Not sure that it accounts for 6#, but the underside of the plywood deck is not glassed on the Shearwaters.  With the hybrid, you have to glass both sides.

Same with the Kaholo Hybrid.

My SWS Hybrid weighed in at 42 lbs. 

Hi Stolarski,

i am almost certain it is a mistake that a Shearwater Sport Hybrid would have a target weight of 48lbs.  as dan pointed out above, his came in at 42 lbs which is what i would have expected.

the hybrid vs stitch and glue plain shearwater sport should be ~  the same weight.  and the stitch and glue is targeted at 42 lbs.....so that should be about the weight of the hybrid version.  the only signficant difference in the construction of the hybrid vs full stitch and glue is the difference in the weight of plywood deck vs stripdeck.   and strips are lighter than plywood....but there is just not enough square feet of deck to save you that much weight.   both the stitch and glue and strip deck are glassed on both sides. (sorry, but i disagree with mark n above on this),  you can see from the construction gallery and i have built the shearwater....inside and outside of the decks are glassed.

the heavier version of this craft is the sectional version of the SWS....48 lbs.   its is pretty straightforward to understand here  how you gain 6 llbs --  two extra bulkheads plus all the extra filleting and glassing plus the large bolts that hold it all together.

with careful building it is very possible to hit the CLC target weights and maybe beat them by as much as a 1 lb for very very careful builders.  i routinely do it but i have over 18 boats under my belt...and it was the latter half of them that i was meeting and hitting below weight.  it all really comes down to the epoxy work and utilizing every tip to keep it light.  that said, i find it pretty rare for first time builders to hit the target weight becuase you just don't have the accumulated experience to get there.   but you can get close.....and if you, for example, executed at 44 lbs it would still be much less heavy than any comparable production boat unless you were buying something from a producer like Stellar or Epic.

hope that helps.

h

   Thanks Dan and h for your replies. Kinda' thought that that 48 lbs. was a reference to the sectional SW. The SW seems like the perfect boat for what I want to do and I really like the look of the strip deck vs. the flat deck S&G. This will be my 3rd build so I've become acutely aware of trying to reduce unnecessay weight and hopefully, create a lighter, more efficient boat. Thanks again. Nice looking boat Dan! -Stolarski

   Thanks Stolarski. fyi, the above boat is for sale. I can be contacted at [email protected]

Dan