What does "safe" mean? If I'm close enough to hit rocks, I'm close enough to swim to shore.

> NO, scantlings provide safe guidelines for builders whose boats are kept
> away from the shore. They do not provide guidelines for boats subjected to
> either casual or repeated landing on rocks. They may provide safe
> guidelines for boats that make casual or repeated landings on sand, but I
> do not know.

> Building codes are for homes in "safe" regions - no earthquakes,
> no tornadoes, no hurricanes. Scatlings are for boats in "safe"
> regions - away from the shore.

> NO, strip boat builders keep their .25"/6oz boats in "safe"
> places or add extra cloth.

> Of the 3 boat builders I know locally, one keeps his boat in his house,
> the second paddles only on a lake with a muddy shore (to not damage his
> boat). I am the third - and I put my boats in anywhere but they are not
> .250"/6oz layups.

> I am not sure that 12oz of cloth on the hull exterior is sufficient to
> make a boat safe (you can push a pencil through 12oz cloth over light
> foam.) but I am not sure it is not.

> As I have said before boat material selecction is driven by cost and
> availability of materials. Not by safety of the boat or suitability of
> materials.