About a year ago I did a video about the building of my cardboard boat. I built the boat in 2008 after reading on the Internet about cardboard boat races. However, instead of making a boat designed to stay afloat for a few hundred yards, I built one that was designed to last much longer. The final product was a mixture of instructions I found on the Internet and some ideas of my own.

The video has the majority of the information you will need to get the job done. I’m doing this post now to answer some of the frequently asked questions about the construction process:

Q: How do you make the first layer of newspaper stick to the cardboard?

A: First, I brushed a coat of varnish on the cardboard. Then I place pieces of newspaper on the hull, making sure there are no bubbles or wrinkles. Once that is dry, I apply a coat of varnish on top of the newspaper and repeat the process. Once I have as many layers of newspaper as I desire, then I finish it off with two or three more coats of varnish.

Q: What kind of varnish did you use?

A: I used Helmsman Spar Urethane because I had some of that on hand. If I had it to do over, I’d probably use this product from Rust-Oleum. Similar brands of varnish should work as well.

Q: Where do I find water activated paper tape?

A: Here is a link to some on Amazon. If this item is no longer available, do a search on Amazon for “water activated tape”, and you should find plenty of options.

Q: How do you make the paddle?

A: I didn’t! This part wasn’t cardboard. I bought a kayak paddle like this one.

This post may be updated in the future as more questions are posted in the video comments.