It has been a very long time, approx. 19 years (wow! that long) since I paddled my first Kayak, which was a FG double that was a Folbot style. It was a rental when my family, cousin and I were camping in Maine. I fell in love with kayaking after that experience and wanted to buy/build one until my dad and I did (built two actually), back in '86. We built the original Mechanix Illustrated Canvasback that we modified to 14' long and I do not remember the beam. We built the frame and covered it with PE resin and FG. We put down one layer of cloth, I don't know what weight (I would hazard a guess as to be 4oz.), a layer of matting and a second layer of cloth. On the first boat the first layer of cloth sagged very badly, so on the second, we put a layer of taught canvas and then FG'd the same way. Both boats were (are) extremely heavy and could not be handled by one person. We only used them maybe three times (four for mine since we tested how well it floated prior to skinning the second). My dad still has the boats and as far as I know the FG covering is still OK except for some resin I applied later while repairing rust damage on my first car (I had left over resin and mistakenly thought it would bind with the original layers, and I didn't want to waste it). Also, all our FG work was done outside.

How does this help you? One: If you have a foam mold, you won't make the same mistake my dad and I did and that is make a boat that is too heavy to lift probably due to the wood frame (and I don't doubt the FG matting hurt here too). Two: I am going strictly from memory, but I seem to recall the FG kayak that I first paddled was somewhere between 1/8" and 1/4" thick. I seem to remember the coaming and decking being approx. 1/8" thick, but I am not sure about the hull. Three: I recommend that you check out the only Kit Car magazine still in business. They had a series a long while back (back in the early '90's) about building car bodies using a foam mold and laying up FG cloth. I do not remember what resin they used. One point, car bodies probably do not need the kind of re-inforcement that a kayak would need since car bodies can be stiffened and strengthened via the frame. Four: I did not relize this until I read it in Featherweight Boatbuilding, but PE resin does not stick real well to wood, but from my experience with using it, it sticks real well to itself, as long as you sand it first (it relies on a mechanical rather than a chemical bond). My problems with PE resin stems from getting very small bubbles (pinhole sized) in the finished resin. By that I do not mean where there was an air bubble between layers of cloth, I mean I get small bubbles even when I was applying a "finish" coat of resin. Since I was very anal about this on my car, I ended up using bondo body filler to fill in the small bubble holes and applying sandable primer and finally topcoats of paint. Five: To give you encouragement. Unlike Charlie, I believe you can do it and be perfectly satisfied with the results, with the exception of weight since I am not sure if you will still be able to build it very lightly even w/o a wood frame or matting.

I don't know how it would work, but, being a kit car enthusiast since I first started driving, I ordered plans for building a car from Mechanix Illustrated and they made their car body from sandwiching foam between layers of FG cloth on each side of the foam. Again, it may not work for a kayak since a car body and kayak are two different animals, but it may work with some tinkering.

Now kevlar or carbon fiber and PE resin, I would be leary of since I don't know if they're compatible and I do not have experience with using them together.

Good Luck and be safe!

Paul

: You are not the first to come here with this whizz-bank idea. Within the last
: two months a gentleman with the same questions posted here. He
: said,"I got a foam mold,a mile of Kevlar at a cheap price and a
: bucket of polyester resin. How do I make kayak"? He could not be
: dissuaded. We have not heard from him in along time.
: Here are some obvius questions to ponder before you travel down this perilous
: road.
: Who built the mold? Was it built to a proven design?
: How old is the design? Have you paddled a boat that came off this mold?
: Have you worked with polyester resin before? Are you aware that in spite of
: it's cheap price it is not popular among us amateur boatbuilders because
: the vapors make it dangerous to use inside a dwelling? Have you ever had a
: case of "fiberglass itch"? I have. Sorry I got off topic.
: In regard to your question; 4 8oz. layers on bottom and 3 on top. Forget the
: mat. It'll make your boat so heavy you'll get a hernia trying to drag it
: up on the beach.
: Has the guy molding the all-Kevlar kayak sent a progress report yet?
: Charlie