: Having made 4 strip kayaks and a S&G kayak, I'm considering a canoe. For
: those of you who've built both, could someone please give me an idea of
: the cost of constructing a strip canoe compared to a strip kayak? Also,
: how about the time needed? Thanks.

A canoe tends to be wider and higher. You'll at lest sa many strips as you would use on a kayak, and maybe a few more.

Because the canoe is wider, over the length of the boat you'll need to get a lot more strips onto the "football" area. And all of them will need to be custom trimmed to fit. That takes much more time.

There is a way around this, though. Check out David Hazen's book on stripbuilding canoes and kayaks. He uses a bent strip to outline the football area, and draws guide marks on the forms. He then lays all the strips for the bottom of the canoe at once. They all are straight, and bead/cove or slightly beveled--running paralle with the keel. The ends of the strips overlap the guide marks on the forms. Once the glue hardens he uses his bent strip to redraw the outline of the football area. This time he pencils the line directly on the strips. Then he uses a circular saw set to a shallow cut (a bit over 1/4 inch depth of cut) and cuts along the line. Yes, the saw does nick into the building forms, but the damage is inconsequential. After the two cuts he smooths up the outer edge of his "football" with a hand plane, and lays strips right up to it.

If you weanted to do some fast work, you could start at the water line and glue up 4 to 7 strips parallel to the waterline. If you did both sides and the football on one day. (fast because there is no trimming of the strips, and little bevelling as these areas are relatively flat) then you would just have to fill in the rest of the sides with tapered and beveled "cheater" strips, and a few fitted ones.

Your glass and resin costs on a canoe are slightly greater. You'll be using a thicker glass or double layers on the bottom. and you'll have more waste. If the canoe does not have internal or external wood stems then you'll be wrapping the ends with several layers (3 or 4) of glass and resin -- over and above folding the glass from the sides over the ends -- in order to give strongly reinforced ends. Good place to use up your scraps.

Unless you are very careful, a canoe uses about 1/2 gallon more resin than a kayak.

Usually there are no endpours on canoes, but some people make sealed flotation areas at each end of the boat by setting in a bulkhead. These may be air filled or foam filled. I'm not fond of using foam, but if this is in your plans, then budget for it.

Your canoe will need at least one thwart, and seats, to brace the gunwales. Clark Craft (www.clarkcraft.com) has the long bronze bolts for hanging these at a reasonable price. They also have nice seats and thwarts--ready to cut to length and install, if you don't want to make your own.

Hope this helps.

PGJ