> I read in an archived post that plywood weighs 50% more than solid wood.
> What if you built a S&G out of thin wood, such as Redwood, rather than
> plywood? My thinking is that if you used a layup such as Mr. Roberts
> suggests, with Kevlar on the inside of the hull, you could save some
> weight without sacrificing strength.I am thinking more along the lines of
> composite construction, rather than classic construction. Almost veneer
> thickness. Am I missing something? Secondly, how many boats must a person
> build before they are satisfied? I already see that I'll have to build
> another, knowing that I can improve on fit, finish etc. Thanks to all the
> folks who share their hard earned knowledge here. It is much appreciated!
> Mark

I've floated this idea before: make up a long, thin sheet from strips, cover both sides with thin fibergalss cloth, and then cut your parts for a stitch and glue from this. Assemble the boat in the usual fashion, just using fiberglass tape and wpoxy resin on the seams. The rest of the boat is already a resin-encapsulated, fiberglass-covered composite material.

If you want to use another material (Kevlar, carbon, polyester, etc.) on these panels you can put these on the inside and have a clear wood exterior, or you can put them on either side and paint it. I've heard that structurally these reinforcements work better if they are on the inside, but consult some of the engineers around here for verification (or an argument on that concept.

A few advantages:

Since you are building a flat panel you can just lay up the strips on a sheet of plywood and use wedges as clamps until the glue sets.

You can make the panels as long as you desire with no need for scarf joints -- just stagger the end joints of the strips. Need a part that is 4 mm thick, 12 inches wide and 19 feet long? No problem. Lay up some strips that are a tad thicker than 1/8 inch. You can cut these from 2 x 8s or 1 x 6s, or almost any other common lumber, and get strips that range from 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches wide. Use as many as you need to get the width and length.

You can build these thing with short lengths of wood strips. It is possible to even make long panels from many 2 foot long strips laid in staggered rows like bricks. (Clear 2 foot long lumber is a lot easier and cheaper to buy or make than clear 16 foot lumber.)

Once the panels are glued, and the glue sets up, you can sand these flat panels far faster and more smoothly than with curved boat surfaces. Nice surprise: They are flat on both sides, so grab the belt sander and be done with it in a hurry.

The panels are probably going to be mostly long, narrow, regular rectangles. Laying a sheet of fiberglass fabric on this should be a breeze. Fewer sags and runs as it is flat when the resin is applied. No vertical surfaces. You could vacuum bag these rather easily if you were so inclined.

If you are thinking of a design where the wood must be bent in sharp curves, you could just put a thin layer of lightweight glass cloth ( say 2 or 3 ounce fabric) on one side of the panel before cutting it into shape. The preglassed side becomes the sealed interior of your boat. After the boat is assembled you can then complete the construction of the panel by glassing the outside, with no greater difficulty than in any other stitch and glue construction.

You could use a sheet of 4 x 8 particle board or plywood as a bnech for constructing your panels. Rip the particle board into two pieces 8 feet long and a tad narrower than 2 feet. Use some scrap wood and screws from underneath to join the ends, making a 16 foot long work area. Using nails or screws attach a piece ( or several pieces) of 1x2 as a base line near one edge. Try to get this as straight as possible. If you are using stock that is 4 feet long, this 16 foot workspace will let you make boat panels that are well over 18 feet long. Just let the ends of the wood hang out over the end of this workspace. You can secure the overhang with bar clamps or something as simple as a few staples. If you need really long stuff, make a 14 to 16 foot panel with a ``ragged'' end. when the glue sets, shift thi panel along the workspace a bit, and add on to it, using strips that fill in the `ragged'' area to tie the new work into the old. Once you have the whole thing glued up you would sand and glass it as one piece.

to clamp the strips evenly and cheaply, nail or screw another 1x2 a few inches away from where the finished edge of the panel will be, fill the gap with a block of wood and a pair of wedges. Tapping the wedges together with a light touch will supply plenty of edge pressure to hold the strips in place as the glue sets up. Alternately, you could drill holes into the particle board, drop in a dowel rod, and use wedges between the dowel and the wood strips.

Since your work bench is only 24 inches wide it will fit nicely on a few sawhorses, and you can easily work from either side.

lay a couple strips of Saran Wrap (R) neatly down the center of the work area so the glue you use doesn't glue your strips to the work area. The plastic wrap is 12 inches wide, so a you should get a slight overlap, which is desireable. buy the BIG roll of wrap. I doubt if it will be reuseable. Use fresh stuff for making each panel.

Since there will be a lot of butt joints at the ends of all those short strips, I'd cut off, or sand off, about 1/8th inch from any rouggh ends to make those joints neater and less noticeable. Since the panels are flat, the edges of the strips will make a flat joint with each other, bead and cove edges are not needed.

Something you might try is to put the strips in this framework without glue, and then roll or brush on a layer of epoxy. There should be enough soaking into the wood and joints to seal and glue things together. Sanding this would remove any high spot of resin, and leave a sealed wood surface that owuld be ideal for taking the glass cloth with a minmun of additional resin. That would keep things light.

You asked about ramblings, now you know a bit about what goes on in my tortured mind.

Hope this helps you, it is therapy for me. :)

Paul G. Jacobson