aft hatch stiffeners not

Posted by LeeG on Jun 17, 2004

installed correctly. You hit that on the head. I've seen dozens of Chesapeake kayaks where only three clamps were used to attach the forward strip on the aft hatch hole. You'd stick your head in there and there were three spots the sheer strip was attached, with air gaps. After the deck breaking experience with those boats I went back to see why some broke and other didn't. The LT18 was solid,,it's hatch strip was well glued and attached the entire length AND the hatch wasn't right up close to the coaming. On the ones that broke I reached in and popped the strip out with a little pressure from the top. After that I got curious and went to two other kayaks and looked/felt underneath. On the ones where I could see air between the strip and deck I hit the deck hard with my fist and pulled the free edge of the strip,,,it popped/broke out. So for those kayaks installed with medium epoxy that blushes slightly or there was no sanding of the underside before the strip went on, or the hatch was too close to the cockpit, or the loading was above 200lbs the construction was less than "expedition" ready.

In Response to: Re: not broke? by Terry Mcadams on Jun 17, 2004

Replies:

• add them to flush hatch? by Dennis Rioux on Jun 17, 2004
  • Re: add them to flush hat by LeeG on Jun 17, 2004
    • Re: add them to flush hat by Dennis Rioux on Jun 18, 2004
    • Re: add them to flush hat by Mike W on Jun 30, 2004
      • Re: add them to flush hat by LeeG on Jun 30, 2004
• Re: aft hatch stiffeners by Mike W on Jun 30, 2004