: Thanks a ton! I was way off on the weights!

Don't beat yourself up over this. Your dad is on the money about dacron and dope -- for airplanes -- but remember that weight is more of a concern with aircraft than with kayaks, and that the water pressure on the skin of a kayak is going to be greater than air pressure on the skin of an airplane.

Oh, and hitting submerged boulders at 20,000 feet in an airplane, or doing belly landings is nowhere near as common as hitting hidden rocks, or surfing onto stony beaches with a kayak.

Sometimes a thick skin helps.

Check to see if the dope you are using can tolerate long periods of immersion in water. paint a swatch of dacron, let it dry and sink it ina bucket of water for a few weeks while you build the boat. Check it once a week. If it works, fine. If it is bothered by being wet all the time, then there are other materials for coating the skin. If it works for a week or two, but starts to disintegrate in the third week, you could probably use it, and just take your kayak out of the water between uses.

If you put on a fresh coat of dope or urethane, or whatever once a year (at the end of the season) you'll have a fresh looking boat each spring, and eventually fill the weave of the fabric.

Patching a kayak skin (should it need it) while enroute is a matter of seconds with a piece of duct tape. A permanent repair can be made by gluing a patch of fabric on and coating it with whatever waterproofing agent you used for the rest of the boat. Even if you use dope for coating the skin, you don't have to carry any for your repairs. keep the stuff at home. Duct tape is faster.

Good luck with your building.

Which design are you building?

Send some pictures

PGJ