compound curves in plywood

"COLIN LAMB"
thlink.net:

"Ouch! 1/4 inch? All covered with resin this would be fairly heavy,
methinks. What does one canoe weigh? The fuselage would probably be
roughly double that, plus formers., hardware, ...."

A 16 foot cedar strip canoe, with seats and all the trimming is under
50 pounds. Remember the resin is not just slopped on. The strength
is from the cross grains of the fabric used. This is very light.
Just enough resin is used to cover the fabric.

A one person kayak ought to have about the same total material as the
Bowlus fuselage and it would be about 40 pounds. The inside of the
fuselage could use carbon fiber or other cloth material, which is
stronger and lighter (it is opaque, so you would not want to use that
on the outside). You could probably use Kevlar on the inside, if you
thought someone might be shooting at your Bowlus. Attachment points
would add weight, but the total weight would still be reasonable.

My cedar strip canoe gets abused regularly. I have dragged it 1/4
mile over a gravel bar. Once, when removing it from the top of my
vehicle, a gust of wind caught it and ripped it out of my helper's
hands. The canoe came crashing down on my vehicle, leaving a large
dent in the vehicle, then crashed to the asphalt. I inspected it and
found no problems. We then launched it and went 85 miles on a week
long canoe trip. I do not abuse my aircraft like I do my canoe.

Refinishing is easy. I once bet my neighbor I could refinish my 16
foot canoe in less than 10 minutes. I sanded for 3 minutes, whisked
off with an old t shirt, then put an old white sock over a rubber
glove and dipped it in spar varnish, covering the entire canoe in
about 4 minutes. I made the 10 minutes easily and, while not perfect,
it looked good from 10 feet - and ready to get abused again. And, I
got a beer from my neighbor.


Hmm, i'd have to experiment with that one a bit.
It doesn't sound right to me, but I'm prepared to be amazed! God knows it's
happened to me plenty of times before...