Nick wrote:

> I can not think of any situations on a kayak where the additional strength
> of the 18 oz cloth would be worth the additional weight. Like you said,
> the glass weights alot, it will absorb a lot of resin and it would be
> ugly.

At the site of Nigel Dennis Kayaks, I did find the following specification for his ROMANY kayak layup:

Deck - 2.5 oz C.S mat plus foredeck rescue patch of extra 1.5 oz mat.

Hull - 2.5 oz C.S mat plus 8 oz cloth. 2 inch keel strip. Double thickness reinforced bow and stern.

Inside seam - 2 inch diolen plus 3 inch glass cloth.

Outside seam - 1 inch glass cloth.

SO: It seems like the hull is 2.5 oz mat + 8 oz cloth, a total of 10.5 oz.

Now, this is not a wokk core boat, so I wonder if this is all there is of fiber/core material in the hull. If 10.5 is enough, then 18 oz should of course be overkill. But so should 6 oz inside and 6 oz outside on a kayak built with 4mm marine plywood. The cloth alone would be 12 oz, which is more than the total on the Nigel Dennis boat.

Is there something wrong with my thinking here?

If the 18 oz cloths should be used for something, it seems like it would have to be the main cloth on an spoxy/glass only boat built using a female or male mould.

Well, I am now going to learn more about composites. I guess it will be a nice journey.

Jan Gunnar