: According to CLC, the Schade book (along with his building notes)
: is the manual.

: The reason for the carbon fiber (actually it is a BGF 5.7 oz. 3K
: carbon fiber Kevlar hybrid weave available on EBay) is that it
: is a red/black diagonal pattern that will complement the color
: of the kayak quite nicely. I would only use it for the inside of
: the hull underneath the cockpit and hatches with minimal resin
: for the wet out and no fill layers to provide a textured surface
: with the weave of the fabric. The layup would be across the
: width in 50" wide strips at the widest part of the kayak so
: there won't be any compound curves. I'm not really that
: concerned about either strength or weight.

: Does this sound like too much for a beginner to tackle?

Biggest problem with carbon fiber is you can't tell when it's wet and if it's not wet it has no strength. The appearance doesn't change in the least when it's wet. Beginners tend to end up with way too much resin and the laminate then ends up usually being weaker than it would be if glass were used or they have dry spots that have no strength at all. Carbon fiber is cool when it's done but it can be tricky to use and it's wildly expensive. If you do use it, order enough to do some testing with it first on scrap which tends to be an expensive test but then you'll have an idea of what you're doing with it and if it doesn't work you've not messed up the boat.

Bill H.