: Chris and I visit the same sights and I am surpised that he has danced around
: the shortcomings of foam core.
: If we disreguard the baloney about carbon, Kevlar, autoclaves and all that
: unobtainium the distinct opinions of someone in the know is that foam core
: has no weight advantage in small or even meduim sized boats. Foam needs
: multiple fabric laminates to achieve the stiffness you get from plywood.
: More fabric, more epoxy, more weight.
: On a boat like a kayak, where the skin is all the structure you have, the
: skin has to have adequate stiffness and strength in tension and
: compression. Otherwise the boat is going to going to flex. If you have
: found a way around that possibility then there is no problem.

You and I must be on similiar forums too then, I see Chris's name on several that I'm on too

Foam though isn't a singular product. There are fairly stiff foam's out there that can perform very similiar to cedar. Not all that familiar with corecell to say if it will or not.

I would say that if you're going to use the foam core to start with that vacuum bagging the deck would make alot of sense, no point in adding a bunch of extra resin after saving a few ounces of core. Vacuum bagging doesn't have to be all that complex, though experiments will be required.

Bill H.