: I've sewn several one piece skins using both 14oz and 8oz Nylon and 9oz
: polyester from George Dyson. I've never pre stretched the skin ( nylon or
: polyester), but instead simply cover the hull, and baste a stitch loosely
: around the gunwales to hold the skin in place after the boat is turned over
: with the deck up.

: After trimming the deckridge with a overlap of at least 3 inches, I baste a
: loose stitch along the deckridge, but make sure the loose stitch stays to one
: side of the deckridge centerline so as to avoid having to cut through it with
: my propane hot-knife. This eliminates the nasty job of removing seared
: squidding line later.

: Starting at the coaming front, I cut "sear" a foot at a time and
: then sew that
: span with an "X" stitch, and proceed towards the bow, one foot at a
: time.
: After that is completed, I return to the coaming and cut / sew from the
: coaming
: to the stern, pulling the skin fairly tight if needed near the stern. I then
: overlap the bow and stern skin, mark the centerline with a pencil, cut with
: the
: hot-knife, and sew the ends shut. Whether using nylon or 9oz. polyester, this
: results in a one piece skin. Aleut sterns are more difficult, but can still
: be
: made as one piece skins.

: For shrinking nylon, I wet the skin down with a spray bottle, and set the
: kayak
: outside to dry. If it doesn't shrink evenly, I go back over any slack areas
: and re-spray. I live in Colorado at 6300 feet and the humidity is often in
: single digits. As such, shrinking the skin is easy, and there is little
: tendency for the skin to go slack. I apply several, up to 8, coats of
: hypalon.

: It takes me about 12 hours to sew an Aleut skin, less for a Greenland type
: due
: to the simpler stem/stern. Then two more days to coat it with hypalon. ( See
: Pic for 8oz nylon/hypalon skin). I sometimes cover the deckridge with a
: narrow
: glued on flap of hypalon coated nylon to hide my usually, ok always, less
: than
: perfect sewing.

: I'm sure I've forgotten something. I always do. I'm also sure that the books
: do it differently, as I'm sort of old school on this.

: Have fun,

: Tom
If old school produces the kind of results you achieve, I want to go old school too. Love your site and your boats.