: After five years of closet coveting I finally ordered and received
: a set of Shooting Star plans. This is my first stripper but my
: seventh boat to include a reasonably complex glued lapstrake
: sailboat project I finished last summer. I have built from kits,
: plans and not much more than a drawing fueled by lots of
: encouragement from web builders.

: I want to build a very light Shooting Star for surfing the crazed
: waters of the Triangle off Tybee Island, GA. My plan is to use
: 3/16" Northern white cedar strips but cant seem to find a
: supplier even after doing a pretty thorough search. I really
: don't want to rip my own strips. Rather SWMBO would appreciate
: me not ripping my own strips. It's a time/mess lets keep the
: nice lady who indulges me happy thing. I tend to get lost in my
: builds to the detriment of the family.

: I was considering ordering 1/4" bead and cove strips and
: reducing them to 3/16" by taking 1/32" from each side
: of the strip with a friends thickness planer. Would the bead and
: cove still mate well? Is the weight difference of the finished
: boat just not that great to substantiate the extra effort?

: Additionally I have used 3.25 oz glass from RAKA on Nick's surf
: kayak and Eric's double baidarka with great success. But these
: are both S&G boats. Is 3.25 oz glass heavy enough for strip
: building or should I stick with 4 oz s glass? We pretty much
: don't have rocks here but we do have lots of oysters and
: collisions with other surfers on occasion.

: Jim

Jim, the boat is small, low volume, and inherently light. You won't save significant weight with 3/16 vs 1/4-inch strips. That said, I built my Shooting Star with 3/16, because I was ripping them myself, so: why not? I used cedar that was surfaced on three sides. After ripping the strips I ripped off the fuzzy side at a 5-degree angle and started stripping up the hull. I didn't hand bevel any joint that I can recall. Once the boat was sanded out, the joints were nice and tight. I finished the boat with two layers of 3.25 oz. satin glass from Raka, and the boat has proved to be very durable with the resulting high glass/epoxy ratio. It weighs 34 pounds, with bulkhead hatches, foam footpegs (on the front bulkhead), and a Joe Greenley seat. I'm very pleased with the boat. Have fun with your build, treat epoxy like it's (as Kurt says) about 15 billion bucks a gallon, to save weight, and you'll be fine.

--Scott