Boat Building Forum

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

The question then becomes...
By:Brian Nystrom
Date: 6/6/2010, 10:02 am
In Response To: Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas (Alex Ferguson)

...how much money do you want to spend in order to compensate for the deficiencies of "free" building materials. If you use enough epoxy, you can build a fully functional boat out of old newspapers, but is that really a "newspaper boat" or is it an "epoxy boat"?

Sure, one can spend a lot of time cutting, fitting and gluing pieces of cardboard and Styrofoam into the shape of a boat, then more time and a good chunk of money coating it with epoxy to keep it from falling apart. However, you'd still be left with a structure that will be prone to crush failures from rough handling, strapping it to a roof rack, impacts on the water or even getting into it wrong, and it will also be prone to self-destructing if water gets through the epoxy. Unless one has lots of extra time and money and simply wants to prove a point, this seems like a fools errand (considering that the OP is expecting to do this cheaply, that definitely seems to be the case). It would be faster, easier and in all likelihood cheaper to just buy the right materials and build a boat that will be safe, require no special precautions and last for as long as one cares to keep it.

Messages In This Thread

Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Rhinoscout -- 6/3/2010, 7:29 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas *PIC*
Mike Hanks -- 6/30/2010, 11:50 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Paul G. Jacobson -- 7/2/2010, 2:35 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Bill Hamm -- 7/1/2010, 1:53 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Terry Haines -- 6/30/2010, 7:33 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/28/2010, 7:00 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Brian Nystrom -- 6/28/2010, 9:30 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/29/2010, 7:19 pm
Gorham High School - Cardboard Boat Race *PIC*
Dan Caouette (CSFW) -- 6/10/2010, 7:48 am
Re: Gorham High School - Cardboard Boat Race
Bill Hamm -- 6/10/2010, 2:24 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Brian Scarborough -- 6/9/2010, 10:34 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Foster -- 6/8/2010, 11:30 am
if you are going to do this....
Robert N Pruden -- 6/8/2010, 4:50 am
Re: if you are going to do this....
Rhinoscout -- 6/8/2010, 8:13 am
OK, Let's get down to plans
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/11/2010, 11:33 am
Re: OK, Let's get down to plans
Rhinoscout -- 6/16/2010, 10:22 pm
paddles
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/16/2010, 11:36 pm
Re: OK, Let's get down to plans
Rhinowscout -- 6/11/2010, 6:55 pm
Re: OK, Let's get down to plans
Rhinowscout -- 6/11/2010, 6:52 pm
foam boat plans slight delay
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/16/2010, 3:29 am
Re: if you are going to do this....
Bill Hamm -- 6/9/2010, 12:33 am
Re: if you are going to do this.... *NM*
Bill Hamm -- 6/9/2010, 12:30 am
Re: if you are going to do this....
Ian Johnson -- 6/8/2010, 6:49 pm
Re: if you are going to do this....
Robert N Pruden -- 6/8/2010, 4:57 pm
Re: if you are going to do this....
graybeard -- 6/8/2010, 12:13 pm
Re: if you are going to do this....
Dan Caouette (CSFW) -- 6/8/2010, 11:22 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
mike allen -- 6/7/2010, 2:13 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
graybeard -- 6/7/2010, 12:30 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Randy -- 6/7/2010, 11:09 am
Off Topic: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
graybeard -- 6/7/2010, 1:27 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Alex Ferguson -- 6/6/2010, 5:18 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Ian johnson -- 6/6/2010, 5:24 pm
The question then becomes...
Brian Nystrom -- 6/6/2010, 10:02 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Jim Farrelly -- 6/6/2010, 7:29 am
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
graybeard -- 6/7/2010, 10:12 am
Styrofoam is OK, cardboard isn't
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/5/2010, 5:00 am
Have a Look at This
Ken Blanton -- 6/5/2010, 8:03 pm
Re: Have a Look at This
Brian Nystrom -- 6/6/2010, 9:42 am
Re: Styrofoam is OK, cardboard isn't
Peter Lord -- 6/5/2010, 4:15 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
graybeard -- 6/4/2010, 2:10 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Ian johnson -- 6/4/2010, 7:17 pm
Re: Material: Cardboard & Styrofoam design ideas
Alex Ferguson -- 6/4/2010, 7:35 am
The Plastiki..
Simeon -- 6/3/2010, 11:41 pm
How much do you value your life?
Brian Nystrom -- 6/3/2010, 7:42 pm
laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Rhinoscout -- 6/4/2010, 10:20 am
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Brian Nystrom -- 6/5/2010, 7:53 am
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Rhinscout -- 6/6/2010, 12:47 am
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Mike Hanks -- 6/6/2010, 11:37 am
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Brian Nystrom -- 6/6/2010, 9:36 am
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Mike Bielski -- 6/5/2010, 3:29 pm
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Brian Nystrom -- 6/5/2010, 6:19 pm
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Mike Bielski -- 6/5/2010, 7:39 pm
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Jim Farrelly -- 6/5/2010, 1:02 pm
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Charlie -- 6/4/2010, 12:38 pm
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Alex Ferguson -- 6/5/2010, 5:18 am
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Charlie -- 6/5/2010, 9:17 am
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Bill Hamm -- 6/5/2010, 2:35 pm
Re: laminating foam and cardboard, latex paint
Bill Hamm -- 6/5/2010, 7:25 am