: I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on exchanging the wooden strips
: for foam strips?

Sure, I had some thoughts on the matter

You want to head to the art supply store and order up some Fome-Core (R) sheets. The stores near me typically stock it in 3/16th inch thickness, but I've also gotten 1/4 inch. Probably either would be fine.

Fome-Core (R) is a paper-faced, foam-filled material which is used a lot for mounting photos and for signs. 4 x 8 foot sheets are available, so you can use this for making stitch and glue designs, too!

There is a similar material called Gator Foam (R) which uses very thin sheets of (styrene?) plastic instead of the tough paper to sandwich the inner foam layer. This can be thermoformed. By applying heat this can be bent and it will hold the shape when cool.

The material is very easily cut; once you've penetrated the top paper surface with a knife or razor blade, extend the blade a bit to go through the foam and continue your cut, going through the bottom paper layer. While the foam may shred a bit at the cut edge, the paper holds a sharp edge, and neat joints can be made.

For "ripping" strips, try this: get a 6 to 10 inch long piece of 1 x stock and rip it to the desired width of your strips. If you want 1 inch wide strips, your block will be say 6 inches long, 3/4 inches high, and 1 inch wide, and you can make this from a scrap of 1x2 firring strip. Using a #6 or #8 pan head sheetmetal screw which is 3/4 inches long, attach a single edge razor blade to the side of your block. Attach this blade at an angle so a sharp corner of it will project below the block a bit more than the thickness of your fome core.

Set a straight board (1x3 or bigger) against the edge of your foam panel and slide the mounted razor blade contraption so that one edge slides along the board and the blade cuts a neat strip. Repeat the process until you have all the strips you want.

When you go to mount the strips on your forms, you can use straight pins instead of staples. Push them through the middle of the foam at a slight angle so they barely catch the inner paper and pin that to you your forms. When you are finished you will have no visilbe holes on the outside, and only a single hole on the inside at each strip/form intersection.

Beveling strips is a simple matter of removing a bit of the paper layer from the inside of one or both strips. Set your strips side by side on the forms and see how wide the gap between them is on the out side. You want to remove that much (paper) material from the inside. Once the paper is scored and removed, the small amount of excess foam should compress and disappear when you seat the strips next to each other.

Ordinary white glue works fine. Use it neatly and sparingly, as drips will be difficult to remove. You will NOT be doing much sanding to this!

There is no real reason to use strips that are 3/4 inches wide. The material will flex a bit so wider strips can be bent a little around curves. YOu might want to try bending wider panels over your forms and holding them on with pins. Cut away the material where it won't bend enough to match the desired contour, and start a new piece from that edge.

If you use the material for a stitch and glue design you'll make a lap joint instead of a scarf to get your full length panels. It is simple to do. on the end of one panel, 1 inch from the end, cut through the top layer of paper and just the foam under it. Don't cut into the bottom layer of paper. Pull off the top layer of paper and a lot of the foam will come with it. Remove all of it by carefully scraping it out. On the other panel, make a cut 1 inch from the end that just goes through the paper, and leaves the foam intact. Use a knife or single edge razor blade inserted from the end of the panel to separate the paper from the underlying foam. When you assemble the two panels with careful gluing you'll have a one inch wide lap.

Bienfang makes a foamboard which is called Mighty-Core which is stronger. Dick Blick lists it on their webpage but you can't buy it over the web. (It says to call them.) For that and other Bienfang foamboard products up to 40x60 inches see:

http://www.dickblick.com/categories/foamboard/

I believe their listing of products has a typo and that they have the 40 x 60 in 3/16 as well as 1/2 inch thickness, but they list 1/2 inch thickness twice for that panel size.

A 4x8panel of 3/16th inch foam board is about 4.5 to 8 pounds. If your stitch and glue design calls for 3 panels, after figuring waste, your boat will be about 11 to 22 pounds plus the glass and resin. And you must glass on both sides

Figuring you'ld use a gallon of resin at about 8 pounds, and an equal weight of glass cloth, your boat would be in the 27 to 38 pound range.

Here is one more supplier who has a much larger variety, and larger sizes. They have 3/16th inch Bienfang foamboard and Fome-Core in a 4x10 foot panel size,(48x120 inches) which might be of interest to prototypers of stitch and glue designs, or someone who wants longer strips.

http://www.fomebords.com/

After looking over their prices it eventually dawned on me that the prices listed are for each sheet, not for the entire carton (!) when ordering carton quantities.

They also have some 1/8th inch sheets. Hmmm.

PGJ