: Has any body got a clue if there is something like a maximum lenth to which a
: canoe can be built with 0.75 x 0.25 inch strips. And if construction wise
: there is a limit could it be increased by increasing the size of the
: strips? The reason I am asking is that I have plans of constructing and
: building a dragon boat to be crewed by 50. (double rows of course) The
: ideal length of this boat would therefore be about 25 meters. If the boat
: would have enough rigidness in some way or another the handling in and out
: of the water would be no problem.

: regards
: Arthur

At 25 meters long this is bordering on not even being a small boat. It most definately will not be strong enough with 1/4" strips with light glass on each side at anything nearing that length. The twisting moments alone would tear it apart, let alone wave action. For a boat that size I'd suspect at minimum you'd have to double the wood thickness and even then would require much thicker glass skins and structural reinforcement. With 50 people paddling it at an average low weight for the people alone you're looking at almost 4 tons of load.

Bill H.

Bill H.