: So? Most of our paddling is on and off rocky, bouldery shores. Our rocks
: have barnacles. We've always got rocks AND surf. How many surf landing on to
: rocks will you be doing?

: That's life... Easier to sort out if there isn't any glass.
: Why add the glass? I've been paddling a 3 mm ply kayak for the last few
: years with glass on the seams only - loaded ocean paddling.
: Alex

Alex makes some good points. I recall that the two British S&G kits I built in
the mid seventies were glassed only along the seams. I kept one of them for
nearly 20 years before giving it away. The plywood composite structure proved
quite durable.

The advantages of using such little glass were light weight, ease of
construction, repair, and maintenance. Every couple of years I'd lightly sand
the entire boat and slap on a coat or two of varnish. I always found that
maintenance of my fiberglass / woodstrip boats was more difficult than the
S&G's.

I was told that the plywood of today is not as good as the plywood of 30
years ago, hence the glassing of the entire surface, and the use of 4mm vs
3mm, but I can't verify this.

I accept that fiberglassing is an essential element of woodstrip construction
given the nature of the wood sub-structure, but I'd be most interested to hear
the "facts" from long time builders why most S&G's are now fiberglassed over
the composite plywood structure.

Tom