Wood Strip calculator

To do the calculation manually, the first thing you need to figure out is the total surface area of the boat to be covered by the strips. Notice how the strips engage into each other by the radius of the bead. This means that the effective area covered by the strip is not the 'original width' but the 'exposed width'. So, let's say that the exact surface area of the kayak is 55 ft^2 (Cape Ann Storm). When you divide it by the exposed width of the strips (1/2in=0.0416ft) you will get the minimum footage of strips. In this case - 55 ft^2 : 0.0416ft = 1322 ft of 5/8" strips. This formula is valid for any width of bead&cove strips. Don't forget to subtract the radius of the bead for the calculation. Now, the 1322ft is the exact footage but all the strips will not fit perfectly on the hull and you will end up with short unusable scrap. In order to make up for this, add 5% 'fudge factor' to the exact footage (1322ft x 0.05 =~ 66ft). The total amount you need is 1322 + 66 = 1388ft of 5/8" strips. How many planks of wood will you need? First you need to figure out how many strips you can get from a plank. So, we know that we need to rip 1/4" strips from the board and that the thickness (kerf) of the saw blade is for example 1/8" (usually it is less on 7 1/4" dia. blade). This gives us total 1/4" + 1/8" = 3/8" (0.375in) thickness removed from the plank per every pass on the saw. Let's say the plank width is 8" (use whatever width planks you have), so 8"/0.375" ~= 21 strips per 8" wide plank. Now our example plank is 16 feet long which gives us yield of 21 x 16' = 336 feet of strips per plank. So in total, we need 1388ft / 336ft = 4.1 planks (5/8" x 8" x 16ft). You can do this calculation for any width or length of planks. The biggest yield variables will be the saw blade kerf and how many good strips you can get out of the plank (proper saw fence setting and pushing the plank perfectly parallel to the fence). If you don't want to do the math by hand, use the strip calculator below. The script uses the same principle as described above.