After posting my cloth test results, I promised to describe how it went with the 6 oz. satin weave s-2 fiberglass. So here it is.

I first put on a seal coat of Clear Coat. Rolling on the cloth I was happy to see that it conformed well and was not prone to snagging. I had no troubles with wrinkles, puckers, or the like. But talk about hard to wet out. I'm talking about micro-bubbles. Millions of them. I used a roller to apply Clear Coat resin and was careful not to press too hard and push foam through the fabric. After resin application and squeegeeing off the small amount of excess, the results were not good but not unexpected either. I followed up for three hours with a heat gun in one hand and a squeegee in the other to remove the bubbles. Some remain, but it looks pretty good. The boat looks nearly as good as the Silver I built previously with two layers of 3.25 oz. satin (http://www.metakrome.com/kayak/kframe.html). The bubbles are visible up close with a strong side light, but most people will never see them.

Now that I have the cloth on the boat, I'm happy with the compromise between appearance and toughness/lightness. In my tests the cloth was roughly as ding proof as 10 oz. e-glass but only weighs roughly as much as 5 oz. open weave (due to a more favorable glass to resin ratio). That's a compromise I'm happy to live with. After a couple seasons of paddling, the accumulation of scratches and dings will make the presence of the micro bubbles irrelevant. I'm going to continue with this cloth for the hull inside and deck inside. But I am going to switch to 5 oz. satin e-glass for the deck outside to get a better appearance.

To use this s-2 cloth you had better bring your "A" game. This means good working conditions, lots of light, and a strong dose of skill. This is definitely not for the beginner. Also, the results would have been unacceptable to me without using a heat gun followed by working the cloth with a squeegee, one small area at a time. This would probably be a good cloth to use if it is painted.

It would be nice if I could have the boat ready for R2K3 so people could see what I'm talking about, but it's not going to happen. I'm going paddling in the Queen Charlottes this summer and let the boat get done around my paddling pursuits. If any of you come through the Issaquah, Washington area, stop on by for a look.