I've just joined this discussion group and very light weight kayaks caught my attention under the George Robert's challange. It seems that I have come into this convesration after the challange has been posted. What is the number of the original posting so I might read it?

Also, to comment on the Ian's question (and to support Dale's repsonse): I have built a couple of cedar strip kayaks of East greenland origin and The second I built using 3/16" milled strips (like is done at Laughing Loon kayaks). I used E-glass and West System epoxy on a 21" x 18 1/2" East Greenland kayak that is a semip-replica of W.E. Hampton's kayak made during the 1933 Britich Arctic Air Expedition (Gino Watkin's expedition). The kayak wieghs 36 pounds! I used Bomar plastic hatches (adding unnecessary weight). The combination of thinner strips is far lighter than plywood. Wood is basically a hollow structural material with great longitudinal strength; the epoxy adds lateral strength. I recently built a plywood boat out of 1/8" and have found this too flexible. If I really want to save weight, I need to go back to strips!