from the forms, drop in the chine, and go to the next one. The chines that go around the sides will bend. Make the bends smooth, keep the chines reasonably clse, and your panels should go on with no problems.

Good luck with your project, Take plenty of pictures and when you need them scanned I'm sure some one on here will be happy to help.

Pual G. Jacobson