: Seadragon's boat needs additional cross-grain strength, but does it
: have to be glass and epoxy? I don't have actual experience of
: encapsulating boats so I didn't identify alternatives to canvas
: and paint.

IMO, if it is a cedar strip (edge glued) boat, then the wood is really just the core of the glass sandwich. Make up a few panels and do some tests and you will see.
A curved section of 1/4" cedar strip, glassed with 6oz (or perhaps even lighter) fiberglass and epoxy on both sides, can be jumped on by an adult. Without the glass/epoxy on both sides, it will be reduced to kindling in the same test. Stripper canoe/kayak construction shouldn't be confused with other more traditional construction styles (lapstrake/clinker, ribs/cedar planks/canvas, thicker strip-planked vessels, etc) - it doesn't work without the glass on both sides.

(BTW, I built a 29ft JoelWhite strip-planked (strips were 1.25 inches thick x about 1.5" 'tall') sailboat - nothing like a strip canoe!)

: I assume seadragon's boat will be dry-docked. Would dynel work? It
: has good abrasion resistance and takes paint well but I am not
: sure about strength; it may also be too stretchy. Xynole
: (polyester) might be stiffer. If there is no information
: available then perhaps a test panel could be made and tested to
: destruction to see if the wood under the cloth fails before the
: cloth due to its stretchiness.

I used Dynel/epoxy on the deck of my sailboat. Dynel is light, and tends to swell up and float in the epoxy. I wouldn't use it in a canoe or kayak project. Perhaps with vacuum bagging you could get the resin ratio down; otherwise it would be a heavy craft, I think. Bonding Dynel to wood with paint? Not for me.