Well it's been awhile since I posted photos of the construction of my Baidarka and I have learned a great deal during the process. This thing has had its forms set up at least twice before I got around to connecting them together. Skinned with Dyson 8 oz Nylon with Heat'n Bond tape and staples along the sheer. Hull then received 6oz glass and an epoxy pigment treatment (sponge painted). I took this hull to Port Townsend hoping to build the deck while I camped at Old Fort Townsend for the week prior to R2K3. What a disaster. I had this bright idea that I would build the deck completely out of plastic film/glass/epoxy and that I would use old National Geographic maps in a mosaic fashion for the look I was after. The cut up pieces of maps worked great, it's the sagging of the glass and the weight of the damn thing that won't work. I found a thick plastic film, used for storm windows, that accepts epoxy quite well (especially when roughed up a bit). Taped this roughed up plastic to the sheer and started with a seal coat. Each layer of glass was done as a wet layup and all layers, including map chunks, were put down in a day. I chose to start with 20oz glass, then 12oz, then maps, and the 6oz on top. The amount of epoxy required to saturate just the 20oz was mind boggling. That day I mixed over a gallon and a half of epoxy before I got the final fill coat on. Who knew there were so many bugs and other garbage, including fir & hemlock needles, falling from the sky while you're camping in the woods. Not the best conditions for a task like this. And I realize that this turned out to be very epoxy heavy. Anyway, the biggest problem I had was that the weight caused it to sag between the forms and the strips I inserted (which helped) just weren't enough. It looks cool and ugly at the same time. So now, I've abandoned this glass deck entirely, and will be trying some other deck treatment (probably luan ply with more maps) and going from a single cockpit to a double because we've had so much fun playing in it deckless. This is the second of my SOF's that I glassed the hull on, and so far I'm very pleased with it as a tough finish. I also have a 7 foot SOF Baidarka model with a glassed hull and deck that I plan to do some destructive testing on in the real near future. Testing will include skipping it across barnicle covered rocks, gravel, & pavement; dropping from different heights; and even the dreaded off the top of the truck at high speeds test (I'm still trying to find someone who will photograph that one). I'll also weigh these boats soon, so we'll all know how overbuilt they really are. The dings and scratches they've received are all isolated to the exact spot of impact and nothing has come close to getting down to the glass/nylon. And with the funky pigmented epoxy paint job, scatches blend right in. The glass on nylon does not make the fabric really stiff, like you would imagine. It's still fairly flexible. And the epoxy/glass makes patching simple, if anything could ever hurt it. However, I am still not fully convinced that this method, with glass on nylon, is a valid one. It is heavier and still needs varnish to protect it. Without more use & abuse, I would not recommend this method to anyone. I just don't know how it will hold up. My ideas don't seem to backfire on me until I've told a bunch of people.
Wow that turned out to be a long post. Anybody that reads all of that should get some kind of prize...
Scott