I saw on U J site that Old Sparkey had at one time built one. It's a very nice looking Pirogue. I went to see the six pages of construction and wasn't able to bring them up. Would there be a chance on seeing them ? And was that Redwood Kiln dried? One more question. What is the ideal length for all around performance? O K maybe one more. How much does the flare of the sides affect the rocker and what is the idea angle.
strip prorogues
- Thread starter kokomoslow
- Start date
I asked Uncle John if he knew of anyone making one of his Pirogues with strips of wood and he said no one has done it , I love a challenge and a new area or way to build one of his boat's. Figures there was nothing to lose and only a good boat to gain from it.
The Red Wood was age cured , it had to be at lease 40 years old ( in a Barn ) when I located it at a Pop and Son lumber yard. It was one by three and about 20 feet long. I had the guy cut them into 8 foot strips for me so I could carry them home in the truck. I got a good bunch of them since that Red Wood was hard to find around here.
The wood ran me $55.00 and after making the pirogue I have plenty left over for other projects.
I used a band saw to cut each strip into 8 feet by 1/4 inch thick and 3/4 inches wide. It took 144 strips to make the pirogue from them.
It was a simple process , I layed the strips out to make a panel and wood glued them together , when that glue set I sanded them and then ran a bead of epoxy along each strip to make sure they were stuck together.
The bottom was done the same way and then trimmed to the shape of the bottom with about an inch overhang all the way around. The bottom was attached (epoxied ) to the sides and then trimmed flush with the sides with a hand saw.
Then the whole boat was epoxy saturated and glassed. Right now the youngest daughter and her husband have it in Canada for his paddling pleasure , She has the 17 1/2 foot sea kayak I made for her use.
I like the standard length but this one was just a pinch longer and all the angles was determined from the Pirogue kit I got from Uncle John.
Here is the short link to that process.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2417
The Red Wood was age cured , it had to be at lease 40 years old ( in a Barn ) when I located it at a Pop and Son lumber yard. It was one by three and about 20 feet long. I had the guy cut them into 8 foot strips for me so I could carry them home in the truck. I got a good bunch of them since that Red Wood was hard to find around here.
The wood ran me $55.00 and after making the pirogue I have plenty left over for other projects.
I used a band saw to cut each strip into 8 feet by 1/4 inch thick and 3/4 inches wide. It took 144 strips to make the pirogue from them.
It was a simple process , I layed the strips out to make a panel and wood glued them together , when that glue set I sanded them and then ran a bead of epoxy along each strip to make sure they were stuck together.
The bottom was done the same way and then trimmed to the shape of the bottom with about an inch overhang all the way around. The bottom was attached (epoxied ) to the sides and then trimmed flush with the sides with a hand saw.
Then the whole boat was epoxy saturated and glassed. Right now the youngest daughter and her husband have it in Canada for his paddling pleasure , She has the 17 1/2 foot sea kayak I made for her use.
I like the standard length but this one was just a pinch longer and all the angles was determined from the Pirogue kit I got from Uncle John.
Here is the short link to that process.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2417
I built one a couple of years ago
Istead of making flat, rectangular panels and cutting the panel to shape, I made the panels pretty close to the final shape and avoided wasting too much wood
here's a shot at one side
here's the pirogue in progress
and here it is finished
It's not an UJ design,
It's 14' long, 24" bottom, 35 degree side flare, about 1" or less rocker
Istead of making flat, rectangular panels and cutting the panel to shape, I made the panels pretty close to the final shape and avoided wasting too much wood
here's a shot at one side
here's the pirogue in progress
and here it is finished
It's not an UJ design,
It's 14' long, 24" bottom, 35 degree side flare, about 1" or less rocker
Looks good, Jules. About how much lighter is it than the solid wood? And, about what was the build time factor between the two methods?
thanks Jack,
i didn't weigh it but it's got probably half the wood as a plank pirogue plus the weight of the expoxy and glass that was added. It was lighter but still not a featherweight.
Building it took considerably longer than just building a "three board plank" pirogue. Cutting and glueing all those strips is way more work than just passing a few boards through a planer. Then dealing with the fiberglass cloth and epoxy and sanding and sanding and sanding. And did i mention sanding?
I figure that I could probably build three plank boats in the time it took to build the stripper. For me, I'm not even thinking about building another stripper. But then that's why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream
i didn't weigh it but it's got probably half the wood as a plank pirogue plus the weight of the expoxy and glass that was added. It was lighter but still not a featherweight.
Building it took considerably longer than just building a "three board plank" pirogue. Cutting and glueing all those strips is way more work than just passing a few boards through a planer. Then dealing with the fiberglass cloth and epoxy and sanding and sanding and sanding. And did i mention sanding?
I figure that I could probably build three plank boats in the time it took to build the stripper. For me, I'm not even thinking about building another stripper. But then that's why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream
I agree with you on avoiding the extra work. strippers are labor intensive. That's why I use plywood.
The other thing that most folks don't realize is that epoxy isn't exactly mother's milk.
Some people already have or will develop a chemical sensitivity with continued exposure - particularly to the hardner.
Kind of like poison ivy, some folks are affected right off, other folks get affected after multiple exposures and some will never be affected
Some people already have or will develop a chemical sensitivity with continued exposure - particularly to the hardner.
Kind of like poison ivy, some folks are affected right off, other folks get affected after multiple exposures and some will never be affected
Can vouch for being affected by epoxy. Ifn I get around to more epoxy work its gonna be done outside on windy days, as most of the last one was. Then walk away till its fully cured and then some. Minimise sanding cured epoxy too that's just as potent. Probably spent a total of one and half hours sanding the whole thing start to finish. Where I know some spend way more than that. Wore a mask, shoulda sealed my self up a bit better on ALL exposed skin, eyes etc... Be careful out there. Mighta been just plain unlucky. Some folks can probly get away with more exposure. Truth is its NOT doing you any good. Apart from the getting a boat out of it bit.
Cheers John.
Cheers John.
If a person is sensitive to epoxy or do not wish to use it but want to build a strip boat of any shape, the Titebond products are out there along with the PL products too. In most cases unless its thin strips that cannot be fastened with edge grain fasteners because of the lack of thickness, those two products will work well, especially if you plan on glassing the boat even for some form of matrix or abrasion resistance.
Of course you will need to fit the strips better than what some people do in more shapely hulls or use wider width strips. By the way what is a "Prorogues" anyway?
oopsI can't remember ever seeing such a beast. Now I will duck
Of course you will need to fit the strips better than what some people do in more shapely hulls or use wider width strips. By the way what is a "Prorogues" anyway?
oopsI can't remember ever seeing such a beast. Now I will duckPersonally I like the strips, they seem to be stiffer ,no delamination and I seem to be able to build a lighter hull than the ply. And the big reason is price ,for 50.00 bucks I can have the wood for a 16 ft decked boat.if I use marine ply the cost to get it here and the price of the sheets runs at least 180.00 ( I cut my own strips) but I do things a little different than Seedtick and sparky.
I lay my strips out to my exact pattern, I cut my strips 5/16 or 3/8 and then run through a planer( very little sanding) I use titebond II to glue the strips together.
Once you get use to applying the cloth and epoxy there is very little sanding.Couple more advantages over planks and ply is you can make any shape you want . Another little trick is the pocket plane you can bevel the 3/4 wide strip quickly and make very tight joints.
I think that deciding how you will use the boat and where probably has more to do with what kind of construction you use than anything else , all the constuction methods listed above have advantages and disadvantages but they will all work.
Ron
A good local boat builder, has a saying ,you cant build a bad boat if it floats.
I lay my strips out to my exact pattern, I cut my strips 5/16 or 3/8 and then run through a planer( very little sanding) I use titebond II to glue the strips together.
Once you get use to applying the cloth and epoxy there is very little sanding.Couple more advantages over planks and ply is you can make any shape you want . Another little trick is the pocket plane you can bevel the 3/4 wide strip quickly and make very tight joints.
I think that deciding how you will use the boat and where probably has more to do with what kind of construction you use than anything else , all the constuction methods listed above have advantages and disadvantages but they will all work.
Ron
A good local boat builder, has a saying ,you cant build a bad boat if it floats.
Because of concern about epoxy, and dust in general, on the last boat I built I wet sanded as much as possible. Seems to work just as well or better than dry sanding, and you don't have dust floating around in the air. Of course you can't always wet sand, but if the surface is completely sealed with epoxy glass, then I think it works well.
A lot of folks don't realize how bad for you it is to breath in plain old wood dust. It's a known carcinogen. If you are heavily sanding anything (epoxied or not) you should consider a respirator. They don't cost much, and can be easily found at the local "big box" store.
George
A lot of folks don't realize how bad for you it is to breath in plain old wood dust. It's a known carcinogen. If you are heavily sanding anything (epoxied or not) you should consider a respirator. They don't cost much, and can be easily found at the local "big box" store.
George
I like to use a dust mask with a fan blowing on me and an exhaust fan going in the rafters. Might say that I create my own semi wind tunnel that way. Not sure about the amount of dust they remove but it sure beats the stagnate ( non moving ) air when working in the shop.
Sometimes I will move everything outside so the exhaust from the attic fan blows down on me while sanding a boat. It's a large fan from a commercial air condition outfit that I mounted in the rafter to move air threw and out of the shop.
Chuck.
Sometimes I will move everything outside so the exhaust from the attic fan blows down on me while sanding a boat. It's a large fan from a commercial air condition outfit that I mounted in the rafter to move air threw and out of the shop.
Chuck.
So far, I haven't had any problems from either epoxy or wood dust. Just lucky, I guess.
Work - now work causes problems.
Work - now work causes problems.
Love the boat seedtick. How did you get that side flare to begin with and how do you make it hold that shape???
Jigs. Cut to match the desired bottom width and side flare
Check out flamikes recent thread about building a pirogue
Check out flamikes recent thread about building a pirogue