How many strips to build a canoe?

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John Michne
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How many strips to build a canoe?

Post by John Michne »

Some years back, there was a post, possibly here, on how to figure out/calculate how many strips are needed for a canoe build. I realize that as stripping gets closer to the bottom, the strips are shorter. Maybe it was how many linear feet of strips required? Any ideas?

Thanx,
John Michne
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Cruiser
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Re: How many strips to build a canoe?

Post by Cruiser »

Hi John,

Only reference I found was this,

"Post by Glen Smith » Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:01 am
If you have the plans for the Prospector, or have lofted them, measure (in inches) the girth of the widest form (form 0) from sheerline , around hull and back to opposite sheerline. Since your strips will have a 1/2" face after bead & cove, multiply the girth by 2 and you have the number of strips needed. "

It seems reasonable, that if you know the distance you need to strip around the middle, you can calculate how many strips ... plus some moderate margin for the inevitable "how did I miss that" revelation with bad strips.

Brian
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John Michne
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Re: How many strips to build a canoe?

Post by John Michne »

Hi Brian -

Thanks for the reply.

That's sort of what I thought, but the math or strip size is off. Someone asked me, and I told them to measure from sheer to sheer across the bottom, then divide by 5/8. If you start with 3/4 inch wide strips 1/4 inch thick with 1/4 inch bead and cove, the radius of the b/c is 1/8, which is covered when two strips are put together. Subtracting 1/8 for the joint, you are left with 5/8 inch actually showing. The result should be an approximate number of strips needed. I thought I saw a formula that takes into account the shorter strips beyond the turn of the bilge.

Just get the estimated number of strips, and the off cuts for the shorter strips can be used for mistakes. I even made a set of paddles with them.

John
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Re: How many strips to build a canoe?

Post by Cruiser »

I guess almost anything can be calculated, but as with most things the better the answer you require the more data you need to do the calculation.

This calculation would just give how many strip widths you would need ... you can assume the full length or not. To get a better number (or make use of the offcuts) you would need information about where the stripping starts and whether it follows waterline, fair or sheer .... it gets horribly complicated in a hurry.

The other issue, that would seem to be significant, is if you calculate quantity to include using offcuts, then you are pretty much precluding any book matching process, which does tend to limit the hull design somewhat.

You could calculate the number, then assume a percent for bad strips, a percent for extra strips and make a further assumption that the off lengths would cover off any need for bow/stern strips to fill in to the sheer. I am currently stripping a new boat and that is what I did ... if you find anything else like you describe, I would appreciate you posting it, it would be useful.

Brian
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WMegl
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Re: How many strips to build a canoe?

Post by WMegl »

Fyi, to check your calculations, I'm building a Redbird and used 71 strips. This does not include the short strips at the bow and stern that fill in the "upsweep" of the Redbird's design.

Seventy one (71) does include the shorter strips used in closing the football, and I mirror imaged every strip.
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phmiller
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Re: How many strips to build a canoe?

Post by phmiller »

Hi John, I've just viewed your post on the Builders Forum. Having lost your email address due to change of computer and change of address etc., have been out of touch. Much water has gone beneath the bridge but I would like to make contact again. I don't know if it's by the rules, but my address is , patrickholmesmiller@gmail.com . Regards Patrick.
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cedarphile
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Re: How many strips to build a canoe?

Post by cedarphile »

I just finished a Prospector and counted the strips. This is a deep canoe (15") so the higher sides require some extra strips. The outside dimension of the hull amidships is 56". My white cedar strips are milled from 7/8" planed boards, a little thicker than most builders use. So that means I use less strips than average because my strips cover more hull length than strips milled from 3/4" boards .

My strips work out that 4" of hull length requires 5 strips. So to compute total strips, I divide 56 by 4, then multiply that result by 5. That tells me that I would need 70 strips total if short cutoffs were not utilized. The shorts were used and the actual total number of strips used was 66.
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