Reno

Hi Ken: Don't know if this will work for you or not, but I've managed to be able to find very good hardwood in various lengths and widths at the local lumber yard's scrap bin. While searching for some wood to build a strip canoe I came across a hardwood distributor that gets their wood in rough-cut form. They then have to shore it up and plane it before selling at their premium prices to customers. In the process, they end up with a large amount of scraps and plenty of sawdust that's free for the taking. In fact, the owner of the yard I go to told me I'm doing him a favor since he has to pay by the pound to have it removed as trash. Since the canoe only required strips that were 1/4 inch thick by 3/4 in wide, ripping them down on a tablesaw was relatively easy. In fact, I managed to sometimes rip 3 or 4 strips from the same scrap. The plans called for cedar but my canoe was built with white oak, hard maple, mahogany and walnut. All free and beautiful wood once I got through working it. I don't help myself to the sawdust they have because there's usually different varieties of wood mixed in. Instead, I save my own while working with each variety of wood and mix it with epoxy for filler. There's a big difference between the colors of maple and walnut and having the right color dust makes a big difference when patching. Whatever wood I don't end up using for constructing purposes can end up in the garden as a tomato stake or in the wood stove as kindling. Friends really think I've gone bonkers when they see me using pieces of walnut for kindling, but what the heck, it's free. I'm now building a vacationer and manage to go scrounging around at the wood pile at least once a week. Whatever I find that's useable I take home and save. A few weeks ago the supplier received a large shipment of mahogany stacked on mahogany pallets. There were a few strips in the scrap pile from the mill, but I really felt like I hit the jackpot when they threw out the mahogany pallets. There were at least 8 rough-cut 1x4x16ft and six 4x4x3ft. Those will come in handy. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you all this is you might be able to find such a supplier in your area who's interested in a similar win-win situation. Over the past few months I've saved various pieces of quality wood that can be ripped and cut "birds mouth" style to make a mast, boom, etc. Even though hard wood tends to be heavier, the birds mouth style is hollow and relatively light. Happy hunting!

I haven't even turned my Vacationer and she already has a name. It's interesting how we came up with it also. Since there are too females in my life to name it after just one, or even two without ending up in the dog house with the others, (wife, mother, daughter, sisters, etc. etc.) I decided to stray from that idea. My Irish/American wife who speaks Spanish came up with the idea of naming it La Serena Madera, or The Wooden Mermaid. She even went onto Ebay and found a mermaid figurehead to attach to the bow after it's finished. I'm thinking this isn't a large enough boat to have a figurehead, but what the heck. Anything that keeps me in good terms with the other half is okay with me. As long as she doesn't interfere with decisions about type of wood, epoxy or other important stuff. Who knows, maybe after the christening we'll be renaming it The Leak.[/i]

I haven't even turned my Vacationer and she already has a name. It's interesting how we came up with it also. Since there are too females in my life to name it after just one, or even two without ending up in the dog house with the others, (wife, mother, daughter, sisters, etc. etc.) I decided to stray from that idea. My Irish/American wife who speaks Spanish came up with the idea of naming it La Serena Madera, or The Wooden Mermaid. She even went onto Ebay and found a mermaid figurehead to attach to the bow after it's finished. I'm thinking this isn't a large enough boat to have a figurehead, but what the heck. Anything that keeps me in good terms with the other half is okay with me. As long as she doesn't interfere with decisions about type of wood, epoxy or other important stuff. Who knows, maybe after the christening we'll be renaming it The Leak.[/i]

Hey John: I'd suggest a thin layer of epoxy first to assure the wood has good coverage and that the epoxy has soaked in. Just before the epoxy is dry, ( by that I mean "Tacky" but not too sticky to mess up your cloth) you can lay the cloth over it and apply more epoxy. If, on the other hand, you haven't had the time and the wood coating layer of epoxy has dried, (no longer "tacky") then I'd suggest a light sanding with around 150-200 sand paper prior to laying on the cloth and then the adhering epoxy.

I built a 16 foot strip canoe, (some folks call them "strippers") last year that turned out to be a wonderful project for me and my 10 yr old son. We used the plans from Gil Gilpatrick. http://gilgilpatrick.com an avid outdoorsman who builds his own outdoor gear, including canoes, and provides guide service in Maine. We built our stripper out of free maple, mahogany, white/red oak and walnut. We got the wood free from the scrap heap outside of a local hardwoods retailer. Apparently they get their wood in rough cut form and have to shore it up for retail sale. The scraps are in various thicknesses but run up to 14 feet in length. Each strip is cut on table saw to 1/4" thick by 3/4" wide. The strips are glued to eachother and stapled to stations on a strongback. Staples are then removed and the canoe is fiberglassed on both inside and outside. Very tough, durable and great to look at. I'll try to post a pic of it. Go to Gil's website. His book on building a stripper is quite detailed. Since you've already built a kayak I'm sure you have most of the skills down pat. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]