: Boats with ribs on the inside were a good idea for many years, but you can't
: just pop them out of molds, so you won't see them made in factories. And
: building one at home means lots more setup time and more jigs. For a
: single boat it is not practical. It is barely practical unless you want to
: start a small factory. Just guessing here I'd say you probably wouldn't
: break even with time and money versus glass on wood unless you made
: probably 6 to 10 boats off of a mold. After that I think you'd save some
: shop time and about $25 on the glass and resin. I may have better numbers
: on this in a year or so. I am strongly considering building a mold for a
: 17 to 18 foot touring canoe and using it in classes. Hopefully I'll be
: able to offer a class where someone can build their own canoe over such a
: form in 4 to 5 days. That would be three to 4 days working at assembly on
: the mold, varnish in the evening, come back the next morning to put on
: gunwales, decks, and hang seats and thwarts before another coat of
: varnish. The next morning varnish the inside, and take the boat home in
: the afternoon. A classic wood canoe with no glass. Or, spend a couple more
: days and glass the outside. You'd have a boat in a week. Rgiht now that's
: the goal, but the plans are still being worked on. Talk to me in 6 months
: or a year.

Sounds like it could work. Without varnishing it'll be close. The wood/epoxy/glass canoe I'm building now will be done after about 80 hours spread over 5 weeks. It could have been quicker but I mostly had to wait for epoxy and varnish to cure. Seriously think about what varnish/coating you plan to use on your canoe class. Most regular, one-component, marine varnishes (ie Captain's, Epifanes, Interlux, etc) require 6-10 coats which take 12-24 hours to cure. For this canoe I didn't have the luxury of time so I used Interlux Perfection. It was great to work with. Thin but very nice to brush. No issues with drips once I got used to it. Cures in 8 hours at 70 degrees and over epoxy you only need 2 coats. I put an extra on the bottom of the hull. I started varnishing on Wednesday and brushed the last coat on the trim this morning. I'll be outfitting tonight and Tuesday. Shipping it to Florida on Monday.

Dan