End Pours for impacts

Posted by LeeG on Mar 30, 2005

It would be interesting to see a list of s&g kayak damages and see where end-pours fit into the list. My experience with kayaks in general is that nearly all rough use damages occur close to the midsection of the hull where paddler weight and larger panels coincide. The damage at the ends is primarly wear at the stern and bow. The next area for damage is the aft deck, foredeck and coaming with heel wear in the cockpit complementing the wear on the outside.

Unlike fiberglass composite hulls that have thin panels s&g kayaks are quite rigid and thicker,,and more rigid near the ends. The composite kayak requires an endpour since it's hard to apply an interior seam tape at the very end reliably. Ditto the s&g kayak that doesn't use sheerclamps.

If you only put in 2oz of epoxy in the ends that would save 8oz of epoxy. 8oz of epoxy would provide the the wet-out for 2yds of 4oz cloth. That would be enough to glass the underside of the deck from the aft hatch to the front hatch plus the area between the 3" tape on the bottom panels and the coaming. Or enough to add a little extra on the bottom of the hull,,etc. etc.

It would be very easy to make a test piece of the ends of a kayak and subject it to a smashing finish. I bet the forces necessary to break open a pyramid of plywood with 3/4" sheerclamps and 9oz tape would be sufficient to peel plywood right off a solid hunk of epoxy. The issue would be moot whether the end pour was there or not.

In Response to: Re: End Pours by Howard on Mar 30, 2005

Replies:

• Re: End Pours for impacts by Scot on Mar 30, 2005
• by on
• Re: End Pours for impacts by CLC on Mar 31, 2005
• glassing under the deck by John P on Mar 31, 2005
  • Re: glassing under the de by Howard on Mar 31, 2005
  • Re: glassing under the de by LeeG on Mar 31, 2005