Old School

I am a young (but happily married) college guy just getting started in the boat-building arena and call me a wierdo but I think I would prefer to use wood over any other material! I cherish the though of building my own completely wooden boat some day and not use all the fancy new products. I have been pondering and studying about building a cedar strip canoe but all the books I have found use the fiberglass/epoxy coating. Doesn't anyone build completely wooden boats anymore?

Does anyone have any thoughts about how to do this? I am poor and don't have all the tools needed yet but I am resourceful and intelligent. I am sure this can be done! One of my favorite things to say is: "People lived happily and productively for thousands of years before this came along we can probably do without it." I feel that way about a great many things especially boats and boat building.

Thanks,
Sam

 

The fact is until the advent of steam and the industrial revolution sailing vessels were some of the most complicated machines ever built. A british ma of war though primarily wood was an incredibly complex device and the admirality was always working to extend the state of the art. New materials and techniques such as 'manilla' rope replaced oakum and exotic rain forest hardwoos became the materials of choice as the world opened up. What I am trying to say is that the ship wrights of old would ahve embraced new materials such as epoxy if they had access to them. I build with wood epoxy and and still feel the intimacy and wramth of wood while enjoying the advantiddges of high tech materials such as epoxy....

 

I see your point but like the people who recreate civil war battles and the people build old style cameras to capture the reenactment in antique style... I know I could just by an old boat and restore it but I think it would be much more exciting to actually build one in the old style.

 

How about a dug-out canoe. All you need is a tree, a hatchet and some fire. Now that's old school!

 

There is nothing wrong with your proposed method at all. It has been used for commercial lobster-fishing boats in Atlantic Canada for generations (Google "Northumberland Strait lobster boats"). Encapsulating the product in 'glass and resin adds a bit of strength, but primarily is a process used to try to avoid regular maintenance and painting.

Build it, don't bang it on the rocks if you can help it, keep it painted, and it'll only last about twenty or thirty years.

 

Web search, wood strip boat building, it will keep your mind busy till the wood arrives. 17# for a person carrying canoe is your goal. Fiberglass is not required.

 

When it comes to materials for boatbuilding or any other structure we wish to construct, there are an amazing number of choices available today, from wood, to glass, to kevlar, to carbon, not to speak of polyethylene and all the different resins/glues/adhesives etcetera. I'm not particularly dogmatic about wich material is the "right" one. Instead I recognize that each one has it's own unique set of properties, and I choose wich one to use according to the particular circumstances. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoy going at a stick of wood with my big jack-plane, but I also enjoy seeing the vacuum-bag getting "traction" on a carbon lay-up. What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot ways to do things, so don't arbitrarily limit yourself.

This is of course just my personal opinion.

Yokebutt.

 

thank you all for your input... also does anyone know of a method book that gives instructions on building without using fiberglass sheeting or other similar modern methods?

 

Do a web search of-----building wood canoes--------Send us a picture later.

 

Boatbuilding by Chapelle. It was written before fiberglass existed

 

Sam,
In our local library are several "ancient" books on boatbuilding and I have found others by searching via used book sellers online. Many designs from old magazines in book form are available and these are mostly prior to fiberglass. "Boats Anyone Can Build" from Popular Science Monthly, or "How To Build Small Boats", by Edson J. Schock, or "Build A Boat For Pleasure or Profit", from Popular Mechanics Press, are some examples from my book shelf.
These are all out of print but can be found with patient searching and money.

Chapelle's "Boatbuilding", is still in print and can be found in the USA for about $40.

Good luck and enjoy exploring the old technologies. There are some jewels of knowledge to be gained there.
Greg Luckett