: According to a couple of sources, Ted Moores and a bio of Rushton, the
: constant swelling and drying led to cracking of the thin strips. Rushton
: solved that by using narrower strips (2 inch rather that 4 inches or
: wider) and sealing things with varnish. The Rushton bio had copy from a
: sales flyer of his in which he mentions that the joints between the
: strakes were sealed with his varnish, and fastened with clenched copper
: nails between the ribs. I suppose we'd use epoxy as a sealer today. The
: wood didn't swell and shrink, so it didn't crack. That was a big deal for
: canoes which would be taken in and out of the water. larger boats which
: stayed wet didn't have the cracking problem because they didn't dry out.

: Thomas Hill's book "Ultralight Boatbuilding", shows this lapstrake
: construction with 1/8th inch (3mm) marine plywood. Where the
: "planks" overlap the hull is about 1/4 inch thick --same as a
: strip-built boat.

: Hill starts with planks cut from his plywood sheets which are maybe 4 inches
: wide and 8 feet long. His molds are made like the frames for SOF kayaks,
: with "ribbands" running the length of the boat. We'd probably
: call those chines or stringers. His method of gluing down one edge of
: these plywood planks, then using a router with with a pattern cutting bit
: running along the ribbands to trim the excess material seems to be a
: pretty quick operation.

: I suggest a similar technique for making plywood panels to cover the frame of
: a SOF kayak--as opposed to using fabric to skin it. Instead of using a
: router and pattern bit, I just run a pencil line along the chine (ribband)
: remove the panel, and cut on the line.

: Since a hull made with Hill's technique uses fewer panels than a similarly
: sized boat would use thin strips, and since the overlapping of the strakes
: eliminates the need for rolling bevels, or cove and bead, I think this
: would take less time, not more. Working with planks made from plywood
: would also eliminate the time needed for ripping strips and planing them
: to thickness.

: Plywood thickness is pretty even already. Scarfing up two sheets of plywood
: gives me almost 16-foot-long "strips' which are knotfree, without a
: lot of the wood turning to sawdust, too.

: Hill, by the way, doesn't use glass on the inside of his boats, either. Very
: little on the outside either, for that matter. He adds a layer of Dynole,
: glass, or something similar on the bottom of the boat, in the
: "football" area, just for ding resistance.

: Haven't actually had the time to build anything this way yet, so I can't say
: it is so, tho. Right now it is just my opinion.

: PGJ

At some point here I'd like to build a lapstrake whitehall, had one when I was a kid and loved that boat. Might be a chance to try that process

Bill H.