: Hey, Larry-

: Interesting info. Great to hear that the 4oz s wet out as clear as the 4oz e.
: You mentioned that you could have lost another 6 # without compromizing
: strength. Where/how? Also, did the 4 oz s drink the same amount of epoxy
: as the e? Who was your supplier?

: On the two boats I just finished, I used 1.8 oz kevlar on the inside of the
: hull, e glass everywhere else. With 5/32" hardwood core, the weights
: are about 32-33#, mininally outfitted, compared to 38-40# for my first
: boats with traditional layup.

: Based on your info, I think I'll consider 4 oz s on outside next boat. Anyone
: else have experience with 4oz s? Mike

Mike,
As far as saving another 6#. After seeing how stiff and strong the hull is, I would leave off the extra football layer of glass on hull and reduce the size of the inside cockpit second layer. I now have a 4' long sheer to sheer extra layer inside. This effectively gives me 4 layers of glass in the center section of the boat. I would leave out the bulkhead/hatches and use float bags. I would leave out hip plates that I epoxied in and carve hip plates into the seat foam. This lighter layup would be for a flat water race boat on protected waters. Open ocean paddling would require a stronger layup.

The 4oz. S glass handles the same and seems to take the same amount of epoxy as e-glass, although the style I used was only avaliable with twisted yarn in 4 oz. Twisted yarn is said to use a little more resin but I didn't see it. I bought my s-glass from J R Sweet.

I looks like you are already building light boats, especially using hardwood cores.

After seeing a 21# wooden racing canoe, I think a 25-30# race/train kayak is quite doable. The S-glass is is just one of the ways of achieving the goal. Some of the young guys don't mind hauling around 45-65# boats but I'm not getting any younger. I already have a fleet of the heavy stuff.

I suggest you get a small amount of 4 oz. s- glass from J R Sweet (only) and see if it meets your needs before committing to a whole project on my say so.

Larry C.