: Folks: I did an experiment last week with my hatch lips using 3 layers of 6oz
: fiberglass and some epoxy pigment (Woodcraft has the System 3 stuff - it
: works great). I thought the lips were just a shade too flimsy, so last
: night I refined my technique and put a layer of carbon cloth (6oz)
: sandwiched between layers of 6oz fiberglass hoping the CF would stiffen
: the layup.

: Now I'm sitting here trying to get some work done, but it occurred to me that
: the layup might still not be stiff enough.

: Does anyone have a suggestion as to how many layers of glass/cf it takes to
: make a solid lip? Also, if these turn out to be flimsy, can I just add
: more glass to them, or do I have to start over?

: If I do the same thing on my coaming, how many layers should I use for that?

: Trying to finish up before the REndezvous - but it's looking doubtful!

: Thanks,

: R

Hey Rob,

On my wife's Guilly, I put 6 layers of 6oz e glass and it cured out solid. On the "L" that I'm working on now, I used 8 layers of 4oz e glass and it seems to be fine.

As a side note: I placed my rear hatch almost half way between the rear of the cockpit and the tip of the stern. This was done for three reasons: 1) you don't have to get on the hatch as you enter the cockpit, unless of course, you are doing some of the re-entries in deep water:(in which case its still strong enough) 2) it allows you to load the hatch area in both directions, which makes it easier to reach your gear: 3) it makes it sooo much easier to do the inside seam.

The only downside to moving it farther to the rear, that I see, is that the hatch lid gets smaller as you move rearward.

If you've now got five 6oz layers of glass and 1 layer of cf, I would think thats plenty. I've only built 2 (almost) yaks so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Happy Building.

Charles.