Re: minor damage

Posted by LeeG on Aug 26, 2007

If you're going to use the kayak for more loaded touring I'd suggest going whole hog and glassing a 2'-3' long section from bulkhead aft with 6oz glass. It might be easier to cut two lengthwise strips that meet in the middle of the keel strip going from middle of chine to middle of keel. Do one at a time. The same in the forward compartment maybe 1 1/2"-2'

Just make sure to wash/wipe/dry/sand it well.

Getting in/out of a kayak will put as much or more of a load on those bottom panels in the aft compartment as it does in the middle of the cockpit where it's glassed. If you load up the kayak there's even more.

A simple way to see how this matters is to turn a kayak over and press down with with your flat hand,,maybe 100lbs of pressure which is a LOT less than your body and kayak will place on a rounded boulder. A plastic kayak will bend in various spots an inch or more. A glass boat will flex and in some places you might hear gel coat cracking on the chines. On a Chesapeake with an unglassed aft compartment you'll see miniscule (flexing 1/16")in the middle of the hull panels under the cockpit but under the aft compartment you'll hear cracking. That's the wood and epoxy.

While one shouldn't walk on the bottom of a kayak as a matter of practice it seems odd to have the middle of a s&g kayak hold up to that kind of load between the bulkheads but not 6" aft of the bulkhead.

In Response to: Re: Boat Damaged! by Eric Mattison on Aug 26, 2007

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