I have a problem with joining the deck to the hull of my Guillemot Fast Double. After fiberglassing, the hull is over two inches narrower than the deck. I fiberglassed the outside of both the hull and the deck while they were on the strongback and forms. The design of the boat has the sides flaring outward approximately one inch as one moves upward from the chimes to the shear. In order to fiberglass the insides of the deck and the hull they had to be removed from the forms. After fiberglassing the inside of the hull I discovered that the sides had straightened and lost most of the flare. The sides now rise almost vertically for the long central portion of the boat. To be specific, the hull is now 1 5/8 to 2 1/2 inches narrower than the boat was on the forms between the locations of forms 3 through 16 and ¼ to 1 inch narrower at the bow and stern. The bow and stern may have also flattened out somewhat. When placing the deck on the hull there is an approximately 2-inch space between the two at the tip of the bow. I suspect that the strips are attempting to return to their original shape to relieve the stress that was applied to get them to conform to the shape of the forms. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the deck has widened slightly. This, like what has happened to the hull, was not unanticipated. The "artistic" design used on the deck required each strip to be bent downward slightly from shear to deck ridge creating a stress that wants to flatten out the deck. This problem was apparent when putting them on in the first place. It was necessary to tie the strips down as neither staples or nails would hold them to the forms.

The question arises as to how to fit the hull to the deck. I am considering making some "spreaders" from turnbuckles and "all thread". However, the force required to widen the hull even a fraction of an inch is very large. I am concerned that applying sufficient force with the spreaders to widen the deck to its original design will crack the hull. If I use the spreaders I will likely wait for a hot day and also use a heat gun to soften the epoxy slightly to relieve some of the stress. Assuming I can widen the hull sufficiently to put the deck on, I wonder if the fiberglass along the shear will be strong enough to hold it in place. Assuming I can widen the hull, to relieve some of the stress on the shear I am also considering installing four rigid bulkheads. It is seems to me that doing a good job of taping the inside and outside of the shear is critical. Because of the length of the Fast Double, a good fraction of the inside of the boat, particularly the bow and stern, are pretty much inaccessible from the cockpits. For this reason, I am considering cutting three hatches (bow, stern and midsection) before I install the deck to get more access. I wonder if after the deck is installed if the hatches will still fit.

I strongly suspect that I am not the first one to encounter this problem. If I have done something wrong in building the boat, I like to know so I wont make the same mistake again. (This is my third kayak, but the first strip built, the previous two were made from plywood using the stitch and glue technique.) I would also appreciate any words of wisdom, confirmation or denial of my ideas, and/or alternate suggestions as to how to proceed at this point. If it would be beneficial to talk as opposed to communicate via e-mail, I would be happy to give you a call, just leave me an e-mail with your telephone number. Any help would be appreciated; I have put a lot of time and work into the boat, which is beautiful, and dread the thought of having to throw it away and start over.