Re: Epoxy underside of de

Posted by LeeG on Jul 27, 2005

I'd suggest being conciencious leaving the hatches off when stored or transporting after kayaking so that the compartments can air dry with one seal coaton the underside of the deck. ESPECIALLY in hot HUMID environments. The two yr old Ch17 I'm refinishing has obvious color change on either side of the bulkheads at the hull and deck where the cockpit has air dried and the compartments have steam heated with trapped moisture. You really aren't going to be able to seal the inside of the compartments or underside of the deck very well through the hatches although if that one seal coat is thin it couldn't hurt. That is the case on the kayak I'm refinishing. I know this recomendation runs counter to the Chesapeake instructions but my experience and the Arctic Hawk instructions show no problem with applying a deck with cured or glassed undersides. The sequence I used for sealing the under side was a light sanding of 180 then an EVEN thin-med. fill coat, once it was tack free another medium thick fill coat went on (shiny) then allowed to cure to tack free before the deck goes on. The aft deck can have fully cured epoxy on ply with no effects, it's a very slight curve. The foredeck might have some problems but that's true if the air and wood are very dry anyway. If you have any concern laying a damp cloth over the dry deck will make the wood bend. I have applied a 4mm foredeck pre-glassed with 4oz glass on the underside partially cured with another med. thick seal coat partially cured. It went on a 14" radius fordeck. Another 3mm foredeck one went on a 11" radius foredeck with a 3/16" stringer up the center (very first Pax20) and under deck glassing. It worked on those tighter radius decks so it'll work on the 16" radius chesapeake deck to apply two sealing coats with them partially cured (soft). While a well sealed compartment will eventually steam moisture into the wood I've made other s&g kayaks with 2-3thin seal coats and they did not develop waterstaining in the compartments as this particular kayak. It's easy to slather on one thick sealing coat and actually leave small pin holes compared to thin multiple coats.

I'd suggest making sure to not let water steam in the compartments with closed hatches after paddling.

In Response to: Epoxy underside of deck by paul on Jul 27, 2005

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