Strip Built Costs?

[Guest]

I follow the Canoe Tripping stripper builds to appreciate the craftsmanship and to see what I can learn, although I will not likely ever build a wood strip canoe. Or even cut my own strips, and I’m sure not buying them pre-made.

Ya, they are uber expensive.1200 bucks.

I’m curious about what strip builders spend, on average, for their canoe materials; cost of ?-wood to plane/rip/cove or whatever. Cloth and resin, decks, thwarts and seat(s). Start to finish consumable and incidentals; varnish, brushes, sandpaper, staples or peel ply if used, building the forms, etc.

I’m sure location matters, for cost/availability of chosen wood(s). But, for say a 16 foot cedar stripper, ready to paddle, how much?

 

[alsg]

I didn't keep track because I didn't want my wife asking me.

 

[scratchypants]

As it turns out, I just started my first canoe build. I have cut forms, built the strong back, planed rough lumber, and milled strips.

Plans were $60; wood for forms was $100 (brutal). I had the wood for the strong back. I've spent $220 on tools so far - more to come. Carbon paper was $5. I bought rough cut white cedar locally, we'll say $80 since I bought way more than what I need for one canoe. Oh, and glue - a gallon of Titebond was $30

That's $495 so far (Canadian, eh).

I'm going to need clamps (lots); glass; resin; sandpaper (maybe a new sander); respirator. Cedar guy also had full slabs of cherry, butternut, ash - I'll be picking up one of those for furnishings.

 

[stripperguy]

Let’s see...
WRC about $200
Cloth and resin about $350
Mahogany for trim about $40
Expendables like roller sleeves brushes glue staples are about $50

I have enough plans printing full size is no cost for me plywood forms usually free scraps strongback has Ben kicking around for 25 years

So what’s that add up to? Somewhere south of $700
Oh and I’m in the capital district in upstate New York plenty of specialty wood suppliers and big box stores

 

[Alan Gage]

I haven't kept very close track but I always figured a standard solo build was around $500. I'd have around $1000 in some of the composites.

Alan

 

[memaquay]

Ya, 500 to 1000 is normal, depending on wood availability. Fiberglass and resin is always the constant price, and up here, one can't get away with less than 500 bucks. The resin and glass for the 20 foot freighter was about 1100. Sandpaper, brushes and little things like that can add up quick if you can't buy in bulk.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Too many variables !

The end result, isn't how much it cost !
It's how much Fun you had making it !
That's what matters. !

Jim

 

[Cruiser]

I think it is a useful exercise to see where everyone is spending money, what a build costs. Let's new builders see what they can expect and experienced builders see an area they may need to look into.
On my current build I intend to track all the costs, just for that reason.


Brian

 

[Guest]

I think it is a useful exercise to see where everyone is spending money, what a build costs. Let's new builders see what they can expect and experienced builders see an area they may need to look into.
On my current build I intend to track all the costs, just for that reason.

Agreed.

I have not built a boat from scratch, but for funsies I kept track of the materials used on one rebuild of an older canoe, and of the parts and pieces used outfitting a more modern RX hull.

Exacting track, including everything; painter’s tape (6 feet), sandpaper (2 sheets), bungee cord (6 feet), machine screws, washers & nuts (2 each), pop rivets (8), painter line (30 feet). Strap webbing, contact cement, resin, cloth, peel ply, cups and brushes, pad eyes, D-rings, varnish and minicel.

$131 (actually $130.91) just in outfitting parts and pieces.

The rebuild ran $200+, not counting new vinyl gunwales (reusing old vinyl deck plates and refurbishing the existing seats and thwarts).

In the end the accumulated costs didn’t matter, rebuilding and outfitting them was fun shop time working with friends, and their new owners were pleased with my freebie work. But I was surprised when I actually added it up; most of that is stuff I keep on hand and replenish as needed in the shop, so I never really thought about the incidental expenses.

 

[Jim Dodd]

I just don't want to make such a list of expenses, and take the chance of it falling into the wrong hands ! My Wife for instance !

Jim

 

[alsg]

I just don't want to make such a list of expenses, and take the chance of it falling into the wrong hands ! My Wife for instance !

Jim

See comment #2, above.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

There's also the cost of time. That, too, should be estimated and monetized for newbies and others who are curious.

When you just buy all 15-20 of your canoes, kayaks, va'as and rafts, as I do, there's no build time. Just time researching boats, trying boats, calling about boats, emailing about boats, and then driving anywhere from 200 to 500 to 1,000 to 10,000 miles (true!) to pick it up and return home. But I've never had to mosey into my basement or garage to apply glue or resin, or tack any wood.

 

[scratchypants]

But I've never had to...

That says it right there - "had." A lot of us "want" to get into the garage - especially when the water is hard. If woodworking or building things is not something one enjoys doing then it would most certainly be a time-suck of lamentable proportions.

 

[Iskweo]

I would guess that the cost is closer to 1000. We kept track closely on the first one and the little things like seats, drops, screws for the gunwales ( stainless) brushes, rollers thinner, sanding discs, chiropractor appts all tend to be more than you remember.....if I could build a half decent canoe here for 500 I would be selling buckets full of them. I think we had larger numbers for the cedar too as it became tougher to source locally. If I recall it came to about 600 for the wood and glass, with all the other things added on top of that. Which still is not bad considering.

I think there might be a smallish market for Y sterns to a select customer base here.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

That says it right there - "had." A lot of us "want" to get into the garage - especially when the water is hard. If woodworking or building things is not something one enjoys doing then it would most certainly be a time-suck of lamentable proportions.

No quarrel. That's obviously true.

But I was really just mocking my own personal experiences regarding "saving time" by buying instead of building. For many of my purchases, I'm sure I spent a lot more time for the hands-on research, tryouts, purchase and pickup activity than it would have taken me to build. Just as a few examples, while living in the northeast I personally picked up by car (and sometimes plane one way) boats in Florida twice, Tennessee, Virginia, California, Maine, the Adirondacks twice, southern New Jersey, and many other states. Plus, I've driven over 1000 miles just to try canoes that I ended up not buying.

I suppose I liked doing that, and had some memorable paddling adventures on the trips home. My basement and garage are insufferable cathedrals of entropy.

 

[Canotrouge]

I always wanted to build one for my self, never did, I do woodworking for a living, and foil a lot of boats too and never have the time to built one that wouldn't take me away form paying jobs... So I buy my boats and I'm happy with that hahaha. But working with wood and with glass and resins, I can tell you that up here you would end up paying more than $1000 canadian in material and disposables! If you have to buy all the tools and you don't plan on building more than one then that can cost you a lot of $$!! But again, the satisfaction of paddling a boat you made and possibly design must be worth it!!

 

[scratchypants]

No quarrel. That's obviously true.

But I was really just mocking my own personal experiences regarding "saving time" by buying instead of building. For many of my purchases, I'm sure I spent a lot more time for the hands-on research, tryouts, purchase and pickup activity than it would have taken me to build. Just as a few examples, while living in the northeast I personally picked up by car (and sometimes plane one way) boats in Florida twice, Tennessee, Virginia, California, Maine, the Adirondacks twice, southern New Jersey, and many other states. Plus, I've driven over 1000 miles just to try canoes that I ended up not buying.

I suppose I liked doing that, and had some memorable paddling adventures on the trips home. My basement and garage are insufferable cathedrals of entropy.

I can relate - I have spent weeks researching potential purchases.

 

[Guest]

That says it right there - "had." A lot of us "want" to get into the garage - especially when the water is hard. If woodworking or building things is not something one enjoys doing then it would most certainly be a time-suck of lamentable proportions.

When I am at home I essentially live in my shop and always have. Before retirement I was only home long enough to change clothes before I was in the shop. Nowadays, even if I am just diddling around with little projects, it’s dang near office hours, 7am to 4pm. earlier if I skip the morning newspaper, later if I remember to have lunch or have reached some can’t-stop-now point with varnish or epoxy.

Not just the diddly boat projects, our house runs out of my shop. My office is in the shop; bills and filing paperwork and files and computer needs all run through the shop. So does trash and recycling, mail and packages, firewood and kindling. And cat doors.

If it’s smaller than a refrigerator every household fix-its come out to the shop, where benches and tools and good lighting are available. Much easier than trying to fix something in-situ two floor away, hoping I brought the right tools, parts and materials with me. Never have managed that, usually a 3-trip minimum. Five minutes to fix it, 20 minutes of walking back and forth. ARRGGHH!

If you have to buy all the tools and you don't plan on building more than one then that can cost you a lot of $$!!

I probably have all the tools needed to build a stripper, even clamps. And scrap wood for a strongback and some plywood for forms. And have gotten better with cloth and epoxy work and varnishing and etc. Never gonna happen for a lot of reasons.

Quoting Cruiser from the Lightweight Solo Tripper Build

also challenging myself in the shop, I find it very tough to just repeat a build, I want to learn and do something new each time.

I’m sure building a stripper would be a new challenge. I appreciate learning and doing new things in the shop, especially things I have hmmmm puzzled out on my own, or at least seen the error of my ways and later improved.

But I know how snail-slow I am (and enjoy being) in the shop, and the idea of walking out to see a half-built canoe for X-number of months might be too much of the same project day after day, or keep me from the little shop funsies and oddball experiments I really enjoy.

Whether I’m “building” things, thwarts, yokes, seat drops, sanding or varnishing things or making dry bags, table tops or minicel consoles, half the fun is doing a mini-production run; if I’m doing one I might as well make a few while all the tools and materials are already out. And, if I like the result, make another “improved” batch next time around.

I can see how that could grow to be a lot of strippers.

 

[Guest]

Time needed to build a stripper?

There's also the cost of time. That, too, should be estimated and monetized for newbies and others who are curious.

I don’t know about monetized, local outfitting and repair shops charge $65 - $80 and hour, and it’s hard to put a price on your own work for your own canoe. But, back to Cruiser’s “useful exercise”, especially with new builders, I don’t want to lose sight of Glenn’s time question.

I know there are folks with long experience and fully equipped shops that can whip out a well crafted stripper in short order, and retired guys with the luxury of long days in the shop, but some estimation of hours/days spent, after work & weekends, perhaps as your first time still-learning build, would be a useful reference point.

I’m not saying those hours/day were not fun times in the shop. Or garage or basement. Or (“Yes Dear, almost finished”) sunroom or screen porch. But the time needed to build a first stripper it is an important bit of information and consideration.

 

[stripperguy]

I used to keep a logbook for every boat that I built, a carry over from a lifetime of an R & D career
If I was particularly fussy it would take roughly 55 hours start to finish
Many of my builds are 40 to 43 hours of effort including cutting strips and doing the bead and coves

For contrast, the 19 ft sailboat that I built took over 400 hours