fixing it.

Posted by LeeG on Jun 17, 2004

When the very first LT17 was made in house I noticed a very fine crack along the top of the deck above where the horizontal 4mm hatch strip reinforcement butted against the sheerclamp. With pressure on the aft deck the hatch stiffener transmitted the entire load of the flat deck to that one spot causing the wood above to split. This was prior to deck glass and hatch ring reinforcements becomeing standard. For that specific LT17 I glassed the underside of the deck from sheer to sheer but more importantly OVER the sheer to sheer hatch strip. It was fine after that. The repair depends on how the deck was built,,original with no deck glass, no under deck reinforcement except a 1 1/4" wide 4mm ply strip or the existing set-up of 4oz deck glass and hatch hole reinforcements on both sides of the hatch. If the former then bringing that whole area up to speed is worthwhile for continued rough use,,if it's the latter with no flexing and only the crack then a layer of glass from sheer to sheer on the under side would work,,or just a couple strips of 3" 9oz tape for ease of installation. If I was to make a Chesapeake for rough use then pre-glassing the underside of the aft deck before it's installed in conjunction with a doubled sheer to sheer 4mmply strip would be perfect. The side hatch hole reinforcements don't need to be as wide as they are. 3/4" wide would be plenty,,,12mm of hatch hole edge is Plenty thick. When the deck glass/hatch hole reinforcements became standard it got the aft deck about 3/4 the way to where they could be for a kayak used for rescues and rough use. For 250lb guys and rough use it was barely 1/2 the way there. For 150lb paddlers and rough use it was good enough. Sure there are a lot of folks who can paddle in with surf launchings/landings and not do rescue practice for years,,,but all it takes is doing it a few times to find out what's sufficient or insufficient. Like making a MillCreek13 without deck glass and not having any problems,,,or making a ChLt17 and using it for an entire summer with a dozen rescue practices. Some production glass boats might develop gel-coat cracks with a dozen rescue practices by a heavy person,,some won't. Making your own you can also cover the range depending on your weight,,,but the weight "increases" to making the deck strong for a heavy person can easily be offset elsewhere.

In Response to: Re: Broke my chesapeake 1 by Terry Mcadams on Jun 17, 2004

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