: Thanks for posting your info online, it's been great to read. I am
: getting ready to attempt a build of a SUP paddle. It's been fun
: gathering info, but sometimes I come away with more questions:
: Could you please expand upon what you mean by 2 layers of carbon
: fiber, and 4 layers of glass? Is that two layers of carbon fiber
: cloth (with epoxy resin) and then four layers of epoxy resin on
: top of that, or when you say 4 layers of glass are you also
: adding fiber glass cloth as well? What weight of carbon fiber
: fabric did you use.

They mean 6 layers of reinforcing cloth embedded in resin. Two of those layers are carbon fiber cloth, and 4 of them are woven-glass-fiber cloth. That seems like a lot of layers of glass cloth to me, so perhaps they are using a lightweight cloth.

With fiberglass the strength is a matter of how much actual glass fibers you have. If you are using 3 layers of 2-ounce glass, or 1 layer of 6 ounce glass, or 2 layers of 3-ounce glass, you will get pretty much the same strength, and you'll have 6 ounces of glass over every square yard. Some people like the lighter weight glass because the thinner threads have a finer weave pattern which is easier to hide with just an extra coat of resin. The coarser weave fabrics have a deeper weave pattern, and that calls for more extra resin to fill in those areas. The extra resin doesn't add much strength for its weight.

The layers of carbon fiber cloth are not as easy to sand smooth as layers of glass cloth, so you'll put the carbon on first and cover it with the glass cloth. If you are using a vacuum bag to assemble this you can lay all the cloth on dry, suck out all the air, then infuse the resin to saturate all the layers at one time. That is kind of an elaborate setup for an amateur builder, so most of us put on one or two layers of cloth at a time, saturate them with resin, and wait for the resin to gel or harden before we add more layers of cloth and resin. If you can avoid drips, or scrape them off before they get real hard, AND if you can time your work so you put on new layers before the underlying layers have hardened, then you won't need to do any sanding until everything has hardened. With small projects like paddles this is much easier than with large projects like boats.

Good luck with your project. Hope this helps

PGJ