: I’m thinking of using plain weave S glass on my wife’s Guillemot. Looking to
: make a tougher boat one that will resist the everyday dings better. What
: thoughts are out there on lay ups?
: On the Deck I will use 4oz for sure.
: On the Hull I could go with 6oz with more 6oz on the bottom and on the stems.
: (standard lay up)
: Or 6oz with 4oz
: Or 4oz with 4oz

: Later,

: Lennie

Hi Lennie
I'm just finishing my RBA that I intend to use for fast touring and racing.
I went with 4 oz. S glass for all surfaces except the outside deck. I had heard that s glass does not wet out clear so I wanted a clear deck and decided to use e glass (4 oz.) on the deck.

In the process of turning the boat over dozens of times I banged the boat against various things. The only place I had anything other than a scratch was the e glass covered deck. I wish I had used s glass everywhere. The s glass is every bit as clear as the e glass, at least 4 oz. is. It wets out exactly like e glass and appears to be much stiffer and stronger (deck compared to hull)

I used a single layer of 4 oz s glass on the hull outside, over 3/16" strips, with a football shaped additional layer added. The inside got a single layer, with a sheer to sheer cockpit area (about 4') extra layer, all s glass. The deck is 4 oz s glass inside with extra layers behind the cockpit over foam core as well as a 6 oz. tape strip on the inside deck forward peak. The deck outside is 4 oz e glass. The coaming (vaclav type) is carbon/kevlar hybred cloth. Bulkheads are 4 mil marine ply with hatches in the bulkheads all covered with carbon /kevlar and s-glass.

I consider this lay-up overkill and could have easily reduced the boat weight by 6 # or more without much loss in strength. The finished boat, fully race ready weighs 36#. Thats not bad but I saw a Wood strip C-1 canoe at a race last week that weighed 21#!!!! He used 2oz. glass and 5/32" strips, awesome!!

I feel using s glass is worth the extra cost and will use it for all boats I build from now on, especially after finding the s glass wets out just as clear as e glass.

Larry C.