In this series of videos I document the building of a pair of mahogany strip-planked microBootleggers. I built these boats for a customer who wanted "book-matched" mahogany strips and a carbon fiber interior built without staples.
I start out the videos with the milling of the strips. I got some beautiful mahogany, the only problem was it was over 2" thick, and I wanted strips less than 1" wide, so I had to do a lot of work to get the strips into usable dimensions without wasting much. Because the mahogany is relatively heavy and quite expensive, I milled the strips to 1/8" thickeness. This allowed me to get more strips out of the wood and keep the weight of the wood low.
I carefully keep the strips in the order they came off the plank so I can install them on the boat in the same order. I did not cove-and-bead the strips, instead I hand beveled each as needed to fit on the forms.
The techniques I used here are choosen to achieve that result. Please note that there are many "correct" was to do this, if you are viewing these videos as a reference prior to or during the building your own boat, don't feel you need to do it exactly the way I did it here just because I chose to do it this way. In my books, The Strip-Built Sea Kayak or Building Strip-Planked Boats, I may describe doing things in a slightly different manner. The steps described in the books work and may well be easier for the purposes of building your own boat
- How to Make a Kayak - Cutting Strips
- How to Make a Kayak - Ripping and Sorting Strips
- How to Make a Kayak - Cutting Forms for a Strip-Planked Kayak
- How to Make a Kayak - Setting Up Forms
- How to Make a Kayak - Shaping Internal Stems
- How to Make a Kayak - Installing the First Strips
- How to Make a Kayak - Repairing a Damaged Strip
- How to Make a Kayak - Continuing Stripping the Kayak
- How to Make a Kayak - Stripping the Bottom Part One
- How to Make a Kayak - Trimming the Keel Line
- How to Make a Kayak - Fixing a Popped Seam
- How to Make a Kayak - Stripping the Bottom Part Two
- How to Make a Kayak - Fixing a Broken Seam
- How to Make a Kayak - Closing the Bottom
- How to Make a Kayak - Applying a Fill Coat
- How to Make a Kayak - Sanding the Hull
- How to Make a Kayak - Fitting a Cockpit Recesss
- How to Make a Kayak - Fiberglassing the exterior of the Coaming
- How to Make a Kayak - Removing White Lines
- How to Make a Kayak - Fiberglassing the Hull
- How to Make a Kayak - Glassing the Interior of the Coaming
- How to Make a Kayak - Installing a Solid Outer Stem
- How to Make a Kayak - The Cotton Swab Test
- How to Make a Kayak - Joining the Deck and Hull and Taping the Inside Seam
- How to Make a Kayak - Releasing Forms in Staple Free Construction
- How to Make a Kayak - Laminating the Coaming Lip
- How to Make a Kayak - Stripping the Back Deck
- How to Make a Kayak - Laying Carbon Fiber Cloth on the Deck Interior
- How to Make a Kayak - Straightening a Crooked Seam
- How to Make a Kayak - Installing a Center Accent Line on the Deck
- How to Make a Kayak - Cutting the Cockpit Recess
- How to Make a Kayak - Fairing and Glassing the Deck
- How to Make a Kayak - Installing the Coaming Riser
- How to Make a Kayak - Smoothing the Deck Interior
- How to Make a Kayak - Smoothing the Hull Interior
- How to Make a Kayak - Smoothing the interior of a strip planked boat with a scraper and sandpaper
- How to Make a Kayak - Trimming off the Excess Glass
- The Process of Building a Wooden Kayak