: I saw this on another website and wondered what you guys think
: about it. I am in the process of building a Merlin canoe right
: now (a light weight version I hope!) and will be fiber glassing
: it in the next few weeks.

: Quote:
: two layers of 3.1oz (or 3.4oz...depends on where you get it) satin
: weave is stronger than a single layer of 6oz. And, 2 layers of
: 3.4oz is only about 2/3 of the thickness of 6oz after epoxy.
: This will save an easy 30% of the epoxy weight and will let you
: produce a sounder boat, overall. The trade off, yes, there is
: always a trade off, is that you will be doing more work with the
: boat. 3.4oz glass is more difficult to lay(compound curves are a
: LOT of fun!) You will be doing more hand sanding to remove
: "nubs" between two layers. The difference between a 28
: pound estimate) boat and a 21 pound boat is worth it, IMO.

Can be true depends though entirely on the weave of the lighter glass. There is some very fine weave light glass that uses very little epoxy to wet it out. This all depends on the skill of the person doing the layup btw. If you're not careful using the epoxy then doing two layers will result in a much higher weight of epoxy than if you only did one layer.

If the glass is laid on the hull on a slight bias it'll conform to the curved shape easier.

Bill H.