Stitch and glue

[2] The stitch and glue method was developed by woodwork teacher Ken Littledyke for the manufacture of canoes, later sold as the 'Kayel' in plan and kit form, using plywood panels joined by fiberglass tape and resin.

As such, unlike other construction techniques of the day, which required specialist skills and tools, stitch and glue was supposed to put boat-building within the reach of the average member of the public.

The technique consists of stitching together plywood panels with some sort of wire or other suitable device, such as cable ties or duct tape and staples.

The combination of fiberglass tape and epoxy glue results in a composite material providing an extremely strong joint, something close to 8-10 times the strength of fastenings and timber framing that might have been used in more conventional plywood construction.

True stitch and glue designs generally have few bulkheads, relying instead on the geometry of the panels to provide shape, and forming a monocoque or semi-monocoque structure.

But larger stitch and glue boats may have many athwart ship (sideways) or longitudinal (lengthwise) bulkheads in effect egg crating the interior with these members also fused into the final structure with the same type of glass tape and epoxy joints as the major hull seams.

[4][failed verification] The "Instant Boats" developed by Phil Bolger use simplified framing and stitch-and-glue style plywood sheet joining and bulkhead gluing.

OSBs tend to be very small, since the displacement is limited to a theoretical maximum of about 1500 lb (680 kg), based on the largest hemispherical shape that could be formed with the same surface area as the sheet of plywood.