The Chesapeake kits ship with 6oz cloth for the hull.  If it were me, I would consider glassing the deck also (4 oz cloth), although it will be difficult around the cockpit with the coaming already installed.

I'd glass the hull just like John does in the construction video (look under the "Tips fpr Builders" tab above) and trimright at the shear line.  If you glass the deck, again follow the video and trim the glass an inch or so below the shear on the sides of the hull.  If you mask the hull where you want the glass to end, then trim along the masking tape while the glass is still green, you can get a very nice seam that will sound out nicely.

Interlux Brightsides over primer does very well on the hull.  If you paint an inch or so around the sides of the deck, you can cover any imperfections along the shear line.  Here is my 3.5 year old Ch17LT after a paint/varnish touch up last week.

   Hi Mr. Greenz,

My wife built a Chesapeake 16 LT almost 20 years ago, without glassing the deck. It's held up well and we paddle a Lot. Glass has very little compression strength so adding it to the outside of deck will add weight but almost no strength. It will improve abrasion resestance though. Many boats don't call for glassed decks, especially the one piece cambered decks. Their strength comes from the arched shape. In the "for what it's worth" department, save the weight and have an easier time cartopping!

Cheers,

E

  Thanks for the advice. It confirms what I concluded after many internet searches. This boat is an older version when the kits probably didn't ship with glass for the deck and only used glass tape around the hull to deck joint. The deck has a very thick coat of epoxy that is in good condition, to grind it down so I could apply glass cloth and keep the weight down would have diminished returns. I don't plan on any excursions into open ocean paddleing, just lakes and rivers. With all this in mind I think I will glass the hull with 6 oz. cloth and use 4" tape to secure the deck to the hull and paint the hull and some parts of the deck.

There are areas arond the comming that will need filling and reshaping. Is bondo an okay product for this type of repairs?

Thanks for all of your responses, it's great that there is a helpful community out there.

>>Is bondo an okay product for this type of repairs?

Epoxy/woodflour or epoxy/phenolic microballoons will stick to the wood better than  bondo.

Laszlo

   Mark

What material did you use for the bow protection and is it inset into the hull or applied on the surface.

I have laid out lines to cut off 3/4" of the leading edge, and about 8" up from the bottom and then back along the keel about 10' and epoxing in two pieces of hardwood or some type of hard plastic that is compaitable with epoxi resin.

I see that two of your boats have this modification and I am very interested because the person that built my boat didn't get the bow line straight, it has a 1/8" wow in it and this would be a way to fix it.

Any help would be appreciated, especially pictures.

Thanks, Ed

   That is the CLC Rubstrip Kit.  It is just Dynel cloth laid over the hull and coated with epoxy thickened with graphite.