Re: West River 18

Posted by Howard on Jan 9, 2005

1) if it pushed open a paper thin gap between keel sections, check the outside hull for distortion or a slight un-fair bulge on the panel that may be caused by pressure from the bulkhead. If the panels are still fair, no problem, if it caused a slight bulge, shave down the bulkhead to allow the panel to return to its proper alignment.

2) no need to push from the inside to create a gap. the gap will be almost nothing towards the ends of the kayak (where the panels are almost butting up against one another. and widest in the middle where the panels meet at roughly an angle of 20 degrees. however, you need to fill these gaps to prevent air holes from developing behind your glass when you glass the outside of the hull. you cannot sand these gaps out given the low angle between the panel. just take your time with a mix of woodflour and epoxy...more in the thickness of mayonaise or mustard and squeeze it into these gaps, carefully cleaning up any overflow with a scraper to minimize the sanding you will need to when you are done. you will know that you have done this correctly when you sand the chines and you scratch the epoxy you used to fill the gaps....no holes behind the glass that you will lay on the outside.

3) my sense is that 1/2 an inch is close enough...but more importantly..does the curve look fair. if you want to pull it in and it still looks fair...then that is cool too.

4) is the bulge created by the sheer clamps touching one another and creating the bulge?...if so...shave the inside edge of both sheer clamps to relieve the pressure...until the bulge is gone. if it is noticable...it is going to effect the line of the deck...so you need to take care of it. if this is not what is causing the bulge...can you describe what is?

In Response to: West River 18 by Paul Buelterman on Jan 9, 2005

Replies:

• Re: West River 18 by mike noeske on Jan 10, 2005