fiberglass width

[ludwig]

Hello,

I've been following the posts in this forum for a while now. Finally, I got myself registered to join the canoe building society in a somewhat official way.

I bought a Micmac woodstrip canoe ten years ago from a Victoria BC builder (Maybe you are around here somewhere) when I was a student there. Well, I'm hooked since then. Now, back in Europe I started my own canoe project. For sure, I will run into many tricky situations soon. Well, here's my first question:

It seems to be no problem to get 60 inch wide fiberglass cloth in the US. Here in Europe, standard size is apparently around 1m (twill) to 1.20m (plain). Not enough to cover a canoe with one cloth. I've read posts from builders who overlap two cloths in the middle. That sounds like quite a tricky thing to do. Is there anybody who has experience with this?

Ludwig

[GeirB]

My experience is the same.
On my last project, a Prospector I used two layers of cloth on the outside, so that there was a 20cm stripe on each side covered with one layer and bottom and the rest of the sides where covered with two layers. This means the canoe will be heavier and as far as I understand not stronger. (As I have understood things you should add a layer on the inside to increase strenght.)
I am geting closer to fiberglassing my next Prospector. This time I think I will either use one layer(120cm) lenghtwise and 15cm stripes of glass to cover the aerea near the shearline, or maybe cut six pieces of cloth long enough to cover the canoe across(?? not sure this came out right).
If using the latter method I would like to know how much overlap there should be on the cloth to maintain strenght.
Any other ideas of what to do??

GeirB

[John K]

Hi Ludwig
Have a look at the instructions on this page. they might help.
JOHNK

http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Wshophtm/Shop23a.htm