Half gallon then, that should about do it.

I figure a 12oz ballistic nylon goop or varnish skin weighs somewhere around 8 pounds, based on weighing frame before and after skinning over several kayaks. Would you venture a guess to what your epoxy skin, say with a single layer of 6 oz glass might weigh?

I am looking to this method for several reasons:
• It seems to promise greater longevity than nylon/varnish or goop.
• Less issue with sagging/wrinkling.
• Easier incorporation of bulkheads/hatches.
• Stiffer, possibly less skin deflection, possibly more efficient hull realized, somewhere between skin boat and wood-core FG?
• Better finish possibilities, neater appearance with lack of my trademark Frankenstein stitch up the deck
• Durability... sounds promising, I still have a hard time getting my head around this thin a layup being very puncture or tear resistant though. Is this a kayak I can bash over submerged logs with, or do I need to treat it gently? Can I pound over waves and get mixed up in the surf with this skin?

One cause of concern, in reading around about this over the weekend, I've seen plenty of references to dacron being used as a cheap peel-ply because *epoxy doesn't stick to it*??? Surely they are meaning something besides the aircraft dacron you're using in this skin?

So, I read the Duckworks Epoxy/Dacron/Xynole Matrix article again. http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/skin/index.htm Is this essentially the same basic process you are using?

Does the dacron heat shrunk on the frame make a solid enough surface to allow squeegeeing excess epoxy out of the glass layer? This is just like glassing a hard shell kayak, right? You mentioned in one post that the lightest dacron was like "working on the surface of a balloon". Is the heavier dacron then have give more like a kayak skinned tight with nylon or something? To what can I relate what I might expect? Because the dacron is more or less sealed with a thin coat of epoxy before the glass is applied, I imagine that during the wet out stage of the glass, you don't really have to worry about the dacron either sucking resin and starving the glass, or pushing resin through both layers to create a heavy build up on the inside of the kayak? Mostly have to worry about not floating the glass? I imagine the thicker the epoxy layer, the more prone to cracking it might be?

Thanks for your help, Bill and Dan. I've got the building itch something fierce, it's all I can do to stay at my desk right now.

: Hi Thomas,

: Depends much on what glass you use and how much of it you use. I've
: done this with the 3.2 ounce tight weave thru 6 ounce glass, the
: heavier glass obviously uses more epoxy but is also more tough.
: The last boat I helped a friend do used the 3.2 ounce with a
: doubled bottom, seems a reasonable way to get a tough boat
: without using a gross excess of resin. The 3.2 ounce glass
: doesn't suck up much resin. Might be able to do it with a quart
: kit, though two quarts is probably closer to what you'd use. I
: use West's 105/207 resin/hardener which results in somewhat more
: than a quart in a kit. I also only work with gallons of epoxy,
: so it's hard to tell exactly how much I use. There will always
: be another boat :)

: Bill H.