Thanks for all of the great info!

Well, you are probably going to laugh- but I've only paddled skin boats, this is my first hard boat. (A lot of) First time builder's anxiety here.

I know that my skin boat will flex and disperse the impact if I hit something, and I have a difficult time imagining hitting anything hard and sharp enough to puncture the skin while I'm paddling. I don't want to overdo it with the hard boat, but I want it to be stiff enough, but not by adding so much extra that it gets really heavy. That's the fine line that everyone walks: How stiff is stiff, and how heavy is heavy? I'm not sure I have a good point of reference.

I'm not building anything exotic. It's a Night Heron, but I'm lowering the deck and reducing the size of the cockpit so that all of my existing gear will fit the coaming. It will be a bit taller aft deck than the Greenland Style NH, and a bit lower in the foredeck, and I'll get in it like a skin boat. I was thinking of using the CF to reinforce the seating area and the aft deck where I'll be getting in, and then the foredeck. It's going to be a day boat and might only see light gear a couple of times a season. If the strength and weight improvements of CF are dubious, the price gets onerous.

Should probably just stick with glass.

Thanks again-

m