> Chris,

I am just starting to fiberglass a strip built modified Guillemot and have kept track of the costs to date. Instead of buying the strips, I went to Home Depot and bought (6) 2x10 8 foot pieces of the best cedar I could find. I went through some 250 of these one night and picked the six best with little or no knots, low weight and straight. The wood cost me $70.00 total including (2) kiln dried ash 2x4s 10 feet long. I then went home and cut them into 215 1/4" x 3/4" strips and then took a router I had and cut the cove and bead edges on each. Cutting the strips and routing them took about 21 hours total. The table saw was used $250 and the router bits about $30. My time was free. Just considering the wood alone, I figure I saved about $500 minus shipping, but the tools and time come out about even all said and done. Once you get the tools though, any after that are much cheaper.

One other thing about buying the strips, they may be more uniform in color and grain density. I was stuck with the colors I could find and some grain structure was better than other, even in the same baord. Some of the wood cut well, some seemed to splinter more, depending on the density of the wood I had.

IRT making the 2x4 boxbeam, I would recommend you use 3/4" thick pine or hardwood instead of particle board. I used 3/4" thick particle board (MDF grade) and all was fine until I took the deck and hull off the forms. I picked the form up in the middle and it broke in two right in the middle. I fixed it with oak but vowed to use other than particle board in the future. The kayak I am building is 19 feet long and the particle board flexes too much for my taste (even with well built box beam glued and nailed ever 6 inches). A little extra money here may be worth it in the long run, especially if you use it to build another kayak down the road.

Either way, I wish you the best of luck. This is an excellent way to learn and I highly recommend asking questions. If you do not have the book "The Strip Built Sea Kayak" by Nick Schade, stop now and go get it. This is by far the best book I have found on building a kayak period!

Brian Barnett