: PJG
: Building lapstrake canoes takes a skill level many times greater than what's
: required for ordinary S&G. I can't imagine anyone investing the time and
: effort it takes to build in lapstrake and then treating it like a rag in
: an "adventure race".

If you want a boat that is built to your specifications, sometimes you have to build it yourself. I did not assume that this would be treated like a rag, but I did assume it would need to stand up to some heavy use. Reinforcement, all too often, means added weight.

Canoes hull shapes are usually a bit different from kayaks. Building one from tortured plywood, in a plan similar to "Sweet Dream", gives a boat with low freeboard in the middle, and a hull shape which give no consideration to speed. You can more easily approximate an ideal hull shape by increasing the number of panels. Think of a stripper as a boat made with 45 very narrow, flat, panels, and compare that with a boxy kayak where the hull has 4 parts: a floor panel and a side panel for each side. If you alter the design of that boxy kayak hull by by re drawing the lines, and changing the sharp junction between floor and sidewall into more complicated shapes by using more panels (this is also called multichine design) you get closer to a canoe hull. But you also increase the number of parts, and with stitch and glue that can increase the chance for misalignment. It also increases the time to build.

If you have not seen Tom Hils book yet, I recommend it. He presents rebuttals to some of your points on lapstrake construction. His approach to lapstrake is not unique, in fact it goes back to the work of Henry Rushton in the 19th century, but it is different than "common" lapstrake. The major differences that he points out are that he uses thin marine plywood rather than lumber, and he uses epoxy glue for boat-length watertight seams. He also uses very little fiberglass, sheathing just the bottom for abrasion resistance. The absence of fiberglass cuts a considerable weight from his designs.

: Aside from the emotional drawbacks lapstrake hulls aren't particularly light.
: A 16 footer goes about 52-54 lbs. if the builder knows what he's doing.
: I think Looker wants an S&G hull that's as light as a Kevlar C-2 and there
: aren't any such animals.

Well, since there ain't gonna be such an animal in the pot, I'll go shoot something else for dinner

Seriously, though, a 50 pound canoe is 15 to 20 pounds lighter than an aluminum canoe of the same length, and not much heavier than a cedar strip boat of the same length made form 1/4 inch strips and 6 ounce glass. You can make kayaks lighter.

: The lightest S&G canoe I've run across is the 16 ft. Nice Canoe from
: Mertens-Goosen. It can be built at close to 40 lbs. in BS1088 but it's
: really a flat bottom pirogue intended for flat water and casual paddling.

: http://www.boatplans-online.com/products.php?id=8

That is the problem. With a minimal number of panels you get a flat, or shallow V bottom. If you want a strong and rounded bottom on the hull you need more panels. And I think Hill's apprach to lining up and fitting those panels is as simple as stitch and glue, if not simpler.

Construction time for a boat built in Hill's manner should be fairly close to that spent on building a S&G from offsets. Having full size plans for an S&G would make that method go faster in the early stages. Mounting the gunwales, or inwales and outwales, is going to take the same amount of time on a stripper, S&G or any other type of wood canoe. The lapstrake construction saves on time for fiberglassing -- and that means it also saves a lot of hours of sanding.

It may not be ideal, but thought I would throw it out as an option.

While considering options -- skin on frame can be light and with the reinforced fabics now available it is a strong boat, too.

PGJ