: If you use a vacuum on the cedar strips it must be sealed to prevent air from
: penetrating from behind.
: It will flatten the weave and you will sacrifice strength. I agree with some
: of the others that a well used squeegee provides optimum strength to
: weight but I don't know if there is any real data to support that. I would
: just use a lighter cloth for lighter weight.
: If you do use cedar strips don't use cove and bead if you want to make sure
: of minimum weight. Unless the strips fit perfectly the voids will be
: filled with heavier epoxy.

: One thing that I am going to try this year is to build a fast kayak - 20 feet
: x 19" with diagonal 1/8" x 4" cedar veneer with no glass. I
: have done this before when I had built a Bangor Packet with my Dad. That
: was 3 layers and was one heck of fast rowing wherry. I had veneer left
: over so I built a Kayak off the same mould with much less freeboard and
: only two layers. That was in 1979 and I still have it. I had to move it
: out of storage the other day and I couldn't believe how light and stiff it
: was. The wood was sealed with thinned epoxy. There is no sign of
: deterioration.
: I intend to expand the cockpit and use it as a double for Tuesday night
: racing with my kids.
: But having just built a mystery I have been thinking that these boats are
: never ever going to touch the beach so why do I need a glass coating. The
: cedar veneer has sufficient stiffness and with a tighter radius of a
: narrow boat it would be even stiffer.

: I also have some experience with 1/16 spruce Veneer (think of a guitar front
: and back) which is even stronger but may need 3 layers for a 3/16"
: hull and maybe a 1/8" deck.

: BTW the cold moulding process used to be done with rows of staples. Now it's
: done with vacuum bagging on a sealed mould. Once the mould is made I
: anticipate a hull can be made in 1/2 the hours of cedar strip boat with ~
: 20 less weight and about 1/2 the cost without the glass and resin. It
: won't survive much of a rocky landing but neither would an carbon surf
: ski.

: The difficult parts will be finding a design worthy of the mould effort. I
: would not want to commit the time to a mould unless others would use the
: mould afterwards. During building the spiling (fitting) of the veneers can
: be tricky but not much more than fitting cedar strips.

The advantage of cedar strip is you don't need the mold. If you are going to build a mold there are several ways to make a very light hull, cold molding certainly works well. Hot molding might actually be very slightly lighter. There are dimishing returns trying to save a few ounces here

Bill H.