Hello all,
Forgive me for being highly inexperienced [:-banghead], but when choosing balsa to be stripped for framing, what are key features to look for or request. I’m thinking of ordering from Lone Star Balsa but don’t know what to specify when ordering. Any help would be appreciated.
Travis
Don’t forget to have fun!!!
travis
balsa is not realy the best of materials. but you can use it. just fibreglass the outside. and you need to waterproof the inside. and you need to watch the thickness of the wood.
cougar
long live the cup and cris dickson
What would be a better alternative? What little I know of building is from the US1M construction guide that’s available on the AMYA website.
Travis
Don’t forget to have fun!!!
Here’s a link about what wood to use where in model building.
Very interesting reading
<blockquote id=“quote”><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial, Helvetica” id=“quote”>quote:<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”>Originally posted by tdonily
What would be a better alternative? What little I know of building is from the US1M construction guide that’s available on the AMYA website.
Travis
Don’t forget to have fun!!!
<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
You don?t have many alternative to balsa, the only other wood I could think about is red cedar, it?s heavier and is recommended for IOM?s by Bantock (where hull weight is not an issue). Balsa is perfectly fine for a USOM, I have built several and seen quite a few sail, better than CF or Kevlar hulls. As Cougar mentioned you still have to add fiberglass to the outside and waterproof the inside (that you have to do anyway regardless of the type of woo you are using), but the hull will still be lighter then using cedar.
The only real problem with balsa is the sanding, you really have to be careful to avoid flat spots or to over sand.
You can order longer balsa planks lone star to avoid having to join two pieces, but if you follow the USOM manual you can go wrong.
The Balsa grade (weight) I use is the lightest one.
Gio
If it is available over there another option is Gaboon ply. It is light and quite strong. The advantage with using Gaboon is that the joins need to be sealed but then you can just paint the rest of the hull.
Peter
Anyone have a good source for purchasing small, thin wood strips online? Any material . . .preferably cedar. Needs to be 6 to 8 feet long. Big boat project.
~tb
Try one of the kayak builder sites for western red cedar suppliers. You can purchase both square edge or edged stock with cove and radius to allow edges to fit together as the strips take on the hull curve. Big problem is shipping costs and minimum orders.
I bought several years ago, but lately have purchased my own router bits and cut my own edges after sawing.
Most commercial strips are cut for canoe/kayak home builders and it will be 1/4 inch thick by “X” feet long.