: The 9 oz I got from Dyson is pretty loose weave. He indicated he was not
: moving it very fast because the weave made for trouble when sewing. When
: it is stretched, you can see through the holes in it. It would take at
: least a couple of coats of epoxy to seal it to my satisfaction. On the
: other hand, Mike Hanks' 9 oz from the awning shop is much tighter in
: weave. Looks like a #10 or 12 cotton duck in appearence. I could see it
: being sealed in one coat. He was also able to cut it with scissors without
: fraying, while mine had to be cut with a hot blade.

: Bill

Good post Bill. On my last kayak I used the 9 oz polyester, it came out pretty well though like you say the weave a bit loose which makes it tougher to tighten than 8 oz nylon. The 9 oz poly does heat shrink a bit - not as much as nylon. On the plus side it won't wrinkle like 8 oz nylon in damp weather though that is strictly cosmetic. The heavier weight fabrics, 12 - 13 oz synthetics do not have the thread holes enlarged [caused by tightening the skin] as much as the lighter weight fabrics. It really isn't a big problem as a tube of Aqua- Seal or some such will seal the holes before you coat the skin.

Jay Babina's epoxy coating method sounds great. Jay mentioned that they used a 10 oz polyester fabric from George. Is it different than the 9 oz Polyester that George sells for $2.00/ft ?