: Is it a plain or satin weave? The Raka website only says "cloth."
: The 4HS satin weave cloth I get looks and feels like Eqyptian cotton.
: Lovely to play with. Satin weaves have a denser amount of glass and are
: harder to manufacture. If the Raka is a satin weave, Larry's about 1/2 the
: price...

: Dan

Dan, It is not plain weave. Raka calls it 3.25T ("T" for tight). They don't call it 4 HS (harness satin) but I would call it satin weave. It is very soft and drapeable. The weave is woven tightly(denser) with no holes between strands that are visible with plain weave cloth. It takes a bit longer to wet out because of the tight weave but only requires one fill coat to fill the weave before sanding. I don't know exactly how Egyptian cotton handles but this cloth is very soft feeling. Larry @ Raka told me this 3.25T cloth is stronger than 4oz S glass. I think others here have used this cloth in past years, mostly using 2 layers. I opted for just one layer for my latest project. I was able to use the 60" width cut in half, because this boat is narrow. A normal width sea kayak would probably require more than 30" wide cloth (60" cut in half). A different width would probably increase the cost for the average size boat.

In conclusion: I really like this cloth and I feel (so far) that it is strong enough with just a single layer. Also, I only used about 60% of the epoxy I used on my last similar sized boat, that had 4OZ S-Glass. I can't say it is the same product you buy, but whatever it is, it's become my favorite.

Larry C.