I have been looking at some pages and posts on various skin on frame kayaks with some thought of building my next boat this way. I have come up with some questions.

Using canvas for the skin and Elast-o-Seal and Snow Roof for the coating:

should the surface which will be the inside of the skin be coated with the Elast-o-Seal before stretching the fabric on the frame?

I have used Snow Roof in another application, without Elast-o-Seal, and was not impressed by its gripping ability. Does anyone have experience with it in this application?

For boats of the same design, will stich & glue or skin on frame produce the lightest boat? (I built two rigid Folbots, a 17' single and the 14' Glider, back when Folbot marketed kits. The boats were anything but light - about the weight of comparable plastic boats.)

I have seen references to using cedar for the stringers. Cedar is light, but not very strong, i.e., a 3/4"x1" stringer of cedar can be easily broken by hand. Unless I am missing something, I should think a stronger wood would be advisable if the boat is to be banged around a bit (as all my boats are).

For what it is worth, Daniel Smith, an art supply house with free catalog, carries a wide variety of canvas duck and also linen in various weights. They only have one synthetic fabric. Defender Industries carries some vinyl coated nylon cloth. Would the vinyl coating be a sufficient waterproofing?

Thanks for your help.

Chris Luneski

chrisl@oregon.uoregon.edu