: He uses two layers of fabric. The outer layer is fiberglass cloth
: with epoxy resin.

: It seems to me that the properties of the inner material are not
: particularly important after they are covered with the layer of
: fiberglass. Years ago I thought of covering a kayak frame with
: papier mache, then sandwiching that between two layers of glass
: cloth and resin. Never got past the thinking stage on that one.
: I got hung up on how to get the glass on the inside of the
: finished boat. The more I thought on it, the messier the whole
: thing appeared. I was working for a newspaper at the time and
: wanted to make a boat with their front pages and logo
: prominently displayed. After leaving there the idea died.

: But there are people who have made canoes out of paper, so I may
: revive the old idea. Current thinking is to coat one side of
: paper sheets with epoxy resin.Maybe I'll seal the paper first
: with shellac or varnish so the epoxy doesn't soak through. When
: that is set, paper the frame, with the coated side in. I might
: use staples to hold the paper on. Over that just fiberglass
: normally. Red rosin building paper, seamless background paper
: such as used in photo studios, newsprint, or recycled legal
: papers-- all are potential sources for "skin"
: materials.

: Why not make a model--any design will work-- and skin that with
: your test materials. Let it float in the bathtub, or fish tank,
: for a month and see how it wears.

: PGJ

Yes two layers of fabric, inner is heat shrunk Dacron and the outer is fiberglass coated in epoxy, they are bonded together. The inner material though is important, the Dacron can be thought of as a poor man's Kevlar, acts much like Kevlar to toughen the combined cloth layer.

It ends up with a composite that has properties of Dacron and fiberglass and also properties that neither used alone has.

Bill H.