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repairs on a new boat....
By:Rich
Date: 6/9/1999, 10:31 am

Hi, having just completed a beautifull strip kayak i decided to throw it on the roof and drive from seattle up to the san juan islands in northwestern washington (about 1 1/2 hours away) for a weekend of paddling. unfortunatly, once i got there and took the boat down i noticed a disturbing situation: the glass around the fore and aft hatches had begun to white out. there were pathces a few inches wide by a few inches long fore and aft of each hatch, but not port and starboard. it was possible to feal the weave of the glass. after a good hour of moping about i decided that the problem may have been due to end grain that wasn't properly filled, causing the wind to lower the moisture content of the strips, shrink it, and allow it to dissociate from the glass. So the next day i parked on the side of the road and spent the better part of a day putting epoxy on the end grain. i paddled it for the next few days with no problems and got the boat home with no further white out. I have three questions: 1. did i diagnose the problem correctly? 2. did i do the right thing about it, temporarily? 3. what should i do about it now? should i sand down to the wood and replace the fiberglass? should i just varnish over it and live with it?

thanks for your input! rich

Messages In This Thread

repairs on a new boat....
Rich -- 6/9/1999, 10:31 am
Re: Paul is right, go boating!
Shawn Baker -- 6/10/1999, 12:52 am
Re: repairs on a new boat....
Paul G. Jacobson -- 6/9/1999, 3:12 pm