Canoe Prototype and Test Hull Question

[dixie_boater]

I recently saw a group of hulls that were made by Dagger for test purposes. The hulls were made with thin wood strips and glass, but without gunwales. There were glassed-in anchors for thigh straps installed with knee pads. I was told these hulls were considered to be plugs. My question is what stage in the design process are these made?

Michael

[Roy]

It is my impression that some designers gravitate toward wood-strip prototypes while others don't. Take the Hearn/Lugbill/et al. C-1s (Max II to F2). I have never read anything which suggested they used the wood-strip method.

I remember seeing a picture of a wood-strip prototype of the first Dagger K-1 being paddled in whitewater.

For those building wood-strip prototypes, when they have the boat just right, I expect they add internal support to stiffen it up, fair the hull, and mold it.

Roy

[Sir Adam]

having used both methods... I can honestly say I'm not sure which one is less work! I will admit that making a "boatable plug" is a great way to go as you can modify it, test it, modify it again, etc... to a certain extent before moving on to making a mold. Still lots of sanding and fairing though.

In my (limited) experience boatable plugs tend to be rough, heavy, and overbuilt in some places and under built in others (lack of gunnels, for instance).

[ezwater]

As "The Old Boat Inspector" I recall Steve Scarborough showing up on the Nantahala with a stripper prototype that he raced both solo and tandem. From that boat came the Sunburst. I liked the stripper better because it was a little bigger and sat lighter on the water.

I would NOT want to do a stripper prototype of a slalom c-1 or of modern ww hulls. Somewhere on the Liquid Logic site there may still be video of how they do a foam plug for limited production boats like the early Stinger. But you can't trial-paddle a foam plug, while a stripper canoe can be tried on the water, and then discarded if wrong.

[Bob P]

Years ago I was offered a prototype Hearn/Lugbill (post-"Bat") design. I don't remember the exact layup, but it weighed more than 30 lbs. Probably used to make the production mold.

Since I've been developing my own slalom C1, I've modified the same plug (over and over...), so now the plug weighs about 50+ lbs. It would be better if I could test it out, but the plug weight would make any experience pretty useless. Instead, I've been taking quickie molds and building "temporary" boats to test. After 3 "prototypes", I'm finally done with the final plug. Permanent mold starts next week.

I'm too tired to do this another time.

I hereby declare "The Perfect Boat" (no matter what). Now comes the effort to lay up an 18 lb (or less) final-weight boat.