: Hi,

: I'm looking at building one (initially...) of Tom's SOF designs (probably Sea
: Rider) with wood frame, and PVC or similar skin.

: I read a few other posts about epoxying the skins of boats. I assume this is
: just for certain materials, and that PVC (or similar) as described on his
: site doesn't require epoxy coating? What skins do?

: Also, it seems the wood frames are just oiled (apart from ply forms). Is this
: sufficient for long-term durability of the boat, and is there any
: upside/downside of epoxying the whole frame? I plan on using Paulownia, a
: wood similar to, but lighter and cheaper than, WRC. It's cheaper, a little
: less dense but still strong, and so should make a light frame (I have a
: few clear boards hand I can rip, so no extra cost too). Would flexing of
: rhte hull frame result in the epoxy cracking, or will a thin coat provide
: better stiffness?

: Thanks for your input (and I promise to post pics when done!).

: Regards,
: Darren
: Melbourne, Australia

The fabric Tom uses, Coverlite I think it's called, is waterproof and doesn't require anything else to make it so.

I use aircraft heat shrinkable dacron as the first layer of my coating process (followed by 4 ounce fg) and I epoxy coat the dacron after it's shrunk to tie the glass to it. Otherwise I don't know of anyone that epoxies the skin.

I prefer to epoxy the frame, all of it, makes it completely waterproof and tends to make it somewhat mildew proof too, though the boat does need to be dried between uses. Any SOF needs that though.

This btw, isn't by far the cheapest way to make a SOF It is though a tough skin that is relatively easy to fix if you do find a way to damage it.

Bill H.