Source of wood strips

It's not so bad until you get close to the end. You can do one strip, then do the same one on the other side. With a catamaran you have two hulls to work on. I used Gorilla Glue and so the joints were usually set enough to un-clamp in an hour, and so there wasn't too much down time.

I think the ideal is to have three boats under construction at once so you never get stuck waiting for something to dry.

As I got towards the keel the amount of workable surface shrunk and so there was more waiting around for glue to set. On the plus side, by the time I was stripping the keel, I was able to start pulling the brads and fairing the parts of the hull that were glued up. That way, once the hull was closed up, there was only a fairly small area left to fair before I glassed it.

For a 30 footer with multiple layers of strips I would use plastic brads so that they don't have to be pulled out.

 

What I'd do while the strips are setting... All the stuff I am supposed to do around the house/work/kids. For me this would be a huge project. Saving money is important, having it done faster is even more important. I expect that having a load of strips instead of raw lumber would make me feel more committed to the project and progress more visible. I am not totally sure I would not do it, I am still on the planning/deciding stage, and some numbers for the cost could change/help the decision process.
On the other note, I am not sure I can afford to work on both hulls simultaneously. I have a small (one car) garage and back patio that I intent to cover for a building shed. There would not be enough space for 2 hulls.

 

I think I spent about $1000 total on the Raptor which was a 17 foot kayak. The vast majority of that went into epoxy and glass. I could have saved money on epoxy if I had done a better job of fairing, especially the inside of the hull which would have left fewer spots to fill in. I also used fairly expensive epoxy (System 3) and you can get cheaper stuff that works just as well. I also used three tubs of 2 - part filleting compound for fairing and filleting at $26 a tub.

After epoxy and glass, the next largest cost was for wood. 95% of the wood I used was free, but the stuff I did buy was expensive. This included the maple veneers I used for the cockpit ring and deck around the cockpit, a big slab of ash that the cockpit arch and ring supports were made from, and Jatoba for the keel strip. There was also some cost for the wood that the stations were made from, but except for the 2 x 6 x 16s for the strongback, this was all reclaimed wood and purchased pretty cheaply.

Most of the rest of the cost was for consumables like brads, chip bristle brushes, squeegees, sanding belts and the like. There was some cost for hardware such as screws and padeyes, but that amounted to maybe $50 over the life of the project.

Tools I used included a good table saw, chop saw, 12" bandsaw, pneumatic 18 ga brad gun, hand held belt and random orbital sanders, power drill, and several hand planes as well as the usual assortment of random hand tools.

 

Western Red Cedar

Cthippo,

If you are still looking for a source of Western Red Cedar check out middletownlumber.com They are located about 20 minutes southwest of Harrisburg, Pa. I was there a few months ago and they had a very large stock of WRC, including 4/4, 5/4, 2x s etc with lengths up to 16 - 20 ft.

The wood was totally clear and incredibly straight w/ very fine grain.

I hope this helps..


Allan

 

Got it,

Thanks Alan

 

Noah's has some, pricey.
http://www.noahsboatbuilding.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=CSB-R&eq=&Tp=

 

When I buy WRC here in Texas (not a hot bed of strip building) I just get the best I can at Home Dept and any lumber yard who will let me pick thru the stack. I cut it a little over size - 5/16 instead of 1/4. Let it dry for a week and it is fine after planing (I once cut 1/4 x 3", laid them on the concrete floor and the floor was wet when I picked them up).

Another suggestion is to not cut a strip then cut out the knots. If you can see a major knot in a 2x or 4x cut out the knot first, scarf the plank then cut strips. you will be a lot happier in the end. Of course every board is different.

Cut them your self. It is irritating tedious work but does not take all that long. You do need to set up fingerboards and input and output supports to get consistency. You also get to keep one board's strips together if you want to get cute with a pattern.