Pirogue and material question....

[sbarq1]

If you were going to build a pirogue and use wood as the base with fiberglass overlay, what base material/plywood would you use? Also, does anyone have an idea of what a piece of 1/4" treated plywood weighs? How many layers of fiberglass material would you use to glass it in and would you alternate woven roven over chop or vice versa? Thanks for the help....
St.John

[clintallen]

1/4 inch hard board u can get at home depot. Very strong light & flexiable. 2 layers of cloth on the bottom & joints. good luck

[redneck22ms]

1/4" plywood is plenty. and it doesn't need to be treated since you will be fiberglassing it. i built my first one about 10 years ago out of 1/4" plywood and i fiberlassed the corners of the bottom and the seems with cheap fiberglass cloth from lowes. then coated the whole bottom with resin. and it held up fine for 5-6 years then the bottom started getting soft due to not being fully fiberglassed and the resin cracked. i am now building a new one. this one i used luan plywood which is a little thinner than the 1/4" i used before. but it should hold up fine since i added more floor ribs and will be glassing the entire outside with 7.5 oz cloth and 4 oz on the inside. here is where i'm at with it right now. my glassing supplies should be here wed. so i will start working on that this weekend.

[brake man]

Can't offer much help, but I offer a rule of thumb for plywood weight. Plywood sheets typically weighs 25 lb. per 1/4" thickness.

[Greno]

1/4 A/C Fir. It is about $20 a sheet here in Mobile and lasts several years longer than epoxied Luan.

[bpinson1]

I built 2 a few years ago. The first one was 1/4 inch, 2'X12', (not too stable, not at all). The next one had a 3/8" keel and 1/4" sides and was 30"x14', (very stable). I would recommend 30"x14'. 1/4"' may seem flimsy, but in the water it's fine. You do not need treated since it is coated with resin and fiberglass tape. I just used what ever they had at Lowes or Home Depot. If you want to make to last a lifetime, use Coosa wood. It is a synthetic compsite which is much lighter. The drawback is the cost, (about $100/sheet), but it is supposed to be the best. Good luck.