: Bill, I was thinking of doing something like that too, but the cost
: of the sleeves seemed too much for me. Hope to see your project
: done soon! The couple of paddles I've done with the
: carbon-kevlar sleeves turned out really well (in terms of
: material at least).

: Btw, it you happen to need about 8 feet of the *non-braided* heavy
: carbon sleeve, let me know. That's good for shafts I suppose, if
: they are of certain diameter and might be good for various rods
: or stringer pieces too. I got it from Soller recently but got no
: immediate use for it. Bidding starts at half price -;)

: Why not use carbon-kevlar for the gunwales at least? Carbon and
: kevlar are I suppose to be about the same strength if I'm
: reading the charts right and about the same weight and cost. But
: the carbon-kevlar will not just snap in two if it breaks - will
: at least hang onto itself by its strands... Sanding is OK too,
: just need to be careful after the first sanding and fill coat no
: to sand too much again...

Well figured out the amount of sleeve I'd need to do this, will a little extra it's around 250 ft., actually a bit over 230 ft. but 20 ft. of extra won't be a bad idea. So it's roughly 3 lbs. of sleeve, add 50 % resin and the frame sans coaming will run a bit over 5 lbs. :)

Now the downside, it's also around $500 worth of sleeve, not counting the cover nor the resin. Like I said it's not cheap. Still would be seriously cool to have a 5 lb. frame.

Bill H.