: OK, I know my skin has to be at least a foot longer than the frame, but how
: wide does it have to be? I notice the different materials come in
: different widths. I dont want to buy more than I need, but I sure dont
: want to come up short either.

Gee John, it would be nice if we knew how wide your boat was

At least get a measure from one gunwale or sheer chine to the other, going over the widest part of the hull.

While it is not imperative that you cover the hull with a single piece with no seams, most people like to do that. if you are one of them, then you'll want to order fabric an inch or more wider than this hull measurement. Cotton canvas, and other woven fabrics are frequently not exactly the size they say they are. (Of course woodworkers who deal with nominal 1 inch boards that are anywhere from 3/4 inch on up should certainly understand the concept of 'nominal' sizing).

Confusion reigns. A 38 inch wide canvas may actually measure 36.5 inches wide. Some stores will measure the finished product and sell it as a 36 inch wide piece, while other stores may list their wares as 36 inches wide, when the actual piece is barely a thread over 35 inches when actually measured. And then the stuff will shrink from 2 to 6 percent should it get wet. 6 percent shrinkage on a 36 inch wide fabric will mean a change of over 2 inches! And you can't tell in advance if the stuff will shrink that much, or not.

Some thoughts on the different widths:

Lay out a "squashed" model of your boat. Take measurements at bow, stern, and 3 or 4 spots along the length, including the midpoint and/or widest point, and graph these on a large sheet of paper. connect the dots with a ruler and you'll have a general idea of how you will need to cut the cloth. Notice that the boat is roughly diamond shaped and that you'll be cutting some large triangular pieces from the corners. If you buy a very wide piece of fabric these will be waste. Some can be used to make gearbags and some can be used to make sails.

Once you have done this for the whole boat, you can do it again for just the hull, and again for just the deck. As you do this, you can see that the 4 triangular pieces cut from the corners of the hull fabric are almost big enough to be reassembled into a piece which will cover the deck. a few minutes of playing iwth these patterns will give you a good idea of how much fabric you'll need. As a ballpark guess, I'd go about a yard over the length of the boat with a 45 inch fabric, and maybe 3 yards over the length with a 38 inch wide fabric.

But -- If I was working with a 38 inch wide cotton canvas fabric for the hull, I'd consider buying a totally different fabric for the deck. The hull i would waterproof with an elastomeric rubber roof coating, but I'd make the deck from aa lighter weight polyester canvas as I can find many which are already treated to be water repellant, and which are available in bold colors. This would give me a white hull and a brightly colored deck without any need to paint the deck. That would save me about $14 for a quart of deck paint, and the time needed to apply it. In addition, the polyester canvas deck should be a bit more "breatheable".

If you have to sew the deck pieces together you will be dealing with some large pieces of fabric, but the simple straight seam should be fairly easy to manage by machine, or even by hand. It just takes a bit longer to do by hand. Sew the two pieces for the front deck together, then sew together the two pieces for the rear deck. When you attach these parts to each other you'll have a big lump in the middle where all the seams overlap. Fortunately, you don't need to sew over this lump as it will be cut away when you cut out the cockpit. So, sew up to the middle, stop a half inch from the lump, skip over it and pick up sewing again about a half inch past it.

Hope this helps.

PGJ