: Hello Everyone,

: My wife is pregnant with our first, and, instead of feeling a little left out
: of the whole process, I've begun building a baby cradle boat for our new
: arrival. It is a 42" strip-planked Bahama-style dinghy. The planks
: are 1/4" thick, 3/8" wide clear white cedar, with an occasional
: accent strip of Honduran mahogany. The transom, gunwhales, keel,
: inner/outer stempiece, breasthook, knees and floorboards are mahogany. The
: inside is to be finished bright (Epifanes or Z-Spar over West System
: epoxy). The outside will be Interlux (Endeavor Blue). My question
: (finally): the hull is obviously quite thin. In addition to the many coats
: of epoxy (thickened) on the outside, I wish to add a single layer of
: 'glass. My loacal shipyard (Martha's Vineyard Shipyard) only has 8 oz. and
: heavier. I'd like to find 2 oz., but would settle for 4 oz. The Shipyard
: offered me a huge bag of Dynel scraps for free (easily enough to do
: several baby boats). I have never used Dynel, but my understandings are as
: follows: Dynel is lighter than fiberglass (especially 8oz.), wets out as
: easily, doesn't dissappear when the weave is filled (which isn't a problem
: as the hull isn't to be finished bright, and drapes much more manageably
: than fiberglass. Does anyone have any reasons why hunting down and paying
: for lightweight fiberglass would be preferable in this situation? (My
: intention would still be to fill the weave, build up the surface and fair
: it)...Not exactly a kayak question, but sentient nonetheless, I hope.
: Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

: Cheers,
: Forrest

I use dynel on parts of the bow and stern stempieces for abrasion resistance. The stuff is almost bulletproof when epoxy is added. I only use a couple pieces that are about 1" wide and probably 3-4' long max the reason being dynel soaks up a LOT of resin and swells up and becomes somewhat fuzzy when it does... it will add a lot of weight if used for a complete hull (probably not a concern for a baby cradle), I found it difficult sand easily and it is really ugly (very cloudy, can't see the wood at all thru it) but for the application i use it for that isn't a problem.

For your use I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work since neither strength, looks or weight are a factor. Try it on a test piece and see how it behaves.