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The Wood Traditionally Western red cedar was used for canoes and small boats. With today's advances in epoxies, any lightweight wood can be used. A layer of fiberglass is covered by 3 coats of epoxy creating a very waterproof barrier protecting the wood. I have decided to use butternut as my main wood on the boat. Butternut is a bit heavier that Western red cedar but that's OK. I will not be portaging with this boat. I purchased a quantity of logs
in the spring of 2005 and had them sawn into 1" lumber. They
have been drying since then and are ready to use. I will rip the
planks into 1 1/8" strips and then use the bandsaw to resaw
the strips into 2 pieces of 1/2" x 1 1/8" strips. From
there they will be planed down to 1/4" x 1" strips.
Wood Strips The wood strip edges have a bead profile on one edge and a cove profile on the other edge. These 2 edge profiles allow the strips to fit into each other. Using a bead and cove profile, the curves of the boat do not interfere with the alignment of each strip. Glue is placed in each cove edge and the next strip's bead edge is placed in. This is similar to tongue and groove siding or flooring.
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