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: Recently built a Skene/Putz 18.5 ft skin kayak using 3.7 oz Dacron (reject
: aircraft fabric at $3.50 US/yd from Aircraft Spruce and Supply) over
: cypress strips. Needed 7 yd length-wise but lots left over (in width).
: Shrinks nicely with heat gun or iron. Used rather expensive Cecobond and
: Cecofill ($60 worth, same vendor) but they are easy to use and work well.
: Boat is very light and seems rugged enough, but time will tell. I beach it
: regularly but watch for rocks. Ran the entire keel with 7/8" X
: 3/16" cypress strip and #8 SS Robertson screws, and also have
: 7/8"X 0.025" stainless steel rub strip fastened with SS screws
: on part of the keel near stern ("draggin zone"). A great boat
: for peanuts and 150 hours of my time. Incidentally, having a friend with a
: sawmill helps a lot.
: C. Haynes

it's interesting that the thinner polyesters used in aircraft(the 3.7oz and less) can shrink so much and that the slightly thicker stuff like the 10oz range used on some yaks here is so non strethable.

Do you know if heavier but shrinkable aircraft polyesters are available or do you have an idea why the thinner stuff is so heat shrinkable and the thicker stuff isn't. Would it make any sense to double skin parts of the yak w/ thinner skin and yet maintain the shrinkability.
-mick