Ballpark figure

[Dave Norris]

To build a 17' or so canoe using the Gilpatrick design, how much would I be talking about for materials? I'm really intrigued by the thought of building a canoe, but some reviews seem to imply upwards of a $1,000. I'm not that intrigued...

[John Bailey]

I would think $1,000 for supplies would be if you purchased the strips already cut, planed and routed bead and cove. Otherwise, I would think you are looking at more like $500. Never built a stripper canoe but I've researched the heck out of building a kayak, helped build one in my shop, and still have the forms on the strongback hanging from my shop's trusses waiting for me to get at it.

I got bids for an 18ft. kayak for the strips. It came to about $800. We bought the cedar, cut them out with a bandsaw, sent them through the planer and routed them for less than $100. The other big expense is the fiberglass and epoxy which can run as high as $300.

A project well worth it.

By the way, we could use a good boat building project to follow.

John

[Bob Johnson2]

If your starting from scratch, I spent roughly $800, goes down some after the 1st. The fiberglass/epoxy was the biggest single expense if you don't but precut strips. A complete kit from Newfound Woodworks runs $1200 - 2100!
The $1000 figure you quote sounds pretty accurate if you have to buy everything.

[Chuck Saunders]

The question you ask is actually a very generic question. "How much will it cost to build a boat?" and the answer is simply -- every dollar you have or will ever have. This is a slope that is extra slippery because it is already wet (and probably has a little algae growing on it)

[Gary Kvasnicka]

I also spent about $800, but I have enough epoxy left to do half another kayak. I also bought enough minicel foam to carve seats for four more boats, wanna buy some.