Cardboard Hull skin

[RC Mechanic]

As some of you know Im building a scratch built electric boat. I have got most of the skeleton done. I still need to make the forward 2 bulkheads. But I have been thinking about the skin and what to use. Would simple packing cardboard work? I mean, after you cover it with epoxy it would be fairly strong wouldn't it? ANd waterproof. Just looking for some input.

Also as far as putting epoxy on the hull. DO I just buy a few tubes of epozy at home depot and brush it on with a disposable paintbrush? Or is there some sort of spray I should be using?

[SJFE]

Cardboard will not hold up to water no matter what. You have to use birch plywood. Hobby epoxy from your LHS needs to be thinned with denatured alchol and brushed on. :)

[ReddyWatts]

You could use thin cardboard to make a fitting pattern for the wood cutouts. You can send the patterns or kit plans to "lazer-works" and he can cut them out for a reaonable price. He charged $20 to cutout the skeleton for a 36 inch cat hull, including the wood.

http://www.lazer-works.com/main.html

[RC Mechanic]

$20 for the whole skeleton and the skin? That sounds like a deal.

My LHS had some birch plywood but it wasn't cheap at all. THey had some really thin stuff but I would have needed 3 sheets of it to finish the boat and it was $22 a sheet. THe 1/8 was like $16 a sheet and the sheets weren't very big at all. Thats why I am trying to think of a different material to use. I'm not building a race boat or anything. I would like as much speed as I can though. I might go with lazerworks next time. But idk if this boat will even turn out right, so im just going to use scrap for this build.

ANy other suggestions on the material? My dad said something about using this vener (don't know how to spell it) that comes in rolls that you use to cover furniture with.

[ReddyWatts]

It was $20 for the wood and laser cutting the skeleton on a 36 inch hull kit. He has reasonable pricing.

[RC Mechanic]

Kool. Thanx for the info reddywatts. Ive bookmarked the page. probably go there for my next project. I'm too far into this one.

My dad happened to find some wood at home depot that was scrap that they gave him for free. THe stuff looks like it will work perfect. Its fairly flexible, and about 1/8 thick. It should work fine.

[mike a.]

you could try using like 3/32 balsa to cover it. The only way cardboard could work is if you covered it with fiberglass. That way your not relying on the cardboard for the strength.