:
: I finished the engineering on 30# kayaks.

: I did some material's tests to compare my materials and construction skills with book values.

: I built a 3' section of a Guillemot Coastal (forms 3 thru 6).

: All in all it is an eye opening experience to realize that none of the techniques you know work. But what is life for but to stretch us.

: You can read some of what I learned by clicking on the link below.

Hi George,

I read with interest your excecise with 3mm strip construction. I am certain you have far more time than I have to cut to the absolute fine limit. I have been using 4mm strip construction which is .8mm thicker than 1/8" for years. However, I have been using a hardwood of highly stable nature with high strength charactaristics and fairly low weight.
In tests I did some eight years ago I found that the thickness of the core material and not the core material was crutial to the stiffness and overall strength of the structure.

If you want to build a stripper that is realy light and the cost factor of time and material is of secordary importance perhaps bonding the strips in say 2mm thick to a substrate of 6mm nomex honeycomb and then glasing both sides with 165g/m2 cloth.

The structure should be far stiffer than even 6mm strips and far lighter. You may have to vacume the strips to the core (not an easy task.

I am stripping the deck my latest design at the moment and I am using 4mm Kiaat strips with a few ash for smarts. The hull is 4mm ply and I have a few bulheads and deck beams of ply webs and pine/ash caps. (ala 'I' beam)

I will be posting Photos as soon as I can get them scanned!

Good luck

Rob