> Another idea I've been throwing around is doing the s&g hull by covering
> the outside of the boat in a pigmented fiberglass without fillling in the
> weave. The outside would have the texture of the glass cloth. The main
> reason for doing this would be to save weight and to ELIMINATE SANDING. I
> woud fill in the weave on the bottom of the hull for abrasion resistance
> and to help hydrdynamics some. My goal is to make a kayak light, quick,
> and cheap.

One weight saving tip that I picked up from another bulletin board is to use a lighter weight (3.75 oz.) satin weave fiberglass instead of 6 oz. regular weave. I haven't yet tried it so the following is second hand: The satin weave cloth is almost like a silk cloth — drapes and forms well; less tendency to "frizz" at cut edges. It uses less resin to wet out but when wetting out, more care must be taken to avoid trapping air bubbles. Supposedly you can fill the weave of the satin cloth with only one coat (i.e., less epoxy = less weight). I can't speak for the durability factor of using only one lighter fiberglass layer...my recollection is that some folks use two lighter weight plys on the outside and one or two plys on the inside.

I'm sure you can find the cloth from several suppliers, but I've ordered mine through Raka Epoxies(phone 561.279.8929). They also sell a variety of low(er) cost resins, hardners and specialty fiberglass tapes (including kevlar).