Builders' Forum Archives

Interior Fiberglass

Posted by Laszlo on Oct 11, 2007

There was a thread a while back about the advantages of entirely glassing the inside of a hull, including under the deck. I've got another one - rogue fish.

My wife & I were kayak/pirogue fishing on Mataponi Creek near the Merckle Wildlife Sanctuary and we managed to snag three very nice catfish (she caught the biggest). When we were ready to go home, we dumped them into her Chesapeake 16LT's rear hatch and paddled off. We left them in the boat for the ride home, too.

We got home, took the kayak off the truck and opened the still tightly sealed hatch. There were 2 fish, not three. We put our heads in the hatch and saw nothing. To make a long story short, we eventually got a flashlight and found the missing fish all the way aft with its head in the stern.

So we tipped the boat - it stayed put. We shook the boat - it stayed put. We poked sticks up there - it stayed put. It seems that the barbs (which catfish have on their dorsal and pectoral fins) had dug into the okoume and were holding it in place. Eventually we got it loose by breaking off the barbs (which are still in the boat) It took an hour of cleaning to get rid of the fishy smell.

If the hull had been entirely lined with glass, the barbs would not have been able to dig in. White paint inside would have helped to spot the fish, too.

Builders' Forum Archives

Interior Fiberglass

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