> I was planning to only tape the exterior seams on the hull-1/8"thick
> wood in order to keep the boat weight to the min. 45 lbs or so. But after
> reading everybodys comments below about glassing and taping, Would I be
> better served to glass the whole thing? at least one layer of cloth on the
> outside?

> Thanks in advance.

Generally, the more layers of glass cloth you put on, the stronger the hull will be. There is a debate (long, long, long debate) about the relative merits of multiple layers of glass cloth. Historically, people who have built with 1/4 inch thick materials and covered them with 4 ounce or 6 ounce clth have had good service life from their boats. People who use thinner wood tend to use glass cloth over it to strengthen it. How much they use is part of the debate.

Would you be better served by glassing the entire hull? Probably. How much is enough? Good question. The rather vague answer is: It depends a lot on what you are going to do with the boat, what conditions you'll be paddling in, etc.

The question you did not ask is whether you should glass the inside of the boat. With 1/8th inch wood, I would not think twice about it. A definite YES. The inside probably needs it MORE than the outside.

Paul Jacobson