: ive already decided on 4oz, but the book suggest two layers may be necessary,
: wich is probably why 27 yds. he does say that carefulle cutting can save a
: good bit.

: i will take your suggestion to carefully determine exactly how much is
: necessary.

Take a look at the Defender catalog (www.defender.com is their main webpage) listing for their fiberglass. It is a bit awkward to find but try this:

Go to:

http://www.defender.com/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi?cart_id=

look at the blue column on the left side of the screen and read down until you see the red word "Catalog". Click on the line directly under this which reads "Catalog in PDF"

the first line on that page asks if you want ot se the items alphabetically or by page number. It doesn't really matter which of htose you chose. Their listing of fiberglass fabrics is on page 50, so if you go to the alphabetical list, scroll down to "Fiberglass" and click on the page 50 number. If you go to the numerical list, scroll down to page 50.

Assuming you made it this far you'll come to a page which doesn't even have a headline for their 4 ounce fabric! Look at the bottom of their listing for 2 ounce fabric, though, and you'll see that they offer 4 ounce material in 60 inch width for 50% more than the 2 ounce fabric. Since a yard of 2 ounce fabric in a 60 inch width is $2.40, the 60-inch-wide 4-ounce material should be $3.60 a yard. by comparison, Raka's 3.75 ounce material (nominally 4 ounce) in a 60 inch width is listed at www.raka.com for $5.50 a yard.

With 60 inch wide cloth you should be able to get away with about 15 yards, which would be about $60, plus tax and shipping of course.

Hopefully this will save you some money.

as for measuring the cloth:

After cutting the forms take a tape mease and measure the circumference around each form from the sheer line (thats where the deck attaches to the hull) on the left side around to the sheer line on the right side. Do this for the hull, and again for the deck. (The total of these amounts should be the circumference of the form.) Make a chart, listing each form and each circumference.

divide these numbers in half and add 3. then plot the results. For example, if the hull figures to be 35 inches around at form 7, and the deck is 20 inches at that point then the total circumference of that form would be 55 inches. When graphing the hull you would plot out 20.5 (17.5 inches plus 3 inches) and when plotting the deck you'ld make your mark at 13 (which is 10 inches plus 3).

Copy the same data below and above the x-axis on your graph and you'll get a graphical representation of how big of a piece of glass cloth you'll need to cover the hull, this also allows a 3 inch excess of cloth around the edges. If you do this in life size on newsprint ( a lsot of tape and newspaper pages) you can drape the paper mock up over your hull or deck before you use it to line up how you will cut your glass fabric.

Don't be in a hurry to order your glass cloth. You can do this mock up at any time while you are stripping the boat, and lay it over the half finished work. Then use it to see how much glass to order. Shipping is pretty fast from most suppliers. If you order as soon as you insert the last strip you should get your glass cloth long before the sanding is done.

Hope this helps

PGJ