Glad to hear you'll be jumping in. You'll have a blast.

A plywood boxbeam is more rigid than a 2x4, and if built correctly, it's straighter too. Straighter is not a big plus, because you can align your forms on a slightly curved 2x4. But, you do want it to be rigid so it's not flexing all over the place while you're trying to get everything just right. I recommend building the boxbeam from 3/4" plywood.

You can work at whatever pace you want, and leave the project unattended until you've glassed the outside of the hull. Once you've sealed one side, moisture evaporation or absorption will occur only on the exposed wood side. This could really start to warp your boat. Try to keep the temperature and humidity fairly constant. I had to leave my boat in this state for awhile, so I made a sealed chamber by wrapping the inside with plastic. The goal was to limit any changes in moisture content.

Good luck, and have fun.

Ross

> Wow, great responses...great pix on the web.

> Sounds to me that I'll be drawing my own forms (as I expect that my Math
> degree covers the recommended 'High School Geom.' prereq). I'm also gonna
> look into some used power tools. Seems silly to pay $100's of dollars for
> someone else to make the strips when I could buy the tools, do it myself
> and have tools around for next time at little more then the cost of the
> pre-cut strips.

> Oh, I did verify that I could get the boat outta the basement...walk-out
> door is on the short wall. (my dad's friend build a plane in his basement
> and had to blow out the wall to get it out....he now has sliding glass
> doors :)

> One thing that caught me by surprize was the amount of time to
> complete...sounds like this is gonna take me 'til NEXT season (glad I have
> another boat)

> More Questions (Im sure they'll keep coming):

> - Are there big advantages to building a plywood strongback over a simple
> 2X4? - Is it OK to leave the project for lenghts of time...are there good
> or bad times to stop?