Wee Lassie football

cgclark · Post by **cgclark** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 9:33 pm

I have been a lurker, but I am "un-lurking" for now.

I am building a Wee Lassie II. I have stripped about halfway to the bilge. I am wrestling with how I want to fill in the football. I have seen others fill half the football, trim to the centerline, and then fill the second half. I have also seen others fill in the football with straight strips running parallel to the centerline. Finally, I have seen a combination of a herringbone stripping pattern and straight strips.

I like the herringbone approach. I used it on my kayak. Can forum members advise me on the advantages and disadvantages of different fill-in approaches?

Thanks.
Chuck

Jim Dodd · Post by **Jim Dodd** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 7:18 am

Welcome Chuck!... Most all of us crawled out of a wood pile one time or another!.. How you finsh the football is really the builders choice!.. I strip past center, cut the line and fill... Herringbone is more time consuming, but I think the best overall for looks and strength!.. Straightline stripping is also more time cunsuming, lacking in the looks department, it may provide the truest canoe to form shape... Thats just my two cents worth!.. Have fun!

Todd Bradshaw · Post by **Todd Bradshaw** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 11:45 am

The straight strip method has one huge advantage and that is speed of construction with minimal fitting and trimming, but you're probably already too far along to use it. The idea is that you strip the football first. Before starting, you bend a couple temporary strips along the forms to simulate the positions of the last side strips before the football. You check them for fairness and to be sure they will actually make the bends needed and then mark the forms at the test strips' edges where the football will start. Then you remove the strips and start stripping the football from the center out toward the sides. You strip until you are slightly past your edge marks on the forms and let the glue dry. Next, you tack a batten to the forms, draw lines where the football's edges will be and cut out the finished football. The side stripping starts with the strips right next to the football and you strip downward toward the sheer line. All the tedious fitting is taken care of with the first-strip-to-football joint on each side. You simply work your way from the middle stations toward the ends, beveling the edge of the football assembly as needed until your side strips form nice tight joints where they meet the football. The middle areas generally need little or no beveling, so most of the work is beveling the footballs edges as you approach the ends of the canoe. Typically, with a small block plane or Surform tool, you can do all the beveling for an entire side in 20-30 minutes and you're ready to start stripping the rest of the side as fast as you can apply strips.

It's a different look from the other methods. Some folks like it, some don't. It tends to look best if you try to accentuate the football section with a few different colored or accent strips, rather than to try to hide or blend it in, where the change of pattern tends to just be a curiosity. If it's bold enough (even to the point of using a contrasting strip for the first side strip next to the football edge, to "frame" it) then it looks like it's supposed to be there. You also need to do some careful measurement during the initial football layout stage, since the edge of the football area and the strip that goes next to it will also determine the lay of the rest of the strips on that side of the boat. You don't want to later find that your side strips have big waves in them or curve down toward the waterline. In most cases it's possible to do a little adjustment by adding tapered filler strips in places, but it's better to get it right during the planning stage and not need them to get a fair run for the side planking.

Bill from Louisiana · Post by **Bill from Louisiana** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:03 pm

Chuck,

A great source for a unique football can be gottn from John Michne's websit. I just finished my Redbird using his method and it came out super. You can modify the design to suit your own interest if what he did does fill the bill. But how he did what he did is the important thing. His site is http://michneboat.com/. Give him a try, there is a wealth of great information there.

Bill

Jim D · Post by **Jim D** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 5:33 pm

Todd I haven't tried that method!.. Sounds to me like a lot of guess work to determine where the football will meet the strips that were started at the shear?... The straightline method that I used, started at the shear, went up to the football, Then I laid in the center strip, and filled in towards the bilge... A lot of fitting for sure!.. This method was showcased in the Minnesota Canoe Association's Builder's Book!... I fear with your method, if it were off, you would have to fill with putty or little slivers!..

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 7:59 pm

There really aren't any gaps to fill. Remember, you strip the football first, then fit the first side strips along the football's edges, beveling as needed. Once that's done, you proceed to strip down the sides (boat upside-down) all the way to the sheer line. It does take some careful pre-stripping measurement to avoid winding-up with side strips that droop, but other than beveling those first two side strips, the rest is just butting strip-to-strip just as they come off the pile.

It's not everyone's cup of tea and works best for boats which look good with pretty level strips on the sides rather than curving to follow the sheer. In terms of just filling the football on a hull which already has the sides stripped, I can't think of much reason to try doing it to fill the spaces - too much tapering. The only time I did that was on a double kayak about 1974-75. It was built with no sheer clamp and the deck-to-hull joint was seamed inside and out, like a fiberglass kayak. The strips along the bottom of the deck part and the top of the hull part had to be straight in order to mate at the seam. We stripped the side portions first and then filled in the football areas piece by piece, starting from the middle and working outward. The final tapered, beveled strips that formed the edges of the football and filled the gap up to the side strips were a real bear to shape. Both the deck and hull were built this way. Old pic, but it's the only one I have where you can see the football in the deck.

John Michne · Post by **John Michne** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:24 am

Hi Chuck –

The Wee Lassie II has a pretty sharp keel line or spine, continuing the knife-edge entry the entire length of the hull. The logical closure would be to strip half of the football, then trim a straight centerline and strip the other half up to the centerline. The herringbone closure would be difficult or impossible, since the entire “joint” in this type of closure is a couple of inches wide and would have to cross the spine. I can’t envision just how you would do that on anything but a more conventional hull design, one with a relatively flat and smooth keel line.

Similarly, a straight line stripping of the football as Todd describes would make a nice boat, but again you have the problem of the sharp keel line on the WL-II. Careful stripping along the keel would probably work. The glue joint along the keel line would require a rolling bevel butt joint the entire length, itself a challenge.

Whatever closure you choose, I recommend a bias strip of fiberglass cloth the entire length of the keel inside and out.

- John

Jim D · Post by **Jim D** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 6:25 am

I follow your techique now Todd!..I think I'll stick with bead and cove for my canoes, and the Canoecraft method. It seems there are as many different stripping methods as there are builders, thats good!