: agree, I was going from the standpoint of if the panels were preglassed with
: 4oz what is necessary after that and where. The chine damages I've seen
: were on the outside.
In my rush to get personal boats in the water I have often used them before they are finished. In many cases I'll have a fillet installed (usually in some minor location), but haven't yet taped or otherwise put fiberglass over the fillet. I am really abusing some of these boats...making very hard hits on stumps, logs, banks, rocks, etc. in swift water and rapids. The outside chine damages have been a result of impact, gouges, and abrasion. The taped fillets, or those otherwise covered by fiberglass, have not failed on the inside. Fillets with no fiberglass, tape or otherwise, HAVE, but not always, failed. My fillets are a mixture of epoxy, wood flour, and milled fiberglass. Strong stuff. I believe that everything but a cosmetic fillet should have fiberglass on it...and even then I would try to get fiberglass on it...too. The damage to my strip built has been very interesting. The curved areas have held up well, suffering mostly gouges and abrasions...easily repaired. The larger flat areas, specifically right below and in front of my crotch, and behind the rear bulkhead in the aft storage compartment didn't do so well. After extremely hard hits on the same rock (different trips) I got 16" splits in the strips with the fiberglass torn apart on the INSIDE. The exterior fiberglass never lost integrity....though of course you could see the damage. These are also easily repaired. This is with a standard 6 oz. single layer on both sides layup. Interestingly enough, during the same race where I suffered the cockpit damage, a carbon/kevlar boat received a large hole just 50 yards down from where I hit my rock. I am learning a lot about how to build a boat that will survive abuse. I also can state that the standard 6 oz. e-glass layup is pretty good.