Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: Strip: New builder!
By:JohnAbercrombie
Date: 10/5/2014, 9:47 pm
In Response To: Re: Strip: New builder! (Marc Upchurch)

If you are primarily concerned with a functional kayak, you might try a method Bjorn Thomasson uses.
He uses square strips, does not fit them together with a rolling bevel, staples all of the strips in place at one time, then puts unfilled epoxy over all the strip joints at one time.

I've stripped two boats (Frej+my current project) using this technique. It is quick, and I'll probably use it again.

I was using strips from my rack and a lot of them had a bevel on one edge. This meant that a lot of the joints were quite tight a.k.a. 'good' for most other techniques (Previously, I used to glue the strips with plastic resin glue (or yellow glue) as I stapled them to the forms.).
I found that the WEST epoxy didn't penetrate the tighter joints, so I had some places that loosened up when I pulled the staples. So, if you are using Bjorn's method, be sure to use square-edged strips and resist the urge to bevel.
Perhaps a less viscous epoxy (which would run into the joints by capillary action) might work better.
Using WEST, I found that it took quite a bit of epoxy to cover the hull. Again, perhaps a different epoxy would work better.

You'll also need a portion of your strips half-width, which is a good idea anyway, if your kayak has any tight curves.

Both my boats using this technique were destined for a painted finish, so I wasn't very concerned with the cosmetics of the strip joints. I wouldn't do a 'wood-look' boat with that method.

Dan Caouette has mentioned most of the ideas above , plus some others in a longer post about Bjorn's method, IIRC.

Looking at amateur projects on Bjorns website, I get the impression that European builders are not so interested in the 'artistic' style of kayak. There are a lot of very good looking but 'strictly functional' boats being built 'over there'....my kind of project.

Messages In This Thread

Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 9/29/2014, 9:31 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
Etienne Muller -- 9/29/2014, 10:26 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
Gero Verheyen -- 9/29/2014, 10:37 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 9/29/2014, 10:48 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 9/29/2014, 11:21 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 9/29/2014, 11:33 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 9/29/2014, 12:58 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 9/29/2014, 1:02 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Gero Verheyen -- 9/29/2014, 1:23 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 9/29/2014, 1:32 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Gero Verheyen -- 9/29/2014, 1:34 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
george jung -- 9/29/2014, 2:42 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 9/29/2014, 3:00 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
george jung -- 9/29/2014, 7:00 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Dan Caouette (CSCWC) -- 9/29/2014, 11:07 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 9/29/2014, 11:40 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
wysedav -- 9/30/2014, 8:07 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
Phil -- 10/4/2014, 2:33 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 10/4/2014, 3:17 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 10/4/2014, 10:00 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 10/4/2014, 10:32 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Phil -- 10/5/2014, 1:44 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 10/5/2014, 5:17 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 10/5/2014, 5:33 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Marc Upchurch -- 10/5/2014, 8:40 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 10/5/2014, 9:47 pm
Less IS more...
Dan Caouette (CSCWC) -- 10/6/2014, 11:17 am
Re: Less IS more...
John Roberts -- 10/7/2014, 6:43 am
Re: Less IS more...
Marc Upchurch -- 10/7/2014, 7:51 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
Bill Hamm -- 10/6/2014, 2:55 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 10/6/2014, 12:59 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Bill Hamm -- 10/6/2014, 5:51 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Marc Upchurch -- 10/6/2014, 6:41 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Bill Hamm -- 10/7/2014, 12:24 am
Re: Strip: New builder!
JohnAbercrombie -- 10/5/2014, 5:25 pm
Re: Strip: New builder!
Mochaboy -- 10/5/2014, 5:38 pm