how many joins ?

[gaffa]

I am wanting to build the so called 'cheap canoe', and luckily enough have come across some ply for free. However, the sheets aren't wide enough for the bottom of the canoe and I was wondering if there would be enough strength in having a join both length ways as well as width ways. Width of base is 558mm and length is 3838mm.

Also the plans call for 6mm ply but the ply I have is 10mm, will this make any difference apart from weight and a little more filling of gaps?

If you wish to view the plans here is a link -

http://www.bateau2.com/free/ccanoeM.PDF

[lewisboats]

Idealy you would not have so many joins in the bottom and 10 mm ply is definately going to make the boat heavier...probably close to twice the weight than called for... HOWEVER... it can be done. If I were doing it that way I would joint the pieces for each side of the bottom first, with scarf joints or heavy glass butt joints. When I cut out the bottom I would make sure I had about a 150 mm strip of ply that was longer than the full length of the bottom to use as a butt strap along the length of the middle. Offset the join so it doesn't land on top of the bottom join by as much as possible. I attached a bit of a drawing to show what I mean.

Steve