First Canoe

[Gamma1214]

If the canoe will not be lighter, I can just quit now.

I think there are still many ways that you can reduce final weight. 4 oz glass will be lighter than 6 oz and s-glass is stronger than e-glass. I usually use 4 oz e-glass on the whole hull with an extra layer (also 4 oz) on the football (e-glass inside, s-glass outside)

You can reduce further by reducing gunwale size, eliminating decks, placing the seat on tabs and eliminating a thwart... stuff like that.

I also don't know if people try to distinguish their first build or if they're just trying to build the boat they want.

Personally, I didn't know what I wanted in a solo canoe so I built what was recommended to me. After the first, I was able to describe what it did well vs what it needed to do better and I was able to pick hulls that more closely matched by needs.

 

[Cruiser]

The amidships depth of this model is 14.5" and I figured shaving some off of that wouldn't be too impactful overall.

I totally agree that given the sheer size of the selected canoe, weight is going to be an issue. That in turn puts emphasis of making careful build decisions, where weight is involved.

A good example IMO is to consider the suggestion to move from 6 oz to 4 oz glass, This will yield a modest weight savings, mostly just the glass weight difference of around 1 pound. Moving to S glass to keep strength is viable, but as stated, it is modest weight reduction for the additional expense.

The largest portion of weight is in the epoxy used for wet out, not the actual glass weight. Simply using a careful dry layup vs wet layup will net 3-4 pounds weight saving, in reduced epoxy application. This saves both epoxy and weight, so how you apply the epoxy/glass sheath can actually save more weight, than higher performance materials IMO.

Obviously, combining both nets the most savings, but the point I am making is that when weight enters the room, the conversation needs to shift a bit, to consider more parameters. In this case, it isn't just the materials of the glass/epoxy sheath, it is how you use them that yields the best weight performance.

Brian

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

The amidships depth of this model is 14.5"

That's quite deep. Just curious, where do you see that spec, Brian?

 

[Fourbtgait]

Ashstillwaterboats has the canoe weight calculator you might play with WW.
It can help show you how or what factors in for weight.