Paulownia Strips

Product Description

Similar to our cedar strips, these paulownia strips are milled with a ‘bead and cove’ joint so that one slides into the next for a perfect fit. This makes the process of building a strip-planked boat much less fiddly and more enjoyable.

Paulownia weighs even less than western redcedar (average density 280 kg/m³ vs 340 kg/m³) and is pale grey, which contrasts with red cedar. You can stain it if you prefer a more vibrant colour. The Paulownia we supply is grown in Europe, not shipped from the far East.

The beads and coves are precision-cut for easy construction of smooth hulls. We use our custom-made machinery to produce these wooden strips with tight tolerances at a reasonable price.

The strips measure 6 mm by 19 mm and vary in length from about 2-3 m (about 6-10 feet). If you tell us your requirements, we will try to supply the wood in lengths of about the right size for your convenience.

The wood can be simply butted or scarfed to length as required by the design. About 150 metres length is needed to deck an average kayak and about 300 metres to build a strip-planked kayak or canoe.

To glue the strips a waterproof glue should be used, preferably a polyurethane one.

To work out what length of strips you need, see the simple formula in the description of our cedar strips. The dimensions of these paulownia strips are the same as the cedar ones.