: I've been plotting to build a short boat for a long time, and
: I've finally got as far as a set of offsets for this:

: Anyone tried an approach like this ? Any tips ?

Hi Andy
I stripped a slightly longer one (8’9”) a few years ago so I have a few tips. I used just less than ¼” strips (about .23”). But if I was to do it again to more readily achieve the greater curvatures areas, I would use 1/8” strips very carefully laid so that sanding is hardly required – ie Rob Macks technique of strip building.

The whole hull and up the sides will be no real problem – but I would use ½” to 3/8” wide strips just to get the better side bending.
For the real tight curves over the rear bump, I’d use the banded heat gun to get the bending right where you want it. The front ckpit area should be ok to achieve.

If you use staples like I sometimes did, you need to align the ‘chisel’ points of the staples with the grain direction – ie the stapler aligns with the strip, the staple goes across the strip – so that no (or minimal) grain fibres are cut, therebye weakening the strip right where it bends, heh heh. The other staple techs i used were bridging over the narrow strips or stapling beside the strip - plus lots of clamps of all kinds.

And for extra strength, just add more internal glass layers using all the scrap cloth you have laying around – simpler than adding extra wood layers.
Use the chine lines to locate the strip edges and then work the strips toward each other. I didn’t on this yak and ended up mitering 2/3 of the strips (preplanned in my case) on ea end.

So basically – use thin strips, carefully laid, and with any luck you’ll get what you want.
And if by any chance you have difficulty going over the rear hump, use short thickish strips (say the ¼”) and stagger lay them up like bricks so that no ends line up – and then sand smooth and pile a bunch of glass on the inside – and who’s to know??

mick

www.westcoastpaddler.com