Do I glass the Mill Creek 13 deck?

I'm builing a Mill Creek 13 from the plans in the two issues of Wooden Boat magazine. The article does not show or mention glassing the deck. I'm assuming it would be wise to put a light layer of glass on the exterior of the deck? If so, should I wrap a few inches of the glass down the side of the hull or just trim it even with the sheer line? 


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RE: Do I glass the Mill Creek 13 deck?

   You will get varying opinions here, glass, no glass, thickness of the glass.... My opinion is to put a layer of 4 oz on the deck for durability. Doesn't add that much weight, protects the deck better than just epoxy and varnish.

George K

RE: Do I glass the Mill Creek 13 deck?

>>>I'm builing a Mill Creek 13 from the plans in the two issues of Wooden Boat magazine.>>>

Wow, that's going back a ways!  1997 or so.

At that time we didn't reflexively 'glass the decks of kayaks.  With three heavy coats of epoxy, they held up very well.

But water finds a way, and at the 8-10 year mark, wear and tear on the deck would allow water in someplace, and you'd get discoloration and cracks in the epoxy.

A sheathing of 4-ounce fiberglass adds a few pounds but unless the boat is very lightly used, it's worth the trouble.  The decks just hold up longer.  Mill Creek 13 #1, which was used in that article, eventually had its deck ground down and 'glassed.  We started making deck 'glass standard in all kayaks around 15 years ago and haven't regretted it.

RE: Do I glass the Mill Creek 13 deck?

   Unless you are racing and need the minimum weight, I would add the cloth to the deck. It just adds more strength to the deck and that means loger life for you kayak.

RE: Do I glass the Mill Creek 13 deck?

And would standard technique be to wrap the deck glass a few inches down the hull side or stop it at the sheer?

RE: Do I glass the Mill Creek 13 deck?

Right.  Somewhere around 2002-ish, the manual was revised to show the Mill Creek deck edge rounded over so that the (now recommended) deck 'glass could overlap the sides an inch or so.  The rubrail was then positioned a bit lower on the side.  

Small boat rubrails

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