Tech Tip Tuesday

Ultralight.

Or so I hope.

As you know, we've been looking at ways to make a 15' long canoe and forms levitate. Well, OK - I'd like it to levitate, but physics and gravity have intervened. Here is what we have done so far to make things a bit lighter.

We cut out material from the plywood forms in areas where it wasn't necessary. We limited the amount of material we took off to try to keep from having thin sections that would warp. This is what one of the patterns looks like after being "lightened":


We weighed the pieces that we cut out of all of the patterns for this canoe. It amounted to 14.5 pounds of material that were removed. Quite a substantial savings!

We're also shifting from a strongback made from dimensional lumber to one made with a combination of sheet goods and small amounts of dimensional lumber. The picture below shows the sample beam that was made up earlier. I haven't weighed it yet, but by just picking it up, I know it is lighter than our older designs.


The picture below shows the beam from the bottom. It is a 1/2" thick plywood deck with 1/4" luan sides and 2x6" blocking. It is a remarkably rigid structure. The sides are glued and screwed to the plywood and blocking.


A quick view of the barn where the boats are all stored for the moment. It may look like a bit of chaos, but we know where everything is!