> I tend to agree with Brian.
> I think double glassing your boat is overkill. There's no need to
> be concerned about catastrophic failure in a normally constructed
> stitch and glue or strip kayak. I beat the hell out of my stitch and
> glues in all kinds of rough water and have never had a problem.

I heard this debate before I glassed my hull, and I decided to double-glass my hull anyway. As a matter of fact, I double glassed it with 10 OZ S-Glass!

My boat is designed to carry heavy loads (over #400) I will be doing surf landings by neccesity, often to lava rock beaches. I just cringe at the thought of getting a fist sized rock up my butt when surf landing my fully loaded work of art.

I will not be portaging my boat as you would a boat in the BWCA or Quetico. So weight was not that big a factor for me. (By the way, anyone have a recommendation for one of those carts to help get your boat from the car to the water? hehehe :-)

I tend to over-engineer things anyway, and my boat is no exception.

My point is that I knew the trade-offs, and for ME and MY intended use, I felt justified in my approach. To each is own.

If I were designing a boat for a different use, i'd probably aim for a lighter result. I think my intended use is just about as hard on a boat as you can get.

Paul