Generate a shopping list of materials for your boat build.
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"My Boat Plans" is a collection of over 500 boat plans, from simple dinghies to larger cruisers. It includes step-by-step guides, video tutorials, and more.
Download NowTurning a set of plans into a shopping list without over-ordering or a mid-build run to the lumber yard is mostly careful arithmetic, and the material list generator does that arithmetic for the two most common backyard methods. From a length and a width it estimates the surface to be covered and derives plywood sheets, epoxy, fibreglass tape or cloth, and dimensional lumber.
It starts from a surface area, taken as length times width times a shape factor that stands in for the wetted and top-side surface of a hull, then applies the honest waste allowances a real builder learns the hard way, rounding sheets up and multiplying for a first-pass margin so the estimate arrives with material to spare rather than short.
Enter the boat's length and beam and choose a construction method, and the calculator returns a categorised shopping list for stitch-and-glue plywood or a fibreglass layup, a starting bill of materials you refine against your actual plans.
Surface Area = Length × Width × 1.8; Plywood Sheets = ceil(Surface ÷ 32 × 1.5); Epoxy Coating = ceil(Surface ÷ 100); Glass Weight = (Surface ÷ 9) × (oz ÷ 16) × Layers| Method | Key Materials | Watch For |
|---|---|---|
| Stitch & Glue | Plywood, fillet + coat epoxy, tape | Waste on compound curves |
| Plywood-Frame | Plywood skins, lumber frames | Frame timber length |
| Fibreglass Layup | Cloth, resin, gelcoat, core | Resin-to-glass ratio |
| Strip / Composite | Strips, epoxy, glass sheathe | Strip linear footage |
What each method orders against the surface.
Formula verified against standard naval-architecture references · Updated October 2026
The calculator estimates the exterior surface as length times width times 1.8, then converts to 4×8 sheets with a 50 percent waste allowance and rounds up. A 14 by 5 foot dinghy shows about six sheets. Treat that as the starting quantity and add for compound curves and test fits, then reconcile against your plans' own cut list.
Two separate volumes matter: coating epoxy to sheathe every surface, roughly a gallon per hundred square feet, and thickened fillet epoxy to glue the seams, sized against the sheet count. The tool gives both so you neither run dry while wetting out the hull nor mix more fillet than you can lay before it gels.
Because real cutting wastes material, especially on curves, and running short mid-build costs a second order and lost days. A factor of about 1.5 on sheets bakes that loss into the first number, so the estimate leans generous on purpose; you can trim it once your actual cut list is laid out.
Yes, the fibreglass path sizes cloth, resin and gelcoat from the surface area, applying a resin-to-glass weight ratio and a coverage figure per gallon for gelcoat. It gives the weights and gallons a first-pass layup needs, which you then check against the specific cloth weights and mould requirements of your project.
Good to within a shopping trip. It captures the dominant materials and their plausible volumes from just length and beam, but hulls differ in seam count, curve severity and hardware, so the true value is a complete starting list you refine against the plans, catching everything you will need rather than quoting a perfect price.
Hardware and consumables that vary by design, such as fasteners, fittings, paint, filler, brushes, mixing supplies and safety gear. Use the generator for the big-ticket structural and chemical materials, then walk your plans once more to add the small items that individually cost little but collectively decide whether you can actually build this weekend.