Cedar strip vs. Lapstrake plywood $

[John Borghardt]

I was wondering, for a similarly sized boat, which construction method would be cheaper? Specifically looking at a 340 lb Caledonia yawl vs. a 890 lb Northeast 21. I had heard that they would cost about the same, lumberwize. I would think that 300 lbs of wood would cost much more than 900 lbs of wood.

[TomRobb]

300 lbs of high quality ply probably does cost more than 900 lbs of strips you rip yourself. Labor, overhead, shipping, profit, etc all add up. But the Yawl ought to be much the nicer of the two boats http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/smile.gif

[Paul Frederiksen]

A lot depends on where you get your wood. 900 pounds of cedar shipped from the west coast will end up costing you as much as 300 pounds of Occume purchased in NY. There is also the cost of fairing (sander, and disks or belts) and the cost of the glass and epoxy for the strip built boat. I would be surprised if they do not end up costing about the same, but it is hard to say because there are so many variables.

[N. Scheuer]

A timely question, John. There is presently a photo of a very lovely lapstrake Mellonseed over on the MY BOAT page. I consider the Mellonseed just about the most aesthetically pleasing small sailboat on the face of the Earth and have a dream (as opposed to an emminent plan) of building one using cedar strip construction.

For me the principal advantage would simply be familiarity with the technique, as I've built two strip canoes.

Moby Nick

[Bayboat]

I would opt for the Caledonia yawl, lapstrake plywood construction. It's lighter, takes less time, and you don't have to fuss with the fiberglas sheathing that most strip-planked construction calls for. Mike Kiefer in South Haven, MI has built a couple of Caledonias, laptrake plywood, and they are very nice.