: Roger and Paul, thanks for the information. Some friends of mine are
: interested in building a canoe for fishing in the marsh in Louisiana. We
: don't have any rocks to deal with but there are numerous oyster beds in
: shallow water as well as metal debris littering the waters. My friends
: want the lightest possible canoe that can withstand the above
: abrasions/punctures. They are intrigued with the aerolite canoes that
: weigh less than 20lbs. The dacron used for the aerolite canoes seem to be
: a poor choice for the conditions. I've made a strip built canoe, but have
: no experience with skin on frame. If I am not mistaken, Raka sells a 5oz
: kevlar cloth. That is what I have in mind. My guess is that the canoe can
: be covered with one layer of kevlar and a layer or two of epoxy. If I am
: wrong, please advise.

Actually, Kevlar may not be the best material, as it tends to fuzz up when it gets abraded.

Dynel is supposedly the most abrasion resistant fabric out there and it's polyester (as is Dacron). I recently paddled a couple of Willow kayaks that were covered with 13 ounce polyester coated with a two part polyurethane. The builder throws them around and drops them on all sorts of surfaces with no problems. The beach we were using was composed mainly of mussell shells and rocks, and the boats seemed impervious to it.

I saw a statement recently (possibly on the Baidarka email list) that 24 ounce polyester can withstand being struck with the claw side of a hammer, the only damage being to your face as the hammer rebounds and whacks you. That sounds pretty durable to me.