JEM Watercraft

Hey Ron, looking good mate. Have to say I'm liking the the look of the strip n stitch idea.
Do you have any ideas on the weight comparison between using pine and plywood? My thoughts are that the extra epoxy, and the fact that you'd probably be using slightly thicker strips, might well balance the whole thing out to weigh about the same as plywood. If its lighter I would definitely look into using next time around. I have been keeping my eye out for some nice plywood for a while now but am finding bugger all worth buying.
Cheers John.

With the water line on this boat being a full 16 ft,it is equal to a normal 17ft 6 inch boat and is braced in the cockpit area more than normal. It weighed in at 49 lbs , in my opion it is lighter than ply. Western red ceder would be lighter yet. Strips were 1/4 inch and as stif as it turned out 3/16 would have been plenty .
Be the way I build from now on
Ron

Looks beautiful Ron. And fast.

When I did my strip Jem Touring Pirogue awhile back, i used 3/16 inch strips and it was plenty stiff. Far stiffer than a plastic boat. I think the finished boat was 35 pounds but being a pirogue it did not have a deck which saves some weight. It was about half and half cedar and pine.

What I really like about the strip and stitch method is that you build the panels flat. That way you don't need to cut the strips down to 3/4 to conform to the radius of the building forms. When I ripped the strips for the okwata I am building from 5/4 X 4" cedar deck boards, i just left them at 5/4 wide. This makes for less strips to edge glue, and less waste.

Here is a link to a chart of the various commonly used woods. Cedar appears to be one of the least dense of the woods that is readily available. http://www.hoganhardwoods.com/hogan/pag ... ravity.htm

Got the hatches cut and lips glassed in





Also set and glassed in the rails for the adjustable seat.



She is coming right along ,a few more days and she will be rigged out.
Ron

Looking Great

Mike