Sounds like you have been trough a "labour of love" once and still need psychotherapy to get over it

These two guys obviously have an experience waiting for them

Hi Gary

I like to live on the edge......of insanity

I won't commit myself to doing it just yet, but certainly like to consider it.

Regards

Have a go at it, could be fun, but please do it in another thread. It should not be too hard to guess what we discussed, but that would be no fun.

Building is fun when you can not sail.
Just have a look at the lastest updates on our building blog.

Hi Rolf (Darthvader)
It looks as if you're cutting 4mm strips off your approx 25x450mm spruce plank. In my experience I would definitely be using the table saw I've seen in earlier posts. You mentioned previous amateur builders using 'Skilsaws' (your DeWalt) but this may be because they didn't have access to a table saw? I only mention this as you'll have to cut close on 200 strips for 6 hulls I would imagine.
Being a qualified joiner I'm very interested in your project so please keep posting and don't let your family commitments hinder you too much

Mark,

the skilsaw vs. tablesaw isse have been much debated. The person I know who has the most experience building small strip plank boats reccomends using a skilsaw instead of a table saw. His experience is that the skilsaw produces just as good strips as the tablesaw for less work (setup, running planks trough it, breaking strips while handling etc). The short experience we have with the skilsaw is pretty good. We will at least give it a serious try.
Strips are 5mm btw. We expect to remove a full millimeter while sanding.

You are a professional woodworker? Whow! We will keep on posting updates to the blog and do a reminder her from time to time. Please keep comments, suggestions and everything else coming.

I left school and became a qualified Joiner, worked my way up and off the tools, went to university and completed a Bsc (Hons) degree in Project and Construction Management. Worked in management roles for various National Construction companies but really missed the feeling of producing things with my own hands instead of the pen. For the past two years I have been self employed as a Joiner, Carpenter and Builder and I'm loving it. There are certainly different pressures involved but the benefits far out way being just a payroll number in a National Company!!
By the way, I hope to design and build a Cat this year I have a lot of ideas in my mind I just have to put them onto paper and tell the wife and I'm sure the later will be the hardest task of this project!!

Why have you not spoken up earlier? We amateurs at woodwork need all the advice we can get
What kind of cat is it you want to design and build? F-16 or something completely different?

Ok Mark, last night we ripped a respectable sized pile of strips. After the first 5-8 strips we really got the hang of it and from then on cutting perfect strips was a no-brainer. It was very easy to just walk the skilsaw along the plank. Dont think we will bother with setting up a table saw after this experience. Our kayak building/designing friend was spot on with the skilsaw. Hopefully the rest of his "easy-strip" building methods are as good. I.e. we are not going to glue the strips together individually but do them all in one go once they are in position.

Next up for ripping are a few 2x4, to make up the sides. Hopefully they are as easy to do as the thin strips.