> Kelly,

> I used 14 oz. #10 canvas on mine, and I would say that is sufficient. I
> would not go any lighter in canvas. You could go down to an 8 oz. weight
> in either nylon or polyester, but cotton is much weaker for it's weight. I
> personally would stay away from the cotton twill in anything less than 12
> oz.

> Latex paints tend to not be as durable as oil based paints. This is a
> generalization though. I used latex roof paint on mine, and I am very
> happy with the result. I also found that the canvas stretched when I
> applied the latex paint. I believe this was because of the water in the
> paint. My understanding is that this does not happen with oil based
> paints. Wolfgang Brink addresses latex paints in his book, but I don't
> recall what he said. I will check it out later and let you know what I
> find out.

> You have a few options to get a good wood coaming without steaming. One is
> a stacked plywood coaming like is used on most stitch & glue kayaks.
> Another is a vertical bent plywood coaming. And a third is a bent wood
> coaming using 1/8" laminations, soak the wood for a few days then
> bend it around your mold, and clamp until dry, then glue or stitch the
> laminations together. A fourth option would be to build it with vertical
> strips, like many strippers use.

> Or you could explore your idea of the skirt sewn onto the kayak. This will
> probably have some interesting challanges.

> Hope it goes well. Good luck with your decisions.

> Mike

Mike,

Thanks for your well thought out answers.

On the coaming, as I am not using epoxy, I guess there might be a problem with using plywood. Would there be delamination if I were to use only varnish on the bent plywood. I was wondering about 1/8 inch or so.I have heard from someone that this is hard to bend into the correct shape, though.

Did you do anything to the canvas before applying the paint? I think I have seen somewhere a reference to shrinking the canvas using hot?? water.

Should I try to double the thickness of the canvas along the keel area? I see the Putz kayak has a keel strip. The only canvas I can find is about a yard in width, so I have to cover the hull and deck with separate pieces and sew along the sheer. Or I could beg my wife to let me practice on her machine and sew the two into one wider piece to start. This could be done so as to give an inch wide double or even triple thickness along the keel. Any comments as to whether this is needed or advisable?

Kelly