: Great looking boats. Have your thoughts about the thickness and types of wood
: proven out? Have you done anything in your original boats that lead you to
: be more confident in the strength as apposed to the standard WRC 1/4"
: strip/ 6 0z. e-glass layup? I'm firmly convinced that the types of wood,
: strip thickness, and grain orientation are equally as important as the
: layup and that a carefully thought out melding of material attributes can
: lead to increased strength, durability, and lightness.

Thanks, Gerald-

To be honest, I'm not sure. This is the first exposure I've had to Kevlar, and it is incredible stuff.

I think that the whole strength thing is probably related to strength requirements, and these requirements might vary quite a bit. In my (new) neck of the woods, it seems that the "oh, My Goodness" rock event is likely more of a design driver than abrasion. I'm kind of anal about beach launches (" Noooo, start a little deeper!") , so I decided to ligthen up a tad on the outside.

On the inside, tho, the idea of 1.8 oz kev, with concurrent reduction in cost and weigth of epoxy, seemed a reasonable gamble. Idea was to get a big help with tensile strength for the rock penetration. I suppose time will tell, but it seems to have worked out. That stuff is as different from E glass as Aluminum is to wood, at least to me.

Take care, Mike