Kurt,

The public opinion of various skin materials, for skin on frame boats, goes up and down all the time. Look at some of the skin on frame specialty bulletin boards for details.

For you final decision look at what attributes you want in your skin material. Most materials mean compromising on one or more of these attributes.

Lightweight
Abrasion resistance
Low maintenance
Low cost
Flexibility
Rigidity

I mention the last two items because they might be important issues for you. One of the major attributes valued in skin on frame boats is flexibility. Proponents of traditional skin on frame boats say flexibility is what makes them superior to composite and plastic hull boats. If you want to build a boat to exploit this attribute, epoxy saturated Kevlar or fiberglass may not be the best choice.

Don

: Other than the obvious expense, is there any reason that kevlar cannot be
: used to cover a skin on frame canoe or kayak? Assuming it is ok to cover a
: skin on frame canoe or kayak with kevlar, do you wet out the kevlar like
: you wet out fiberglass?

: Thanks,
: Kurt