: . . . I am curious--has anyone made a skin-on-frame kayak and then fiberglassed
: it instead of painting it?

George Putz mentions this as an option in his book, too.

As I see it:

If you were going to do this it might be reasonable to use a less expensive polyester resin rather than an epoxy resin, and use at least two layers of thin glass, with one applied to the frame and coated with resin before the second layer of fabric was applied. Or, use a very heavy (greater than 12 ounces per square yard) glass fabric in a single layer -- as a minimum.

The strength of the fabric is in the strength of the glass fibers. You could replace the waterproofing layer (the epoxy or polyester plastic resins) with a synthetic rubber material and have something like a glass-reinforced hypalon-coated skin which would have great strength and flexibility as well as great resistance to abrasion. This is not much different in concept than the Glass-fiber reinforced rubber used in automotive tires. Hypalon is also very resistant to UV exposure.

PGJ