���excuse me, I ment 5/16 to have a 1/4" Finnish.

a conservative approach is a strip that starts at 1/4 inch depth (thickness).  folks that are trying to build very light will start with 3/16 inch thick strip (for a 25% weight saving on the wood component of the weight).  so it simply is not necessary to add a 16th to get to a 1/4 inch after-sanding thickness.  any of the kit company or plan sellers and designers already have factored that in.

i am not sure that the rough face of the board is an issue.  if you are making your own strips, the 'rough' face of a board is going to be the edge of a strip....not a face of the strip.  the standard strip is only 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide....so when you are cutting your own strips from a board 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick board, it is the ripped edge that becomes the face of the strip.  so in general, when you rip the board to make a strip, you want a fine blade to make a smooth-faced strip.

that said, you will be sanding and fairing both the inside and outside of the boat....so any little roughness should get worked out in the planing, sanding and  fairing process.

the only other point i would make is that some folks will use a combination of 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch wide strips depending on the shape of the hull.  if you look at any hull cross section and you have a sharp curve, you may want to do that section with 1/2 inch strips (e.g, around the bilges) so that the strips sit closer to the forms (and thus your sanding will take less off the strip thickness to get it into the correct shape).  it is also easier to bend a 1/2 inch strip compared to a 3/4 inch strip.

i hope that helps.

howard

���Howard, Thanks for all the information for a green builder.. I will be ripping my strips tomorrow. One more question. Do you use a certain set of cove and bead router bits?

my apologies, i don't have any information on the cove and bead router bits.  as it has been explained to me, most home builders don't create their own cove and bead becuase of the complexity of the set-up and tight tolerances to get a good/consistent cove and bead.....so those that use cove and bead tend to buy them from a place like CLC where they have invested in the tooling.

you might try posting that question at http://www.kayakforum.com/ where there are a lot more strip builders.

i would also recommend a good read of the book http://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/boat-building-books-kayaking-dvds/strip-built-sea-kayak-nick-schade.html    it was a great use to me for my first build.

best,

howard

bead and cove bits, aka "canoe bits":  http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?c=&p=30155&cat=1,46168,46174 

These are not the only ones available. Google search: router canoe bits

Even if you don't use a router canoe bit to do all your bead and cove work, it is great to use one with a table router after you make a bevel cut where the end of a strip is going to meet other strips at the ends of the kayak.  Much easier to make a perfect bead on the end that was bevel cut.   

I am currently building a wood duck hybrid. The lumber I milled myself. I planed it to 3\4" or there about and then ripped at 5\16 then ran back through the planer to 1\4". No canoe bit needed, sanded edges with 36 grit on about a 4" sanding block of wood, angles dont it have to be exact but close. If I could figure out how to post a pic on here I would show you, lol.