Yeah I'm not too worried about stretching the skin, I didn't really have any problems last time. I'm also thinking about stapling the skin on this time mostly just to try something new, also I think I've got a good plan to really crank the skin super tight that I want to try.

I have been thinking about canvas - I really don't get in the water too much (and I've got other boats to play with), so I suspect it would probably last pretty long. How do you find it to behave in practice (it seems like it would be really pleasant to build with)? I know I'm going to end up with a ton of water in the boat (Ms. Cleo predicts lots of rolling practice in my future) and I'm a little concerned about the cotton getting waterlogged and causing rot and maybe other problems (maybe the coating will soak in enough to prevent this being a biggie)?

Do you do anything to treat the cotton for rot resistance or just let the coating handle it? Do you do something like a thinned-out first coat for more penetration?

Where do you get your canvas? (is it #10 duck?)