I agree, it should be possible, though waterproofing would be critical.  Melf has mentioned furniture and soaking in boiled linseed oil and baking it.  He might know about its waterproofing qualities.
Meanwhile there is a bit under the subject 'Kayaks in the sky' that might be worth a look.

David

Hi,

Not sure about a papier mache canoe, but I'm building a radio controlled narrowboat (about 5 foot long) and apart from radio, batteries, propshaft, motor and rudder, it's made entirely out of papier mache.

Tried it in water (it just fits in the bath) and gave it a good soak test. Absolutely 100% waterproof with no leaks.

The hull is constructed from corrugated cardboard, soaked and shaped to make curves. On top of the cardboard, both inside and out, is a layer of papier mache made with newspaper and PVA glue (75% PVA 25% water). Once hardened, it has a layer of PVA painted on it, followed by car body primer (primer filler, which is like primer paint, but a little thicker). On top of that, is a good coat of car paint. Imperfections are then filled in with either something called "hard stopper" or car bumper filler (which is a little more flexible than car body filler). Amounts of filler are very small.

The waterproofing so far, is only a rough attempt, to get me through the dunk test, but as I say, it held up well.

The boat is taking shape nicely, and now has a preliminary superstructure (a shaped cardboard cabin, but no papier mache on it so far). The hull is about 75% complete. Next step is to power up the motors, and see how it hangs together.

I've made a number of radio controlled models in the past, of various kinds, and was stuck for an idea of what to make next. My father, jokingly, said make a paper boat, so I set myself the challenge to make a 100% paper R/C boat.

If you want to have a look at any other models, then feel free to visit www.shilbo.com.

Any questions on the narrowboat, or indeed on anything else, then there's a contact page on the website. Feel free to drop me aline.

Chris

We can now follow Chris's progress with his papier mache narrowboat on this site. This can be found at: http://www.papiermache.co.uk/exec/cms-d … iew/id-45/

Good luck Chris and we are all looking forward to seeing the finished boat.

Heavy-duty varnish?

The boat is magnificent and it just goes to show what you can do with papier mache.

It was lovely to see "Papillion" launched - it was worth the (long) wait!

I have just about finished a paper mache canoe I have bought epoxy to coat the outside. I did test it before just to make sure the design was what I wanted. I varnished it with marine varnish and it held up okay and didn't leak. the marine varnish would probobly work but I want something more so I am going to use the epoxy when I am finished. however every one I know that doesn't know anything about building boats tells me that I am crazy and it wont work no matter how I do it. the people that have built boats or at least know something about it say it sounds good and it should work.