You read correctly.

I went the other way -left the tape in and extended the glass to the entire interior of the boat, including under the deck. Still ended up 1 lb below the design weight.

In spite of the extra glass, the boat flexed in rough steep waves. Wonder what it would have done without the extra glass?

Laszlo

I'm only about halfway through with my first build, so take my comment for what it's worth, but it seems like eliminating the tape sacrifices significant strength and saves at best a few ounces of weight.

Good to know you were underweight with the extra glass, Laszlo.  I strongly considered the Sassafras 12 because it was so light at 26 lbs (easier to throw on car, might get used more, but not as seaworthy as WD).  Sounds like 35-40 lbs is entirely reasonable for a WD12, built entirely to design.

You never know how reliable manufacturer specs are, and when dealing with epoxy/glass there's certainly a wide variation among builders of different skill levels.

I built two  wood duck 12 last spring at the same time and after looking back i probably used enough epoxy to build three.I do know they have been well tested and they are very strong,You guys have made me curious when i take then out of storage I am weighing them.It was my first time ever building but i did learn all the way through the project to make the next build better and cheaper.Epoxy is insanely expensive around here.