About fabrics

Discussing the different fabrics you can skin your boat with.
Most of the fabrics I show in this video are no longer available. We struggle to find suppliers of suitable fabric and sometimes our sources dry up. So out inventory changes from time to time.

[@russsherwood5978]

do you spray or roll on your paint? thank you for the video

[@paulbriggs3072]

I can't imagine that nylon or polyester stretch any once epoxy saturates them.

[@yru435]

Do not use epoxy on the skin-on-frame kayaks

[@paulbriggs3072]

@@yru435 Because of brittleness?

[@nssdesigns]

Interesting stuff, a little confusing as you said the 8 oz is really 6 oz but then all through the video you refer to it as 8 oz. What I'm interested in is coating the fabric, do you have any information on coating?

[@Kudzucraft]

Most anything will stick to polyester, unlike nylon. So you can use paint, varnish, polyurethane. Oil based products are much tougher than water based and I much prefer those.

[@nssdesigns]

@@Kudzucraft excellent... got the email too

[@stevenwitherell7192]

What about using ceconite like homebuilt aircraft use? Havent seen a wrinkled one yet.

[@geebee3d]

@@stevenwitherell7192 the Ceconite can be used, but it’s only 3.4oz per sq yd. It’s too light for most kayak builds.
It has however been used successfully by the late Platt Monford of Geodesic Aerolite Boats. GA Boats specialize in skin on frame rowboats and canoes, built in a different style than Kudzucraft kayaks.
Though Platt is gone, his website is still active so you could check it out.

[@jlindsay5038]

What he doesn't tell you is the strength comes from the resin that you put on the ship and it dries hard the sheet is just there to hold it in the shape you want that's why he's pushing his sales pitch so hard and he'll probably delete this so read why you can

[@geebee3d]

But J, you aren’t using a resin on these boats. They are NOT fiberglass/resin composite structures. The only thing the coating does on a skin on frame boat is waterproof the fabric.
So in this case, yeah, you are relying on the fabric itself for strength.
Now, some of the coatings can enhance the strength of the fabric. The Urethane based “Corey’s Goop” from Skinboat School/Spiritline is one such coating (and about the only one I know of that increases the strength of the fabric appreciably).
So to anyone reading J Lindsay’s comment…DO NOT…I repeat…DO NOT try to coat your skin on frame boat with a hardening resin like Polyester/Fiberglass resin or Epoxy. Neither will stick to Nylon, and the polyester fabrics flex too much. The resin would just crack and flake off.
Trust me on this one. I have built several skin boats, and have spoken with and corresponded with countless other individuals who have done the same, some of whom have made skin boats their livelihood. NONE of them even think about using a hardening resin system on their boats.
If you still don’t believe me, check out both The Skinboat School and Cape Falcon Kayak. Both are run by guys that are more than willing to help out. Send them an email and ask them about epoxy type coatings for skinboats.