: As I am sure several of you know I have become fascinated with SOF boats. I
: am going to forgo finishing my other S&G and build a SOF soon. Have to
: finish the Cherry TV console first.

: I have read what I can find on skinning materials and I am still undecided
: what I would like to skin my boat in. I like the idea (at least it sounds
: good to me) of heat shrink materials, nice smooth skin is appealing. But I
: don't see it used much in Kayaks. I see other prefer polyesters saying it
: stretches better. I just read about Ceconite. The more I read the less
: idea I have about what to use.

: I am past the stage of worrying about durability. I guess everyone has to
: that fear. Abrasion is more of an issue than anything for me but some run
: strips should fix that.

: I was hoping to get some input on what you have used. What you liked, didn't
: like etc. I think it would good info for us first timers to SOF boats.

Couple things. Dacron is the heat shrink material used for aircraft and is un-shrunk. Most polyester fabrics you'll see locally are pre-shrunk so your clothes don't shrink. Ceconite is one brand of aircraft covering. There are many more. The brand name ones are for certified aircraft covers and are fairly expensive in the order of $12 - $15 per running yard for 60" wide material. You can buy non-certified fabric for aircraft covers too for much less money, in the order of $5 a running yard. For boats this works fine.

The downside, as mentioned to dacron is it's not as abrasion resistant as nylon. Part of the reason for this is aircraft dacron is a very light weight material. The heavy stuff is less than 4 ounces per yard. You can buy it as light as 1 1/2 ounces per yard. Most nylon for boat covers is from 6 - 12 ounces per yard, ie: much heavier and more rugged fabric. Dacron that's unshrunk just isn't commercially available in heavier weaves, no use for it.

That said, most of the abrasion problems on a SOF are where the fabric overlays the structure. Where the fabric can deflect when impacted it usually won't tear or hole. You can buy from the aircraft supply places dacron tape (kinda like glass tape) that's used to reinforce the edges where the fabric covers the structure. The doubles or triples the strength of these areas and makes them much more resistant to abrasion.

Covering with dacron is pretty easy, it'll heat shrink up to 20% in all directions, meaning you have to use some care when shrinking it as it can crush the underlying structure. A household iron is normally used to shrink it, in degrees. There are several online guides to aircraft covering that are worthwhile reading if you use this material. The Stits Polyfiber manual is cheap and worthwhile too.

Take a look at "Aircraft Spruce" or "Wicks Aircraft Supply" for materials.

Bill H.